That's not the fault of the uber-talented Dan Stevens, though. In fact, if Stevens — who's becoming one of the most compelling and versatile performers working today — had his way, he would've sung every single note in Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga himself. Stevens revealed as much in a recent Uproxx interview, stating he was actually slated to do just that via a planned post-production recording session. Unfortunately, the global pandemic altered those plans ahead of the film's release.
"Sadly, the singing voice, we didn't manage to get into the studio to record because obviously COVID struck. And so we actually went with the temp track, which is a Swedish baritone, who is great," explained Stevens, referencing the singer Erik Mjönes.
The actor is no stranger to singing: He belted out tunes for 2017's live-action Beauty and the Beast, in which he played the titular prince-turned-cursed-creature, and for the mind-bending FX superhero series Legion, on which he starred as Charles Xavier's mutant son David Haller. It would have been amazing to witness what Stevens could have brought to Lemtov's vocals for Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, but the buttery baritone voice that Mjönes provided for Lemtov gives Stevens' scenes another layer of silliness.
As for how Stevens went about crafting the character of Lemtov, the actor told Uproxx that there was indeed some basis in reality for the entertainer's effortless egoism.
"In terms of his spoken voice, that becomes more from some of the sort of wealthier Europeans that I've met over the years," said Stevens. "He just thinks that he knows the best things. [...] And there's a weird kind of snobbery to that mysterious European wealthy elite that I think is just ridiculous and ripe to be poked fun of."
Stevens doesn't so much poke at that snobbery as he gleefully eviscerates it. In doing so, he delivers yet another in a long string of scene-stealing performances in recent years.
