The Coach
Short description
Set in modern Russia, this drama follows Yuriy Stoleshnikov, a player for the national soccer team. After missing a crucial penalty kick, Yuriy leaves the squad and ends his professional playing career. He relocates to a small provincial town, where he takes on the role of coach for a local team. Through this new position, he seeks to regain his self-confidence and lead his players toward an unlikely success.
The film marks the directorial debut of Danila Kozlovsky, who also wrote the screenplay and produced the movie alongside Nikita Mikhalkov and Leonid Vereshchagin. Kozlovsky stars as the lead character, appearing alongside Irina Gorbacheva, Vladimir Ilin, and Andrey Smolyakov. The production was handled by several companies, including Central Partnership and Studio Trite.
Released in 2018 with a runtime of 138 minutes, the film has received a moderate reception from viewers. On IMDb, it holds a rating of 6.3/10 based on 1,600 votes, while on TMDB, it has a slightly higher score of 6.6/10 from 71 votes.
What's left behind the scenes
- Former coach of the Russian national football team, Leonid Slutsky, became one of the project's consultants.
- All members of the film crew wore branded jackets of the 'Meteor' team. If the camera captured one of them during a pan, they blended into the scene as a club employee.
- Filming took place from April 24th to July 6th, 2017. The 'Meteor' football club's training base was filmed at the Central Stadium in Novorossiysk – the home arena of FC 'Chernomorets'. A total of six football stadiums were used in the film, including 'Otkritie Arena', 'Arena Khimki', and 'Krasnodar'.
- According to Danila Kozlovsky, he had long dreamed of playing the role of a football coach. At the initial stage of the work, he only considered his involvement in the project as an actor and producer, but then realized he wanted to “tell this story himself” – as a director. Early in his career, in 2005, Kozlovsky played the role of footballer Nikolai in Alexei German Jr.'s film "Garpastum." The plot of that film tells about football in Tsarist Russia.
- Around 450 people were involved in the mass scenes, playing the roles of fans. According to estimates by StarHit magazine, the cost of their fees amounted to approximately 5 million rubles.
- The film's production budget is 390 million rubles, with projected box office receipts of 680 million rubles.
- The film was shot in Moscow, the Moscow region, Novorossiysk, Krasnodar, and London.
- The project is being created with the support of the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation, the Russian Football Union, and personally Vitaly Mutko. The film also received financial support from the Cinema Fund.
- Even before the Russian release, "The Coach" had been sold to more than 20 countries.
- Filming was conducted at night – from 5 PM to 7 AM.
- Approximately three thousand professional footballers auditioned for roles in the film, from whom the project creators selected around 200 people. Among them were Alan Gatagov and Dmitry Sychev; the latter, after filming, compared Kozlovsky to Guus Hiddink, who, combining demandingness and democracy, managed to lead the team to bronze medals at Euro 2008. For two months, the team, comprised of athletes mixed with actors, lived in a strict athletic regimen – Kozlovsky trained with them as well.
- Olga Zueva, who previously worked with Kozlovsky on "On the Block", initially applied for the role of Varya. But Danila believed that she was completely unsuitable in terms of type and image, and continued to search for another actress. Meanwhile, Olga reworked the script, giving her character more strength, courage, and a touch of eccentricity. The director positively assessed her suggestions and approved the actress for the role.
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