Sports comedy Ted Lasso is a must-watch. GEORGIA HUMPHREYS chats to stars Juno Temple, Hannah Waddingham and Jason Sudeikis, who also created the show It’s cool to be part of a show where strong female characters support one another
funny line, it’s a real rarity for me and so I hope I’ve done it justice because they gave me something to play with that was vast and layered.”
INSPIRED CHARACTERS
IT was very simple for Hannah to base Rebecca on a real-life person; she just looked to 51-year-old Karren Brady, who is currently CEO of
West Ham United Football Club, and at just 23, was made managing director of Birmingham City Football Club.
“I’ve followed her unswerving power through a man’s world for years,” notes the actress, best known for her stage work on the West End.
“And yet, she never for a second loses her femininity or chooses to hide it. I think she’s a wonderful role model for
Ted brings a bit of American enthusiasm to Rebecca’s very English football club young women who must get sick and tired growing up seeing overly glossy, plastic women on the front of women’s magazines, and I just think she stepped into that world and because she doesn’t question it, nobody else does.”
Discussing if she drew on any public figures for the role of Keeley, Juno quips: “I had a bit of Cheryl Cole, for sure.”
As for the inspiration behind Ted Lasso in general, Jason, has described the show as a mix of The Office (the English version) and Friday Night Lights, a comparison Juno enthusiastically agrees with. They are “both genius TV shows” she adds, “but for such different reasons. So combining the two is really smart comedy”.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
THE basis of the series is that Ted finds himself in a very unfamiliar situation; a new country and culture, and a job where he has no idea what he’s doing.
As the creator of the story, can Jason recall a time in his life when he felt similarly out of depth?
“A big one for me that really pops up in my mind was when I moved from Kansas City to Chicago,” reflects the star, who is married to actress and filmmaker Olivia Wilde (they have two children together,
Otis and Daisy).
“I was an athlete all through high school, and college a little bit, and at some point, I stopped doing that; I knew I wasn’t going to do that for a living. I thought, ‘I wanna try acting’.
“So moving to Chicago, I was very lucky because I got to live with my grandmother and I didn’t have to pay rent – although I did have to make sure I was sweet to her, which wasn’t difficult. I drove my car that my uncle had in town there, so I was ahead of the curve as far as rent and transportation went.
“But still, moving to a city that I only knew one person in, to try and work in a place called the second city, was scary and daunting and I just sort of focused on one little goal at a time, taking theatre classes and improv classes and writing classes along the way.” What he wants is for his own children to be able to do something that they truly love, something “that they would do for free”,” he says.
“I certainly had to do it for free a long time – a lot of the time!”
Well, Jason may have been unsure if things would work out, but it would seem so far, so good.