Few Spanish films have had the success and recognition obtained by Campeones, which alone in its country of origin collected more than 20 million euros, won 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 selected to represent Spain in the competition for the Oscar for the best international film. However, outside our borders it was only a little successful in France, where it collected another million euros, in Mexico and, although less, in Italy and Colombia. That didn’t stop Universal from launching a US remake.
Champions, starring Woody Harrelson, and with few references to the original film, was released a few days ago in the United States to marked indifference from the audience, which has only left about seven 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 a similar thing has happened in the UK, where it has barely reached $600,000 in about 450 theaters. The funny thing is, with the exception of Variety, in which Peter Debruge headlined “Woody Harrelson stars in what would have been the feel-good movie of 1993”, telling the article that it was a retrograde remake but well-intentioned, the reviews have been kind.
Ben Kenigsberg of The New York Times, who expresses his displeasure with the Spanish film, notes in his review: “Mark Rizzo’s new script stays faithful to the original, although most of the changes, amplifying Marco’s mercenary nature and a different love life, they are better. The new version is certainly better done and doesn’t stare in awe 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 this successful duo, Bobby put his signature on blockbusters such as Algo pasa con Mary and Dos chimples mot chimples, and other less successful comedies such as Yo, yo mismo e Irene and Pegado to you In the latter, on the Miami set, Matt Damon met his current wife, the Argentinian Luciana Bozán Barroso, two decades ago.
In 1996, when Woody Harrelson was one of Hollywood’s hottest stars, the Farrellys collaborated with him on A Couple of Sonatas, in which the Cheers star played a former professional gambler of bowling in search of a new opportunity. Therefore, when it came time to look for who could play the role that Javier Gutiérrez played so well in the original film, Harrelson was the ideal candidate, since, in addition, he will always be remembered for his leading role as a young basketball player in Els blancos saban la fica, with which he managed to become a movie star, helped by the popularity of Wesley Snipes at the time.
In the new film, the team is called Friends, and Marco is Markus, a professional basketball coach who has seen better days and makes a living as an assistant on a college team in Des Moines, Iowa, a small town in the Midwest of the United States, 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 La mano que mece la cuna), 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 prison or doing 90 days of social work. This is how Markus ends up at the facilities of Friends, the basketball team for the disabled in a desperate search for a coach.
The character of Julio, who in the Spanish version was played by Juan Margallo, is called the same in the remake and the role is played by the Mexican-American comedian Cheech Marin. The love story is also different, since here the adventure is with the sister of one of the players, a role played by Kaitlin Olson, known for playing Dee in Colgados en Filadelfia. Unlike Fesser’s film, in which Gutierrez lived with his cast mates for several months before filming began (something that probably influenced the endearing relationship they have on screen), Harrelson he met the ten disabled actors who made up the basketball team right on set, and built a relationship with them over the course of a shoot in which he prized improvisation.
