Sure, Jason Sudeikis is incredible in Ted Lasso, AppleTV+’s hit show that has also been winning its fair share of awards of late (including the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series, as well its victories at the Critics Choice Awards for Best Comedy Series, Best Actor in a Comedy Series and Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series). But it is the supporting cast around him that makes the soccer-centric, sorry football-centered, comedy one of the most endearing and cheer-worthy television endeavors of recent memory. Behind that is the casting director, Theo Park, who Zoomed with The Movie Mensch for a revealing and entertaining exclusive chat!
The casting veteran has worked on everything from Star Wars: The Last Jedi to Overlord and the new The Lord of the Rings show.
Ted Lasso chronicles what happens when an American football coach (Sudeikis’ titular character) accepts a position as a football (i.e., soccer) head coach in the prestigious Premier League, despite not knowing all too much about the sport. He leads a team in turmoil as their losses pile up and its veteran star, Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) butts heads—sometimes literally—with its superstar youngster Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster), who is as clueless about life outside the rectangle as he is beyond gifted inside it.
There’s also the fact that the owner of the team, Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham), received the club in the divorce from her philandering husband. She believes that killing the only thing he cares about, his beloved football team, will get her the revenge she seeks. That’s largely why she hired Lasso so that the team will tank. Surprisingly, that is not exactly what occurs.
See, Lasso is one incredible coach, and his methodology behind winning lies more with motivating players to succeed than it does with the nitty-gritty of the particular game they play. As Sudeikis plays him, he’s also one of the most affable characters the small screen has seen in years. Also, Ted is incredibly optimistic, and seemingly unshakable in that fact… even while he deals with his own drama on the home front.
Park reveals the secrets to filling out a cast that includes Juno Temple as Keeley Jones, Brendan Hunt as Coach Beard (Lasso’s longtime assistant), Jeremy Swift as Higgins, and scene-stealer Nick Mohammed as Nathan Shelley (i.e., Nate the Great, as Lasso calls him!). The casting director speaks specifically about the casting of Mohammed and scoring a movie star like Temple and what it means to a program such as Ted Lasso.
If you haven’t seen Ted Lasso yet, make an appointment with AppleTV+ and immediately add it to your entertainment landscape. This program is one of the best to come along in a long while.
Look for Season Two of Ted Lasso to premiere July 23.