What renowned soccer player, current or past, would you love to play in a biopic?
Oh man, this is a great question. I have so many heroes and anti-heroes and legends, from George Best — the name of my bulldog, actually — to Lothar Matthaus to Roy Keane.
But I'm on a weird connection with David Beckham. We are the same age, we both have 4 kids, we both have a son named Cruz — he copied me — and we were both living in LA at the same time. Oh, and we are both bazillionaires. Ha!
What’s your favorite soccer film of all time, and why?
Easiest question: Victory. Because Sly and Pele and Michael, and because I'm 46, and because beating Nazis, and because has there even been any other soccer movie like it?
Last story. This is what inspired me to write Mack, a soccer film. On set with Will Ferrell, waiting for them to move cameras and lighting and everything else, he handed me a baseball glove and we were having a catch.
I asked him, "Man, think about The Natural, Hoosiers, Remember The Titans. How come no one has ever made that great drama movie with soccer at the heart of it?"
And he said, straight-faced, "What, you never saw Kicking and Screaming?"