L4 Group - Release their film

[Rashid]

Mike Jefferies the scouse lad behind the L4 Group's bid to buy into Liverpool will release his film "goal!" very soon. A film he wanted based around Liverpool rejected by us, will now be based on Newcastle. Anyway its an interesting film and here is the first article on it. If it becomes a hit it could be worth thousands of new fans for Newcastle and also huge publicity.

 

_________________________________________________________________

 

With the rags-to-riches Goal! and hooligan film Green Street, Premiership football is finally getting the British movie treatment ... and Hollywood is turning on to soccer, too, says Sarah Hughes

 

Sunday August 28, 2005

The Observer

 

A boy travels halfway across the world from Los Angeles to Newcastle, where, after initially being scorned as an outsider, he wins acceptance through his footballing skills, realises his dream of playing for a major club and, in part because of this, starts to understand his bad relationship with his demanding if absent father.

 

On the east coast of America, another boy travels halfway across the world from Boston to London, where he begins to realise his dream of following a football club, falls in with a gang of hooligans and, in part because of this, starts to understand his bad relationship with his demanding if absent father.

 

The first film is Goal!, a £55-million project from British TV screenwriters Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement (Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, The Likely Lads) and set at Newcastle United. The second is Green Street, which stars American actor Elijah Wood and tackles football hooliganism at West Ham. If the plots of the two movies sound superficially similar, it is because all football films struggle to move away from one of two basic storylines. On the one hand, there is the classic Rocky trajectory, the story of a sporting outsider who comes good against all odds; on the other lies the hooligan movie, in which boy gets involved in football violence, boy gets badly duffed up and, finally, boy realises that football violence is wrong and spurns it.

 

Goal! and Green Street are part of a slew of new football films, most with American financing. The recent Will Ferrell film Kicking & Screaming was the sort of undemanding Hollywood comedy that 10 years ago would certainly have been about baseball, while another summer release, The Game of Their Lives, told the story of America's 1950 victory over England with sepia-tinted nostalgia. Over the next year, Spike Lee is set to turn his passion for Arsenal into a film about football in America, while British director Michael Apted is filming a docudrama about the globalisation of football, set in eight different countries.

 

What marks out Goal! and Green Street, which both open in the UK next month, is their accurate portrayals of the English Premiership. Both production teams enjoyed unprecedented access to their respective clubs, filming in and around the grounds. Goal! has benefited from the support of football's governing body Fifa, and its marketing partners adidas, Coca-Cola and McDonald's have, in another laudably accurate imitation of the modern game, ploughed money into various sponsorship packages connected to the film.

 

Of the two movies, Goal! will be the bigger hit. It perfectly captures the glamour and runaway commercialism of the Premiership. With cameos from players such as David Beckham and Alan Shearer, a cast of toned, good-looking actors and thrilling scenes on St James' Park pitch, it has the potential to become that rare thing, the sports date movie. The grittier Green Street will hope that Wood's appeal will pull in the fans. What they will make of their hobbit hero butting Birmingham City fans is uncertain but, like Goal!, it does a good job of conveying the tension and exhilaration of match days.

 

'I think that the problem with most football films is that you really don't believe what goes on on the pitch,' admits actor Marc Warren, who plays Wood's brother-in-law in Green Street. 'If you don't get a sense of what it feels like to be at the game or playing it, then the film doesn't work.'

 

That has certainly been the problem in the past. In contrast to America's long tradition of heroic sports movies - from Barry Levinson's baseball homage The Natural to the recent Friday Night Lights - the British football film has become something of a poor joke. Whether it is Sean Bean playing the world's oldest football player in 1996's When Saturday Comes, Reece Dinsdale playing the world's most unbelievable undercover football hooligan in Philip Davis's 1995 film ID, or Keira Knightley and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers playing the world's most eerily beautiful amateur footballers in Gurinder Chadha's Bend It Like Beckham in 2002, most football films struggle to break free from the cliches.

 

In truth, Alan Clarke's hard-hitting The Firm apart, the best references to football in film have in the past come from incidental moments in other movies, Kes and Gregory's Girl, for example. With Goal! and Green Street that is set to change.

 

Yet what is it about football that has inspired the current rash of films? Part of it is that America, far from being the football black hole that many English commentators perceive it to be, is actually increasingly attuned to the game. Football's movement away from the predominantly white, middle-class college circuit towards the recruitment of teenage talent has seen a plethora of young players thrive and the US team (admittedly thanks to some very easy fixtures) are currently ranked sixth in the world, one place ahead of England. Given this, it's perhaps unsurprising that Hollywood's producers have suddenly decided that the time is right to invest in 'soccer'.

 

'I think people underestimate the appeal of the game in America,' says Goal! director Danny Cannon. 'It's very easy to say, "Oh, Americans don't get football" but I play in Los Angeles and I've played alongside kids with the same background as the hero in our film. That's why I think it's a believable story. We didn't make him an American to sell the film in the US; we did it because we wanted to have an outsider.'

