Goal!2 – Living
The Dream follows the adventures of footballing prodigy
Santiago Munez (Kuno Becker) as he secures a dream move from
Newcastle United to Real Madrid. Reunited with former teammate
Gavin Harris (Alessandro Nivola) this change puts a strain
on his relationship with girlfriend Ros (Anna Friel), just
one of the pressures he has to contend with as he achieves
superstar status.
Goal!2 is the second film in a trilogy of footballing dramas,
and is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, whose previous feature
credit is House of Wax.
So what changes do we see in Santiago
as he’s transferred
from Newcastle United to Real Madrid in Goal! 2: Live The
Dream?
“Well this is when he becomes a major soccer star,
this is edgier and a little bit more of a realistic film.
I think it’s a lot better. [Director] Jaume [Collet-Serra]
is doing an amazing job, he’s a lot more visual. In
the story there’s always something happening, there’s
a lot of conflict. It’s a little bit of the dark side
of what happens in football. It’s obviously not so
extreme, but that’s the kind of thing we want to show.”
Does that means your character loses his innocence a little?
“Yeah, well we have to show something of what really
happens, which is going a little bit crazy with all these
things that come with being a famous footballer. Like getting
all the money, and dealing with it. The girls and the cars
and everything, the mansion. It’s not always so easy,
people think it’s great and it’s fun but it’s
a lot more complicated than that. We wanted to show that
a little bit more.”
Is this then, with all that conflict and drama, more of
an adventure for you second time around?
“The first one is very nice because it’s like
a fairytale, and it’s very positive, just a nice film.
And it’s a lot of fun, which I think is great. The
second one is also that but it’s a little bit more
the other side, which is the dark side. Going a little bit
crazy with the fame and popularity and all that.”
Do we get to see you in action on the pitch?
“Yeah, a lot more than I wanted to! We’re going
to see my character on the field, and Alessandro [Nivola – cast
as Gavin Harris] a lot more. We have a couple of new characters
too, so it’s going to be a lot more fun for the audience.”
Did you ask some of the footballers you worked with for
their stories, as any kind of research?
“I didn’t have to, just
by watching them and just by being around them a little
bit before we starting shooting the first one, you saw
it. And when we shot this second one in Madrid you can
see a lot of things happening, you see attitudes and you
can see people changing a little bit. I thought it was
more interesting to see my character change than to see
him become successful and everything be alright. So I think
this is something good.”
Has your involvement in these films improved your footballing
skills?
“I did improve. I really sucked when I started and
now I’m just bad. That’s something, I suppose,
I’m not at the same super bad level.”
Had the Real Madrid players seen the first film?
“Yeah, and they loved it actually. It’s funny,
once people see it they like it, so that’s a good thing.
The problem is taking them to see it. Everybody thinks that
it’s just about football but it’s not, it’s
a story about relationships, it’s about what happens
inside the world of football but we have great football action
also. It’s just not all about that.”
Does Santiago’s relationship with Ros – played
by Anna Friel – change too then?
“She has a much bigger role now, she’s great,
and yes there is a little bit more conflict. The first one
was more about falling in love, and everything is cool and
achieving that goal. Now in the second one it’s about
what happens with one of these guys when he becomes a huge
star. Most of the time they come from very simple backgrounds,
which makes it a lot more interesting I think. They’re
thrown into a totally different environment. This guy I play
was a gardener from East Los Angeles a little more than a
year ago, and then he becomes a super successful millionaire
with cars and everything.
All the women want to be with him, and that brings a lot
more trouble to his life than in the first one.”
There was a story, of course, when
David Beckham was signed by Real Madrid that Victoria wasn’t
keen on moving…
“It’s exactly the same in our story. We were
supposed to be living in Newcastle and then we have to move
to Madrid and that brings more conflict to the relationship,
it changes everything. And if you really think about it that’s
the way it is. It’s not just becoming successful and
everything being cool, there’s a lot more to it than
that. I think that’s the great thing about the second
film, we have that conflict, the other women, the money,
we have him changing in his personality and that’s
also a conflict. I think that’s more interesting for
people to watch.”
Is Beckham in this film?
“Yeah he’s going to be in it, as – briefly – are
Ronaldo, Zidane, Raul and others.”
Jonathan Woodgate, famously, was signed
by Real Madrid from Newcastle United – did you speak
with him at all?
“We spoke, it’s fun because it’s a little
bit like his story. And Michael Owen moved from Madrid to
Newcastle, which is sort of vice versa. It’s what happens.”
Which footballers do you admire?
“That’s a good question. I’ve never been
a football fan. I can say it now, but to get the part I had
to lie to the director and the producers. But what I love
about this project is when I read the script I liked the
story, that’s what was wonderful about it. You don’t
have to like football to like the story, which is great.
Otherwise why make a football film? You can watch it on tv.
I read the script and I thought it was great and that’s
why I wanted to do it. I also wanted to do it because the
character is very different from me.”
You obviously had to work hard at your football to convince
the producers on the first film then, did you?
“I really had to train – I broke my ankle, nose,
pulled every muscle you can imagine, and I still can’t
play, but I’m improving. Physically it was the hardest
thing I’ve ever done, that’s why I had to lie
to everybody. When I first met them I was like ‘yeah
I love football’. They said ‘what do you play?’ I
said ‘err, football’. I didn’t know what
positions there were or anything. I had to go and see a friend
and get him to tell me everything about because I didn’t
know. I had to really lie.”
But you were not completely ignorant, were you?
“I saw football when I was a kid. I’m from Mexico
and everybody loves football there, but I couldn’t
really play. They asked me a question, and I said yes. But
they didn’t say ‘are you a professional footballer?’.
That’s a whole different question, right? So actually
I didn’t lie at all.”
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