Finnish made famous: magnificent mentions of Finland throughout Tinseltown

Promo pic for Blade Runner 2049

Blade Runner 2049 just premiered in movie theaters across the globe and caused quite a stir. Not only are longtime fans of the original Blade Runner saying it’s a remarkable rendition of an untouchable classic, but there’s also Finnish spoken in the movie! Alongside Finnish actress Krista Kosonen, 2 other actresses have claimed their moment of Finnish fame while discussing who Blade Runner is onscreen.

 

Consequently, this Blade Runner rouse has sparked my pre-existing interest in the many other times I’ve heard Finnish (and Finland) referenced in movies and TV shows. So here’s a collection of the coolest…

 

 

1. What your favorite TV characters think about Finland

 

Fargo

“Buddy of mine says they swear by this stuff in Finland.”
“Well, they’re a bunch of sex-crazed alcoholics, so they should know, right?”

 

 

Gilmore Girls

Rory: “Grandma. We were just talking about you. How are you? How’s Helsinki?”

Emily: “Cold. Unaccommodating. A population of walking dead.”

 

Veep

Dan (on Helsinki): “I’m sorry that I ever set foot in that fucking fish-eating, indie-film fucking hellhole.”

 

Fringe

Walter: “As they say in Finland, there’s more than one way to roast a reindeer.”

 

How I Met Your Mother

Ted (on his best man speech): “So now I seem like a total train wreck to all my old high school friends. And a bunch of people in Finland. The auto-tune thing got kind of big over there.”
Ted’s speech that became famous: 

 

2. Five times Hollywood hacked the Finnish language

 

Charlie’s Angels

 

 

 

 

The Big Bang Theory

 

The Hudsucker Proxy

 

Swordfish

 

Archer

 

3. Other magnificent mentions of Finland

 

Community

 

Conan – hates my homeland

 

Conan – drinks Lapin Kulta

 

 

Confessions of a Shopaholic

 

Seinfeld

 

Simpsons

 

Spongebob Squarepants

 

SNL – Finnish talk show Kalle

Veep

 

 

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Edited by Michele Lawrence.

17 replies

  1. “As they say in Finland, there’s more than one way to roast a reindeer.”

    Bullshit. We don’t have any phrase of that kind.

  2. What should have excited them and not in a good way was when “Swordfish” had a Finnish hacker and the Finnish consul speaking German. What? They couldn’t find two Finnish speaking actors in all of LA?

  3. Lol; epic list!! Charlies Angel’s pronunciation is rubbish!! Love to know the story line the got them speaking Finnish

  4. There is this person in Assassin’s Creed games called Otso Berg. 🙂 modern day Templar working for Abstergo. We see him in some games like Rogue and he is mentioned in some of the books.

  5. Remember the movie Swordfish? There was a scene with the “Finnish” hacker Axl “Totally Not Linus” Torvalds being interrogated by another “Finn” and they spoke German with each other?

  6. In the new Solo movie Daenerys uses “teräs käsi” in a fight. Obviously, she pronounces the name completely wrong but it still remotely resembles Finnish.

  7. Die hard 1 had Helsinki mentioned.

    Die hard 2 was directed by finnish Renny Harlin and it had Finlandia theme playing.

    There was also famous finnish boxer in Die hard 3.

    The Jackal had few scenes filmed in Finland.

    28 days later had some finnish spoken at very end by soldiers.

  8. Die hard mentioned helsinki at one point.
    Die hard 2 was directed by finnish Renny Harlin and it had finlandia song playing.
    All Renny Harlin films have some sort of finnish easter egg in them.
    Die hard 3 had famous finnish boxer as one fake police.
    The Jackal had few scenes filmed in Finland.
    28 days later had some finnish spoken by the soldiers at very end.

  9. Swordfish had me thinking the same thing — you couldn’t find TWO Finnish actors in California to play those roles?!?

  10. Mrs Oliver in Poirot films has a Finnish detective in her books. Also in many spy films about the period of cold war have the spies meeting in Helsinki, just like they really did.

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