BUFS Preview
The Damned United
Amanda Bishop
Issue date: 11/24/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment
BUFS closes out the fall season with The Damned United, the highly anticipated film from the makers of The Queen and Frost/Nixon.
The film is based on David Peace's acclaimed (and controversial) novel of the same name, which fictionalizes the true story of Brian Clough. In the 1970s, Clough (Michael Sheen, Frost/Nixon, The Queen), a soccer star turned coach, becomes obsessed with Don Revie (Colm Meaney, Law-Abiding Citizen, Star Trek: The Next Generation), coach of Leeds United. When Revie leaves his post to coach the English national team, Clough lands his old job and, in spite of all his earlier (and later) successes, begins a disastrous 44-day stint as the team's new coach.
Most sports movies go for the underdog angle, but The Damned United is anything but The Bad News Bears. The film profiles Clough's career low point, rather than its height, which makes it much more interesting than your average sports movie.
It's also much more interesting than your average biopic, even for folks who have never heard of Brian Clough before now. Director Tom Hooper (John Adams, Elizabeth I) and writer Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen) both know their way around the genre, and use their experience to excellent effect here. Michael Sheen's fearless performance as the arrogant Clough is garnering serious Oscar buzz. Timothy Spall (the Harry Potter franchise, Sweeney Todd), who plays Clough's long-suffering assistant Peter Taylor, Meaney as the bulldog Revie, and Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge, Bridget Jones's Diary) as Sam Longson round out the stellar cast.
The Damned United screens Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Empire Theatres, Pen Centre.Visit www.brocku.ca/bufs for details.
-Amanda Bishop
The film is based on David Peace's acclaimed (and controversial) novel of the same name, which fictionalizes the true story of Brian Clough. In the 1970s, Clough (Michael Sheen, Frost/Nixon, The Queen), a soccer star turned coach, becomes obsessed with Don Revie (Colm Meaney, Law-Abiding Citizen, Star Trek: The Next Generation), coach of Leeds United. When Revie leaves his post to coach the English national team, Clough lands his old job and, in spite of all his earlier (and later) successes, begins a disastrous 44-day stint as the team's new coach.
Most sports movies go for the underdog angle, but The Damned United is anything but The Bad News Bears. The film profiles Clough's career low point, rather than its height, which makes it much more interesting than your average sports movie.
It's also much more interesting than your average biopic, even for folks who have never heard of Brian Clough before now. Director Tom Hooper (John Adams, Elizabeth I) and writer Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen) both know their way around the genre, and use their experience to excellent effect here. Michael Sheen's fearless performance as the arrogant Clough is garnering serious Oscar buzz. Timothy Spall (the Harry Potter franchise, Sweeney Todd), who plays Clough's long-suffering assistant Peter Taylor, Meaney as the bulldog Revie, and Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge, Bridget Jones's Diary) as Sam Longson round out the stellar cast.
The Damned United screens Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Empire Theatres, Pen Centre.Visit www.brocku.ca/bufs for details.
-Amanda Bishop
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