Bill Nighy: Starring alongside Homeless World Cup players was ‘very affecting’

Bill Nighy said filming The Beautiful Game alongside those who had experienced the Homeless World Cup was “very affecting”.

The British actor stars as the manager of England’s homeless football team in Thea Sharrock’s Netflix sports drama about the annual Homeless World Cup, an international football tournament for homeless people.

“It is basically me and a bunch of young nutters running around Rome in the hottest summer in recorded memory, that’s the reality,” Nighy told the PA news agency during a special screening of the film in London, ahead of its Netflix launch on March 29.

“One thing that was very affecting was the fact that a lot of the people who came to play the other teams like the Japanese, French, German team, they were people who had already gone through the Homeless World Cup process and were no longer homeless and were rehabilitated – so that was very affecting.”

In the film, Nighy’s character Mal takes his players to Rome in the hope of being crowned champions of the Homeless World Cup, and at the last minute adds talented striker Vinny – played by Michael Ward – to the team.

The 74-year-old said the stadium was built in the middle of Rome and the teams had to appear everyday for filming as a heatwave swept across the country.

He told PA: “I was lucky, I didn’t have to play football, but the boys had to play football.

“It was so hot that the Italian government warned people not to leave the safety of their homes – you figure it’s probably for real, but the boys had to play football all day long, so they were heroic.

“It was very affecting to be all of us all mixed together and hear all the stories.”

Nighy described the film as “special, because it’s about something special”.

“It is a funny movie, it’s designed to make you laugh and to be touching and move you a little bit and also deliver the information about the Homeless World Cup,” he added.

British actress Susan Wokoma, who plays the manager of the South African team in the film, said all the players on her team had previously played in the Homeless World Cup.

“All the men on my team are real players who have participated in the Homeless World Cup and that was the case for nearly everybody that you see on screen, apart from the actors who have written dialogue,” she told PA.

“So you’re meeting these people from all over the world who have also hung out together, played together, partied together – it was a big reunion for them so you felt really responsible that they were having a really good time.”

Wokoma said filming is “really long” and she felt the responsibility of coaching the players through the process and keeping it an upbeat experience.

“They taught me about football, which I did absorb, and I taught them about filming,” the 36-year-old, who had to learn a South African accent for the film, said.

British director Sharrock said the film “talks abut homelessness, it takes the taboo away and it celebrates what the individual can be and how we can change their lives”.

“I think it is very, very authentic, real stories that have come through the organisation, that is one of the things we worked so hard to create and I think for that reason it has got real heart and soul,” she told PA.

“Football in particular, we know is so dramatic. We all have watched games that have turned around the last dying seconds so theatre is involved in football when it is at its best, also because of the passion behind the players is everything, so a film that combines all of these things is a bit of a dream come true to work on.”

Meanwhile It’s A Sin star Callum Scott Howells said he learnt about the Homeless World Cup after landing the role of Nathan.

“I feel so happy that it has come into my life, I feel so proud to be part of a film that is about such an important cause and a cause that has changed so many peoples lives,” he told PA.

“It came at a time when I had just done It’s A Sin and it was before all my other stuff, I’m a big football fan, I love football and it was very different to everything else that I’ve done so it was perfect.

“The script was just perfect, the character was so lovely and I think doing something on Netflix is always a big high in anyone’s career.”

The 24-year-old also said he gets his bottom out during the film which he described as a “high point”.