Dream Team: This actor who was removed from Hollywood was replaced in a Taika Waititi film

What is it about? An incredible epic for the American Samoa football team, who suffered the worst defeat in the history of the 2001 World Cup, as they were beaten 31-0 by Australia. With the 2014 World Cup qualifiers approaching, the team recruits a disgraced and disgraced coach to help them possibly turn their fortunes around.

Armie Hammer has changed

After a sex scandal involving him in 2021 (screenshots of messages were published in which the actor discussed fantasies of rape, vampirism and even cannibalism) and a complaint against him for rape, Armie Hammer was replaced in the cast of A. The Dream Team by Will Arnett. The actor has already been fired from the show Shotgun Wedding with Jennifer Lopez. Notes and serial offer.

Resounding failure

On 11 April 2001, Day 3 of Group I of the 2002 World Cup Qualifiers was played at Coffs Harbor Stadium in Australia in the Oceania Zone. The Socceroos (Australian soccer team) faced the American Samoa soccer team and beat them 31-0, setting a world record for a soccer match at an international World Cup. It took ten years for the Samoan team to win their first international victory in November 2011 during the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) World Cup qualifiers.

After the documentary, it’s time for fiction

The historic defeat of American Samoa inspired two English directors, Mike Brett and Steve Jamieson, to make a documentary about the team in 2014, also called A Dream Team. The film adaptation rights were then acquired by Jonathan Cavendish and Andy Serkis, respectively, and executive producer Taika Waititi to turn the film into a feature film. Brett and Jamison also serve as producers.

It took four years before Taika Waititi was available, and the producers handed the film over to Searchlight Pictures to shoot in fall 2019 in Oahu, Hawaii. All the while, the filmmaker has kept his passion and investment in the subject intact: “It’s always been a very special project for me. It’s the ultimate story that takes on the impossible.”

To see at the cinema: Dream Team, football’s Rasta Rockett tells the incredible true story

A rude coach

Michael Fassbender plays the gruff coach Thomas Rongen. The actor clarifies that he was more inspired by his past and the choices he could have made in life, rather than his own personality. He jokes: “I want to make this clear in case Thomas wants to attack me. The coach I play in the movie is not what he is in real life.” The cast and crew made a conscious decision not to meet the real Thomas Rongen, as the character in the film is so loosely based on him that it wasn’t necessary.

Island of Oahu

Due to a number of logistical reasons, it was not possible to film in American Samoa. So the production turned to Hawaii and found that the island of Oahu had all the elements and filming locations necessary to recreate the small Pacific island located 4,023 kilometers to the south.

Taiki Waititi explains: “Because it was so difficult to film in American Samoa, we were looking for a location as close as possible. Since Hawaii – Oahu in particular – has a large amount of studio and crew equipment, it immediately made sense. “