What do actors do to play famous athletes?

In the spring of next year is expected to release the Russian movie “Streltsov”. The movie is dedicated to the fate of soccer player Eduard Streltsov. About the picture itself is still known little, except that the director – Alexei Uchitel, and the performer of the main role – Alexander Petrov. And recently the veil of secrecy was lifted, the actor published his photos in the image.

They say that this role was given to Alexander is not so easy. In order to match the prototype, had to work a lot on himself and sharpen attention to even the most seemingly insignificant details of the hero’s behavior.

On the wave of anticipation of the movie, we remembered other actors who successfully reincarnated in the images of famous athletes.

Race (2013) – Daniel Bruhl and Chris Hemsworth

The creators of the movie “Race”, which tells about the rivalry between two famous Formula 1 pilots, spent a long and painstaking work to fully correspond to the era. They persuaded collectors to let them use real cars. In addition, it was necessary to practically from scratch to restore the race tracks, which have not survived to this day. Also for more realism used real equipment teams Formula. Since sit behind the wheel of a real bolide non-professional can not, the performers of the main roles for filming used cars Formula-3, which replaced the dodger.

Racers Niki Lauda and James Hunt played Daniel Bruhl and Chris Hemsworth. Brühl – German, and his character – Austrian, so to match it had to long practiced with a speech therapist to correctly adopt the accent. It turned out so believable that people familiar with the famous racer were sure that for the voiceover used his voice.

Also Niki Lauda had an incorrect bite – to copy this detail, Daniel throughout the period of filming carried a special device in his mouth. The most difficult was to adopt the behavior and character traits of the racer, for this actor specially met with Niki. Later he admitted that he was embarrassed to ask some questions, but Lauda was good-natured and frank. The racer spoke in detail about the accident, which divided his life into before and after. Niki Lauda himself spoke positively about the picture and the actor, and subsequently maintained a buddy relationship with Daniel right up until his death in May this year.

Chris Hemsworth did not have the opportunity to communicate with James Hunt, the racer died long before filming began. To match the image, Chris carefully studied the biography of his hero and watched a huge amount of archival footage to understand what Hunt really was. Those who have seen the actor only in the role of the God of Thunder from the famous superhero movie universe, may not recognize him in this picture. For the role of James Hunt, he had to lose 14 pounds. He himself joked on this topic that otherwise he simply would not fit into the bolide.

“Unbroken” (2014) – Jack O’Connell

The movie “Unbroken” tells about the American track and field athlete Louis Zamperini. He took part in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and after the outbreak of war joined the U.S. Army. His plane crashed, as a result of which the athlete found himself in captivity, where he was subjected to torture and inhuman cruelty. But, despite all the difficulties, he survived the ordeal and returned home at the end of the war.

The main role played by Englishman Jack O’Connell. Immediately after being approved for the role, the actor lit up with the idea of meeting Louis Zamperini to better know the man he was to play. They really saw, the first time their conversation was recorded on camera, during the second they were just the two of them. And it was the second conversation, according to the actor, helped him to really know his hero. To enhance the external resemblance, Jack dyed his hair black. In addition, he learned to run properly, as a result, the athlete himself noted his technique.

Unfortunately, Louis Zamperini himself did not live to see the premiere, he died in the summer of 2014, a few days before the first trailer and six months before the release of the movie. But according to the director of the movie – Angelina Jolie, she showed the athlete some of the footage, and he approved it. For this role, Jack O’Connell received the “New Hollywood” award, which was dedicated to Zamperini.

“Unbroken” (2009) – Matt Damon

The movie “Unconquered” tells about the events in South Africa in the mid-90s. The country was on the verge of civil war, and to prevent it, President Nelson Mandela tried to unite the population through rugby.

One of the important characters is the captain of the South African national team Francois Pienaar, whose role was played by Matt Damon. The American actor also decided to take the opportunity to talk to his hero to get to know him better. It is said that when Matt came to Francois home, there was a silent scene worthy of Gogol’s pen. The thing is that the rugby player’s height is almost two meters, while he weighs more than 100 kg. Naturally, at the sight of the “miniature” actor (Damon’s height is 178 cm, weight 70 kg) the athlete had quite logical questions. Matt defused the situation by joking that he looks much bigger on the screen.

The movie “The Invisible Side” is more about the environment of the player in American soccer Michael Oher than his sports career. The movie tells how he got into foster care and how it helped him achieve great heights in sports.

The main role went to a little-known at that time actor Aaron Quinton. The American especially and did not hope that the director is interested, so just in case he warned that if necessary, he is ready to work on the set as a security guard. The services of a security guard crew did not need, but the role he was still approved. To prepare for the role, Aaron began to train hard with a team of Georgia Tech University. The picture is notable for the fact that most of the coaches played themselves. Many of them by the time of filming had already changed their occupation, but for the sake of participation in this project for a while resumed their careers. Michael Oher himself appreciated the movie and the work of the actor, but also noted that the character traits shown in the movie are largely invented by the creators.

“Poddubny” (2014) – Mikhail Porechenkov

The main role in the Russian film “Poddubny” was performed by Mikhail Porechenkov. The movie tells about several episodes from the life of the famous wrestler. As recognized by the creators themselves, they did not strive for documentary accuracy, so some of the events of the movie do not coincide with the real episodes of the biography of the athlete.

External similarity of the actor and his hero is visible to the naked eye, but Porechenkov inferior Poddubny in size. To correct this, he gained 25 kilograms. And to sharpen his wrestling skills, trained with the national teams of Bulgaria in combat sambo and Ukraine in freestyle and classical wrestling, as well as with the national team of Ukraine in sumo. In the pursuit of realism of fights, the actor was injured more than once: he injured his knee, broke several ribs and badly injured his arm, so much so that he needed surgery in Germany. One of the symbols of Ivan Poddubny – his famous cast-iron cane, which weighed 16 kilograms. The actor for the role made an exact copy, but he was pitied, so it was lighter than the original. The cane used by Mikhail Porechenkov weighed only 12 kilograms.