Bill Nighy and Micheal Ward – Pictures: Getty Images
Netflix is booting up to produce The Beautiful Game, a soccer movie about the Homeless World Cup and will star Bill Nighy and Micheal Ward.
Netflix’s The Beautiful Game will be directed by Thea Sharrock to previously helmed the acclaimed film Me Before You starring Emilia Clarke. The script for the movie was penned by Frank Cottrell Boyce, who worked on such projects as The Railway Man, Code 46 and Doctor Who.
Mel Young, President and Founder of the Homeless World Cup Foundation has said the following about the project:
“We are incredibly excited to be the focus of the upcoming film The Beautiful Game. The Homeless World Cup is our contribution to tackling the homeless problem across the globe but there is so much more to do. We have proved just how powerful football can be when it is applied to a social problem and we will keep striving to do more. We hope that the work we do being told in The Beautiful Game inspires more people to join in and support future Homeless World Cups and together we can all aim to end homelessness forever.”
Producers for the film are Blueprint Pictures’ Graham Broadbent and Pete Czernin with Anita Overland.
Broadbent added:
“We’ve worked closely with the Homeless World Cup Foundation and our writer Frank has met many players from who’s real life stories he has created our characters, and we’re happy to welcome many former players from the real tournament to be a part of the filming in Rome and London.”
Here’s everything else we know about Netflix’s The Beautiful Game:
What’s the plot of The Beautiful Game?
Here is the official logline for Netflix’s The Beautiful Game:
Led by their coach Mal (Bill Nighy), the film follows the soccer team as they travel from London to Rome for the Homeless World Cup. At the last minute they decide to bring with them talented striker Vinny (Micheal Ward), but he must confront his own issues and once-promising past in order to help the team and move on with his own life.
Producer Graham Broadbent commented about what’s at the core of the script:
“The Beautiful Game is a film about succeeding against the odds. Our film shows the joy, drama and excitement of this real life tournament and the enormous potential of people left behind by society.”
Who is cast in The Beautiful Game?
The cast of The Beautiful Game will be led by Micheal Ward (Top Boy, The A List, Small Axe) and Bill Nighy (Love Actually, Hot Fuzz, Pirates of the Caribbean). They will be joined by Susan Wokoma (Truth Seekers, Enola Holmes) and the Netflix breakthrough actor from Shadow & Bone Kit Young.
The rest of the cast includes Valeria Golino (Morning Show), Callum Scott Howells (It’s a Sin), Sheyi Cole (Small Axe), Robin Nazari (Snabba Cash), Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Avengers Infinity War), Layo-Christina Akinlude (The End of the F**king World) and Cristina Rodlo (No One Gets Out Alive).
What’s the production status of The Beautiful Game?
According to Deadline, filming for The Beautiful Game is already underway in Rome and will move to London later this year.
What’s the Netflix release date for The Beautiful Game?
Netflix hasn’t set a date for The Beautiful Game yet, but if the production dates are anything to go by, we would expect the movie to be released sometime in the second half of 2022.