Escape to Victory - actors, characters and roles
All actors and their roles in the film "Escape to Victory"
Escape to Victory (1981)
Timing:
1:56 (116 min)
6.9/10
871
871
6.559/10
2393
2393
6.7/10
36000
36000
Actors and characters
Bobby Moore
Character Terry Brady, England
Osvaldo Ardiles
Character Carlos Rey, Argentina
Paul Van Himst
Character Michel Fileu, Belgium
Kazimierz Deyna
Character Paul Wolchek, Poland
Mike Summerbee
Character Sid Harmor, England
Co Prins
Character Pieter Van Beck, Holland
Russell Osman
Character Doug Clure, England
John Wark
Character Arthur Hayes, Scotland
Søren Lindsted
Character Erik Ball, Denmark
Kevin O'Callaghan
Character Tony Lewis, Ireland
Laurie Sivell
Character Schmidt, german goalie
Robin Turner
Character a german player
Michael Wolf
Character Lang
Jürgen Andersen
Character a propaganda civilian
David Shawyer
Character Strauss
Werner Roth
Character Baumann, german team captain
Benoît Ferreux
Character Jean-Paul
Jack Lenoir
Character Georges
Zoltán Gera
Character Viktor
Clive Merrison
Character The Forger
Jack Kendrick
Character Williams
Gunter Wolbert
Character german commentator
Capacci Eolo
Character italian commentator
Michel Drhey
Character french commentator
Hallvar Thoresen
Character Gunnar Hilsson, Norway
What's left behind the scenes
- The English football club Ipswich Town participated in the filming of the movie.
- Clint Eastwood, Lloyd Bridges, and Alain Delon were originally intended to star in the film.
- Filming took place from August to November 1980 in Budapest and Paris.
- In the suburbs of Budapest, on the grounds of the former Allag stables, a prison set was built on an area of 1.2 hectares. Construction took three months.
- The MTK stadium in Budapest was used to depict the Parisian Colombes stadium where the match takes place. The producers chose MTK because it closely resembled Colombes, specifically because it lacked artificial lighting (artificial lighting on stadiums didn't appear until after World War II). Today, this stadium belongs to the Hungarian football club MTK.
- All the extras in the film were local residents. Some speaking roles were also played by Hungarian actors. For example, in the scene where the guards discover the escape, one of them speaks not German, but Hungarian. One of the Resistance members speaks English with a strong Hungarian accent.
- Sylvester Stallone wanted to appear in all the match scenes without a stunt double. He had begun training on a football field even during the filming of his previous movie, 'Nighthawks' (1981). His coach was British goalkeeper Gordon Banks, who played on a World Cup-winning team.
- Before filming, Sylvester Stallone lost 40 pounds because he believed a prisoner of war shouldn't look “like an Olympic weightlifter.”
- On the first day of filming, Stallone acted recklessly and threw himself into the thick of the fight for the ball. As a result, he fell, dislocated his shoulder, broke a rib, and was forced to leave the set for several days. After that, a stunt double was assigned to him to replace him in the most dangerous moments. Despite the double's help, Stallone sustained several more injuries. While attempting to take the ball from Pelé, he broke another rib and a finger. After filming, he said that playing football was harder than boxing in 'Rocky'.
- Of all those who played members of the Allied team, only Stallone and Michael Caine are professional actors. The rest are professional footballers.
- Eighteen international football stars appeared in the film.
- Kevin O'Callaghan, who played the goalkeeper with a broken arm, had never actually stood in goal. He was a midfielder, playing for Ipswich, Portsmouth, and the Irish national team.
- Footballer Mike Summerbee became friends with Michael Caine during filming. After retiring from sports, Summerbee started producing t-shirts, and Caine became his favorite customer.
- In 2011, Vinnie Jones announced that he was planning a remake of the film starring himself and David Beckham. But the project remains just an idea for now.
- Pelé was not only an actor, but also a stunt choreographer on the football field. He notably demonstrated his signature move – a bicycle kick while falling.
- The film is based on real events related to the famous “Match of Death” which took place in Kyiv in 1942. At that time, the Ukrainian team “Start” won a football match against a team from the German Luftwaffe. Subsequently, all the players of “Start” were arrested, and many of them died in a concentration camp.
- It is said that Sylvester Stallone wanted his character to score the winning goal, as he is the main star of the film. The screenwriters barely managed to convince him that the goalkeeper was unlikely to score a goal against the opposing team. Eventually, Stallone agreed to a version where his character takes a very difficult shot during a penalty kick.
Did you like the film?
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