 

Part of the reason that Goal! works comes from the complex deals with Newcastle, Fifa and adidas which allowed them to place their cameras next to those of Sky and the BBC and film the action.

 

The result is that, for once, the scenes set on the pitch feel realistic, as the cameras pick up every crunching tackle and mistimed shot. 'Sky and the BBC were both fantastic. They could have just said, "We're not letting you put your cameras here,"' says Cannon. 'Newcastle were very helpful, but it was hard because we had to shoot around their schedule and suddenly they'd have a Uefa cup game or an FA Cup replay, so we'd have to postpone the shoot... and that was all before we had to start dealing with the groundsmen.'

 

To add to the authenticity, Cannon forced his actors to undergo a five-week training programme. 'It was important to do that because the problem with other football films is that the actors look as though they have no idea of what they are doing with the ball,' he says.

 

Goal! is not without flaws. It veers occasionally into sentimentality, is prone to overusing the soundtrack and the scenes in Newcastle are considerably stronger than the opening in LA.

 

The project, part of a projected trilogy, also had early problems, with original director Michael Winterbottom quitting before filming began.

 

Cannon is keen to stress that nothing had been shot before he took over and adds that it was his decision to ask La Frenais and Clement to write the script. 'I have the utmost respect for Michael as a director, but I think that it would have been more of a niche film,' he says. 'I wanted to make a film that was about the passion that fans feel for the game and how that passion can affect the players. I don't believe people want to go to a football film to be depressed. You could make a whole movie about how awful the game is, how corrupt it is, but I don't think anyone would want to see it. Football is about entertainment and I wanted to capture that.'

 

While Lexi Alexander, director of Green Street, admits to the influence of The Firm, Cannon, best-known for directing the glossy TV series CSI, preferred to look to America. 'To be honest, I was thinking about films like The Natural when I was making it,' he says. 'I just think that Americans have a better tradition of making passionate sports film than we do, and it's that passion and excitement which I wanted to get across.'

 

The real question is now that football has begun to be taken more seriously by Hollywood, how long will it be before someone makes a film about this summer's real heroes. Anyone for cricket?

[PhilM]

If it becomes a hit it could be worth thousands of new fans for Newcastle

 

:D Are you serious?

[Anubis]

:no :no :no

[Rashid]

:D Are you serious?

 

What do you think is in it for Newcastle they competed with Man United and Chelsea to allow Jefferies to use their stadium and clips for free?

[dave u]

Personally I won't be going anywhere near that film. Films about footy are absolute shite, and make me cringe. Escape to Victory being the exception, thats a classic.

 

Doesn't bother me in the slightest that we turned that down. Newcastle are media whores (just look at that circus they had for Owen - who hated every second of that by the way), and this is right up their street. I can just see the queues for the cinemas in Geordieland on opening night, mothers fathers, sons and daughters all decked out in replica shirts.

 

Still, I hope they win the league in the film, as its the closest they'll get and might give them something to celebrate other than 'loaning' a player who has even publicly said he didn't want to go there.

 

I'm glad we backheeled this one.

[Bob]

i'm glad too that we had nothing to do with this. fair enough some added revenue would be nice but it would make me shrink into my seat to watch what will surely be a more commercialised version of sean bean in when saturday comes.

[James H]

Istanbul was the greatest story ever told. Why would anyone want to settle for fiction?

[terry mac]

glad we turned our backs on the crock of shite, and come to think of it he was in favour of groundshare...

[Kopite]

Personally I won't be going anywhere near that film. Films about footy are absolute shite, and make me cringe. Escape to Victory being the exception, thats a classic.

 

Doesn't bother me in the slightest that we turned that down. Newcastle are media whores (just look at that circus they had for Owen - who hated every second of that by the way), and this is right up their street. I can just see the queues for the cinemas in Geordieland on opening night, mothers fathers, sons and daughters all decked out in replica shirts.

 

Still, I hope they win the league in the film, as its the closest they'll get and might give them something to celebrate other than 'loaning' a player who has even publicly said he didn't want to go there.

 

I'm glad we backheeled this one.

 

Painful to watch wasn't it? Owen's introduction to the Geordie faithful that is.

 

I also hate it when footballers dress their babies/kids up in the club kit and bring them out in front of the fans. His little girl looked absolutely petrified!

 

It is just so cheesy to do that especially when we all know it is Anfield where he wants to be.

[Bare]

Personally I won't be going anywhere near that film. Films about footy are absolute shite, and make me cringe. Escape to Victory being the exception, thats a classic.

 

Doesn't bother me in the slightest that we turned that down. Newcastle are media whores (just look at that circus they had for Owen - who hated every second of that by the way), and this is right up their street. I can just see the queues for the cinemas in Geordieland on opening night, mothers fathers, sons and daughters all decked out in replica shirts.

 

Escape to Victory was Class. Apparently when Stallone agreed to being the keeper he wanted the final scene of the film to be him taking all of their team on and scoring the winner. Can you imagine?

 

Totally agree about Istanbul. That is the greatest football story ever.

