FILM STARS JOIN FOOTY HEROES ON THE PITCH
'Goal' movie stars Kuno Becker and Alessandro Nivola have revealed that they had to join real Newcastle players on the pitch during filming to make the football flick look realistic.
The pair, who feature in part one of a trilogy which follows a young Mexican footballer who rises from the streets to play for the The Magpies, told Soccer AM they shook hands with the likes of Steven Gerrard and Celestine Babayaro when the final whistle went after a live match.
"The first time we filmed with the Newcastle team they kitted me up and I had to crouch down behind the advertising boards for the whole match. At the final whistle we came popping up from behind these boards prancing gingerly out to the middle of the pitch," Nivola said.
"We'd been told by the producers that everyone knew the score. I think I came running up to Babayaro and put him in a headlock and he just sort of looked at me. There we were with 65,000 Geordie fans and us going: "C'mon!".
The movie, which features cameos from David Beckham and Alan Shearer, also saw the pair undergo vigorous training.
Becker added: "I really didn't play a lot of football when I started this so I really had to train my butt off to play the part. I was training for a lot of months, a lot of hours a day."
