A new bar called Jaja Ding Dong opened at the Cape Hotel in Húsavík on July 11th. The owner of the bar said that any other name was out of the question after he saw the Eurovision movie starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams, Fréttablaðið reports.
Örlygur Hnefill Örlygsson, owner of the Cape Hotel, had decided to open the venue this summer under a completely different name, but he quickly changed his mind when he saw the movie. “Do you think that you would not seize such an opportunity when it comes flying at 180 kilometers per hour in your lap?,” he said. The bar is outside, and mostly serves beer and cocktails, although they also serve cakes and pies.
The film crew for the movie, “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga,” shot the film on location in Húsavík. “It was so much fun here last year when they came to shoot this movie and were hanging out with us a lot,” Örlygur said, adding that both Pierce Brosnan and Will Ferrell visited the hotel.
“So naturally, this film comes out that we now see as kind of an ode to the town–especially out of this song,” he said, referring to to the song “Húsavík – My Home Town.” He added that despite the tribute, Jaja Ding Dong puts Húsavík on the map. “But Jaja Ding Dong is of course the hit from the movie. Even though we like the Húsavík song, we are not going to call the bar Húsavík.”
The film and Húsavík’s role in it has attracted worldwide attention. Örlygur says that the film is an invaluable bit of marketing for the town. “This is a valuable opportunity that does not come to everyone and does not come often,” he said. “And it is extremely important to me that people are creative in taking advantage of this.”
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