Coach (2018 film)

This film is the directorial and screenwriting debut of Danila Kozlovsky.

According to Danila Kozlovsky, he had long dreamed of the role of a football coach. At the initial stage of his work, he considered his participation in the project only as an actor and producer, but then he realized that he would like to “tell this story himself” - as a director. At the dawn of his career, in 2005, Kozlovsky played the role of footballer Nikolai in the film Garpastum (2005) directed by Aleksei German Jr. The plot of the picture tells about football in Tsarist Russia.[1]

All the workers of the set were dressed in the branded jackets of the Meteor team. If the camera captured one of them when shooting, that person fit into the frame as an employee of the club.[4]

Danila Kozlovsky and Vitaly Mutko of the World Cup, «I read many books about football, including those written by legendary coaches and football players. I talked a lot with coaches, referees, players, managers, commentators, doctors... I constantly watch football, study goals, fouls, red cards, scandals. I follow the Champions League, I know all the modern players. I signed up for all the football posts on Instagram. I even began to dress like a football player: I suddenly discovered six pairs of sneakers... I like this culture. Of course, there are circumstances in modern football that I do not welcome, but there are a huge number of things that I like, and I try to integrate them as much as possible into the film’s fabric».

The project was created with the support of the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation, the Russian Football Union and personally Vitaly Mutko.[1] Also the film received financial support from the Cinema Foundation of Russia.[5]

About three thousand professional football players auditioned for a role in the picture, from whom the creators of the project selected about 200 people. Among them were Alan Gatagov and Dmitri Sychev; the latter compared Kozlovsky with Guus Hiddink based on the results of the shooting, who combining exactingness and democracy, managed to lead the national team to bronze medals of Euro 2008. For two months, the team, assembled from athletes and professional actors, lived on a tough athletic regimen. Kozlovsky trained with them too.[4]

Olga Zueva, who worked with Danila Kozlovsky in the 2018 film In the Hood (ru), initially asked for the role of Varya. But Danila felt that she did not fit in the style and image, and continued to look for another performer. Meanwhile, Olga Zueva reworked the script, giving the character of her character more strength, courage and a bit of eccentricity. The director positively evaluated the proposals and approved the actress for the role.[4]

Principal photography process continued in 2017. The training base of FC "Meteor" was shot at the Central Stadium of Novorossiysk - the home arena of FC Chernomorets.[4] In total, six football stadiums were used in the film, including "Otkritie Arena", "Arena Khimki" and "Krasnodar Stadium".

The only foreign stadium used in the movie is Stamford bridge, stadium of Chelsea F.C.[6]

Filming was carried out in the evening and at night - from 17 to 7 hours. In extras - in the roles of fans - about 450 people were shot.

The film received average ratings of Russian film critics. Browser Anton Dolin (ru) rated the film 6 points out of 10.[8]