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LEXI ALEXANDER:
“I’m a big football fan. I went to my first match in Germany when I was five years old, mainly because my brother had to babysit me. I have to make it clear that hooliganism is something that occurs in practically every footballing nation around the world – I’m not suggesting that it is just a British thing.”
ELIJAH WOOD:
“The experience of traveling to London for two weeks of rehearsal was really incredible, because it very much mirrored what my character went through, an American who’s not really familiar with that world, having never been to a proper football match. And experiencing those things with the [actors] for the first time, it really cemented my relationship with the guys.”
CHARLIE HUNNAM:
“Elijah is obviously very famous, and I think the last Lord of the Rings film had just come out when we started the movie. He very quickly integrated himself into the group. There was a lot of fun to be had, and those guys continued to go out all the way through production.”
WOOD on shooting the fight scenes:
“I didn’t get hurt. We had pretty intensive training and choreography for the fighting. I did about three weeks of training before I went to London. It was fun to be trained in fighting and learn street fighting moves. Interestingly enough, I think that we all kind of assumed the fight scenes would be the easiest days and most fun, because we would be fighting, but they were the most complicated days, the most exhausting. Those scenes took the longest because it was all very specific, even though it looks very manic.”
HUNNAM:
“There is so little technique to the actual style of hooligan fighting, so our training was about being in control of our bodies so that we wouldn’t hurt anybody. We took that responsibility seriously. We were throwing pretty vicious punches, and if you didn’t concentrate and you did connect, people were going to get their noses and faces broken. In the last fight sequence I hurt myself a little bit, but nothing major.”
WOOD:
“I appreciate football a lot more, especially going to matches. I mean, it’s truly electrifying. It’s unlike any sporting event that I’ve ever been to. I don’t really follow sports that much. I think that if I were to follow sports, I would probably follow football.”
HUNNAM:
“I knew nothing about football at all. I’d never been to a football match and never watched it on TV. So I had to completely go and educate myself, not only on hooliganism but on the game itself, because you can’t go and try to integrate yourself into these groups without first knowing how to talk about football. I really enjoyed going to the matches. I love the human aspect of football, the humor involved and the electricity.”
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THE CONCEPT:
