interview with kuno becker
Mexican hot tamale Kuno Becker plays the rags to riches footie star Santiago Munez in Goal!, the first in a soccer trilogy set to make him an international heartthrob. But breaking his ankles while auditioning almost cost him the role he says...
... When I did the audition for the film they were like, `ok we know you can act, but can you play football?' And I was like `...yeah!' So they said `ok you're going to train for 3 weeks and at the end we'll see if you can do something with the ball.' And I trained so hard that I got stress fractures in both my ankles, and the doctor said `I hate to tell you this but you're never going to be a footballer!' So the day of the trial with Danny Cannon (director) - me play football? Forget it, I was kinda walking like John Wayne! So I couldn't do it, and Danny was very disappointed and I was too, and he was like `ok, go catch your plane back to LA. Bye!'
So what happened next?
When I was leaving the pitch I thought to myself `f*ck-it, I'm already here, I've trained for 3 weeks, so I'm going to try to do something. I'd learned a few `stay with the ball' tricks, so I went back and told one of the producers `hey, why don't you go tell Danny to try get the ball from me?' And Danny came on the pitch and said `ok I'll try to get the ball from you', and he couldn't do it! Out of 5 times he got it once - and he plays football. And he was like `oh you've improved, you learned so many tricks, and fakes'. He was happy and I got the role... but I almost didn't get the part!
So I take it you weren't a football fanatic prior to Goal!?
I'm not a footballer obviously, and my body wasn't used to it - it's been hard for me; I played football in school but obviously not to this standard. When you start working with real football players and a professional team it's a whole different story; they have technique. I'm never going to be able to play like them, but we tried to get as close as we could, and there are times during that process when your body says `hey, what are you doing to me?'
So is it true you were destined to become a concert violinist?
My grandmother is a wonderful, talented pianist, and when I was 6-years-old I got into classical music and violin because all my life, since I was born I was at every classical concert in Mexico City. When I was 9 I studied violin in Salzburg, but then when I was 16 I decided I didn't want to do it for a living and I switched to acting. All my family went like `whaaaaaat?'
What was it like having Beckham, Shearer, and Zidane doing cameos?
It was great, they were nice, easy-going, relaxed but the most important part about them doing the film for me is - that's going to make our story believable. Because most of the time, you just see doubles pretending to be whoever. In the second film we're going to have a lot more footballers - everybody from Real Madrid is going to be in it. We start principle photography in October, and the third one we're going to shoot during the World Cup - which is a big thing.
Are you ready for screaming fans... and that includes male footie fans as well as women!
I was ready a couple of years ago baby! Honestly, I really don't care - I just love my job and everything else, including that - I don't like.
You had to eat dirt many times while shooting the `fouling scenes' - painful?
It was tough, I really earned that cheque believe me, it was bad, it was the toughest thing I've ever done. Those scenes in the mud were crazy, it was so cold, everyone was tackling me - like 50/60 times an hour, and then they broke my nose! It was swollen and bleeding, but it was all rainy so you couldn't see it so much.
And Anna Friel is your love interest?
She is awesome, and we're having a great time working together. There's a beautiful relationship going on between Santiago and her character Roz; this is a story about football, but it's a story about emotion too - it's a story about everything, about goals, about dreams, about making it. That's the most important thing for me, that's what I want to see in this film.