[chorlton]

Escape to Victory and Shoalin Soccer are the mutts though.

[RSM]

Personally I won't be going anywhere near that film. Films about footy are absolute shite, and make me cringe. Escape to Victory being the exception, thats a classic.

 

Doesn't bother me in the slightest that we turned that down. Newcastle are media whores (just look at that circus they had for Owen - who hated every second of that by the way), and this is right up their street. I can just see the queues for the cinemas in Geordieland on opening night, mothers fathers, sons and daughters all decked out in replica shirts.

 

Still, I hope they win the league in the film, as its the closest they'll get and might give them something to celebrate other than 'loaning' a player who has even publicly said he didn't want to go there.

 

I'm glad we backheeled this one.

 

 

Don't say that dave....it goes against Rashid's agenda of having another stick to beat the LFC Board with.

[cochcaer]

This is really reaching new depths of pettiness.

 

I've thought this for some time, but rather than Liverpool changing to meet with Rashid's approval, it's becoming clear he's supporting the wrong team.

 

Some of you may recall there has already been in Newcastle football film, and Alan Shearer appeared, it was called Purely Belter, it was shite and I doubt anybody thought ooohhh I must start supporting the Geordies.

 

Football films are inherently shite and uncool unless it's The Firm or to a lesser extent ID.

[PhilM]

What do you think is in it for Newcastle they competed with Man United and Chelsea to allow Jefferies to use their stadium and clips for free?

Oh right. It's going to win them thousands of fans across the globe who are all going to buy club shirts and car stickers, which will be able to pay Michael Owen's wages 10 times over.

:wallbutt:

[Anubis]

Escape to Victory is a cult classic. Where else will you get Stallone rubbing shoulders with Pele?

 

Reminds me standing on the Kop on a Boxing or New Years Day, freezing my bollocks off. It had been on the day before, and the two lads behind me were talking about the quality of the players in it. One says "You've got Pele, Bobby Moore..... ...and John Fucking Wark?!" Not long after he signed for us!

[Stu Monty]

People like Rashid need films like this, without them they wouldn't know who to support.

 

Please can we have some more flash in the pan, sky-generation know-nothing numpties following the club..pleeeaaase!!

[Rashid]

Please can we have some more flash in the pan, sky-generation know-nothing numpties following the club..pleeeaaase!!

 

Why though? We already have you fella, that's enough.

[05 Milan]

Why though? We already have you fella, that's enough.

 

the crowd goes "ooooohhhhhhhh" and awaits response with great anticipation

[Stu Monty]

Why though? We already have you fella, that's enough.

 

Care to explain why it matters if we don't attract people who choose thier team to follow from blockbusters?

 

Apart from the further extending the "we are a company not a football club" flag.

 

Oh, and "I know you are but what am I" is trully the work of a superior mind. The fact that you can't see you're a walking, talking, typing parody of all that is wrong with fans today makes you even funnier.

[Rashid]

Care to explain why it matters if we don't attract people who choose thier team to follow from blockbusters?

 

Apart from the further extending the "we are a company not a football club" flag.

 

Oh, and "I know you are but what am I" is trully the work of a superior mind. The fact that you can't see you're a "of all that is wrong with fans today makes you even funnier.

 

OH REALLY?

 

I have seen the first 10 posts of yours since you started posting today and virtually all were a response to me. You must be a fucking sad bastard following a "parody". Why don't you find yourself a new hobby fella?

[Maldini]

The film is part of a trilogy, in the next one he earns his "dream move" to a "bigger club" in Real Madrid.

 

Do you seriously think we should have put ourselves in second place to Real?

 

The film looks absolute shite anyway, saw a trailer yesterday.

[Rashid]

The film is part of a trilogy, in the next one he earns his "dream move" to a "bigger club" in Real Madrid.

 

Do you seriously think we should have put ourselves in second place to Real?

 

The film looks absolute shite anyway, saw a trailer yesterday.

 

I have no opinion mate to be honest, but publicity is good for the club. Maybe it wasn't appropriate I don't know it was just a suggestion.

[Stu Monty]

OH REALLY?

 

I have seen the first 10 posts of yours since you started posting today and virtually all were a response to me. You must be a fucking sad bastard following a "parody". Why don't you find yourself a new hobby fella?

 

 

IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE EVERYWHERE I FUCKING LOOK YOU UTTER CUNT!!!

 

Every fucking week i've come back from Derby and found thread after thread after thread of you talking bollocks and people telling you what an utter cretin you are. Take the goddamn hint and fuck off won't you?

 

Reading the forum is a chore when you've had spare time.

[Rashid]

IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE EVERYWHERE I FUCKING LOOK YOU UTTER CUNT!!!

 

If you had me on ignore you wouldn't see me and I'd be nowhere. I could send you a step by step guide on how to do it.

 

Nice language there fella. I am shitting bricks at the moment.

[The Party Boy]

LFC Fact! No one has scored more goals for Liverpool than Ian Rush, He managed a staggering 346 goals for the Reds