Few Spanish films have had the success and recognition obtained by Campeones, which only in its country of origin raised more than 20 million euros, took the Goya for Best Film, Best New Actor for Jesús Vidal and Best Original Song for Coque Malla, and also had the honor of being chosen to represent Spain in the competition for the Oscar for Best International Film.
However, outside our borders it only had some success in France, where it raised another million euros, in Mexico and to a lesser extent in Italy and Colombia. That didn’t stop Universal from launching an American remake.
Champions , starring Woody Harrelson, and with a few references to the original film, was released a week ago in the United States to a marked indifference on the part of the audience, which has only left around 7 million dollars at the box office despite that the film has been shown in more than 3,000 theaters.
The film has also had a lukewarm response in Australia and something similar has happened in the United Kingdom, where it has barely reached $600,000 in some 450 theaters. The funny thing is that with the exception of Variety, where Peter Debruge headlined “Woody Harrelson stars in what would have been 1993’s feel-good movie,” saying in the article that it was a retrograde but well-intentioned remake, the reviews have been kind.
Ben Kenigsberg of the New York Times, who expresses his distaste for the Spanish film, notes in his review: “Mark Rizzo’s new script stays true to the original, though most of the changes, amplifying Marco’s mercenary character and a life different loving, they are better. The new version is certainly better done and doesn’t gawk at friends.”
Champions marks the return to the cinema of Bobby Farrelly and his first solo foray without the collaboration of his brother Peter, who thanks to the Oscar he won with Green Book has left the world of comedy behind. As part of that successful duo, Bobby put his signature to box office hits like There’s Something About Mary and Dumb and Dumber, and other less successful comedies like Me, Myself and Irene and Stuck on You, on whose Miami set Matt Damon He met his current wife, the Argentine Luciana Bozán Barroso, two decades ago.
In 1996, when Woody Harrelson was one of Hollywood’s hottest stars, the Farrellys collaborated with him on What a Pair of Idiots, in which the man who made his name as the bartender on Cheers played a former professional bowler in search of of a new opportunity.
That is why when it came time to look for someone who could play the role that Javier Gutiérrez played so well in the original film, Harrelson was the ideal candidate, since he will also always be remembered for his leading role as a young basketball player in Los blancos. they don’t know how to put it in, with which he managed to become a movie star helped by the popularity that Wesley Snipes had then.
In the new film, the team is called Friends, and Marco is Markus, a professional basketball coach who has seen better days, making a living as an assistant on a college team in Des Moines, Iowa, a small Midwestern town. where the characteristic is that there is always snow everywhere.
After a fight with his boss (Ernie Hudson, remembered for his role as Solomon in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle), he gets drunk and crashes into a police van. This is how he arrives at the office of a judge (the Chilean Alexandra Castillo) who gives him the choice between going to jail or serving 90 days doing social work. This is how Markus ends up at the Friends facility, the disabled basketball team in desperate search of a coach.
Julio’s character, played by Juan Margallo in the Spanish version, has the same name in the remake and the role is played by Mexican-American comedian Cheech Marin. The love story is also different, since here the romance is with the sister of one of the players, a role played by Kaitlin Olson, known for playing Dee in It’s Always Philadelphian.
Unlike Fesser’s film, in which Gutiérrez lived with his co-stars for several months before shooting began (something that probably played a role in their close on-screen relationship), Harrelson met the 10 disabled actors who they joined the basketball team directly on set, developing a relationship with them throughout a shoot in which improvisation prevailed.
