Although he’s been playing a fictional soccer player since 2020 onTed Lassoit is not as easy as it looks, according to Kola Bokkini, who plays Isaac McAdoo on AFC Richmond.
Even though Bokkini had plenty of experience playing soccer before getting his role on theApple TV Plushit, doing it for a television show is pretty difficult compared to playing the actual game for fun. Bokkini illustrated the difference between playing soccer and acting it out forTed Lasso.
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In an interview withWhistle, Bokkini explained that soccer happens on the fly in the game. “Everything in football is spontaneous. It’s not rehearsed,” Bokkini said. “You can set up your players in a certain way, but on the field, it’s up to the players.” Bokkini then explained the differencewhen they are filmingTed Lasso. “In Ted Lasso, every single scene we’re on the football field is basically choreographed. They’ll say to us, ‘Okay, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass. Kick it up and then Steve volleys it into the goal.’ If that messes up you have to start again. That’s why, in a way, it’s a little more difficult than playing a full match.”
This level of candid talk from Bokkini makes some of theTed Lassoplotlines hit even harder knowing what McAdoo had been going through during the last season of the show. McAdoo had lost his mojo because he had lost the feeling of playing the game for fun. Luckily, Lasso and Roy Kent recognize what he’s going through and put him through a simple pickup game of soccer so that he can remember what it was like to play the game for enjoyment instead of professionally.
Kudos toTed Lassofor hiring actors who are more than familiar with the sport. Some sports movies and television shows, unfortunately, can’t pull off the suspension of disbelief because they have actors who haven’t played the game in real life. To manage this, they either rely on bringing in actual professional basketball players to play the roles - like NBA player Juancho Hernangomezplaying Bo Cruz in Adam Sandler’sHustle- or they bite the bullet and have their actors try their best to look like they’ve played the game before, even if it’s clear that they haven’t.
Ted Lassohas been one of the best forms of fictional sports entertainment audiences have seen in years. While the show’s reputation came from its ability to accurately depict how someone deals with mental health struggles, what also helps is how seamlessly they can portray the actors who play soccer. You wouldn’t know that they were actors when they play the game in the show. Again, some shows suffer as a whole because their actors can’t pull off looking like they know how to play the sports they’re playing. Bokkini admitted that it’s pretty hard to do, but no one has ever complained thatTed Lasso’s depiction of soccerlooks shotty.
