Jason Sudeikis Accidentally Split His Head Open On Set And 18 More Facts About "Ted Lasso" That'll Make You Watch The Show Differently
1.First, the concept of "Ted Lasso" actually came from an NBC Sports commercial back in 2012.
2.Keeley Hazell, who plays Bex on the show, actually inspired Juno Temple's character Keeley Jones.
Keeley originally met Jason years ago, when they appeared in Horrible Bosses 2 together. They were also rumored to be dating earlier this year.
3.Brett Goldstein started out as a writer for the series way before he was ever cast as Roy Kent.
He told Jimmy Kimmel, "We were, like, five episodes into and writing, and I start to think, I think I'm Roy... But I also thought no one around this table thinks I'm Roy... So when we finished the writer's room, I filmed five scenes as Roy, and I emailed it to them and said, 'Thanks for having me, if this is awkward, or this is shit, pretend you never got this email, and I promise I will never ask you about it, but if you like it — I think Roy is in me, growling.'"
4.Ted hitting his head on Rebecca's door was actually a total accident. Jason cut his head and ended up having to get the wound glued shut because he was bleeding so much.
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He told Drew Barrymore, "I jumped up and then I, boom, cracked my head. I roll like I do, I stand up, I think I'm fine, I go offstage. I reach up, and there's a little bit of blood on my finger. I look down, and then a pool of blood starts dripping down, pooling in my hand, and I'm like, 'Oh no.'"
5.Phil Dunster and Nick Mohammed both auditioned for the role of Higgins, but ultimately, Jeremy Swift ended up with the role.
Phil even told the Independent that the character of Jamie Tartt actually started out as Dani Rojas before becoming two separate characters.
6.Hannah revealed that the biscuits Ted gives Rebecca actually weren't as tasty as they seemed on the show; they're "literally like sticking a piece of sponge in your face."
She said, "The greatest acting job of my life so far was to make everyone think those biscuits tasted good in Season 1. They are really nice and buttery and sugary now, but that’s because I’ve had such a global tantrum about their flavor every time I’ve been asked about it."
7.The series broke the record for most Emmy nominations for a freshman comedy series, with 20 nominations at this year's Emmy Awards.
The record was previously held by Glee, which earned 19 nominations at the 2010 Emmys.
8.While auditioning for the show, the actors were asked to tape "their football skills" along with their normal acting scenes.
9.Cristo Fernández, who plays Dani Rojas, actually played second division soccer back in Mexico. He played with Tecos of Liga MX, which is the top professional football division in the Mexican league.
Then, he started taking film classes after a bad knee injury and later applied to acting schools in the UK.
10.Early on in the series, Hannah Waddingham "purposely made a point of shutting [out] everything that didn’t involve Rebecca" because she didn't want to fall in love with Ted just like the audience does.
Hannah shared with the Independent, "I didn’t want to know the human. All I knew was he’s a disaster at what he does and he’s going to be the root to getting back at Rupert [Rebecca’s ex-husband, played by Anthony Head]. If I’d let Ted in as a human, I’d notice flickers in Jason’s eyes and think, 'Oh, he’s doing that thing to show this to the audience.'" She even joked that by the end of filming Season 1 she realized she shot an entire season without knowing "what the vibe was."
11.Rebecca's "Let It Go" karaoke moment almost didn't make it into the series, because at first Disney rejected the show's request to use the song.
Hannah ended up filming a backup version of the scene where she sang "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor instead. Luckily, after Disney saw the "Let It Go" clip, they reversed their rejection.
12.Jason Sudeikis was inspired to write in AFC Richmond's karaoke scene after hearing about Liverpool's coach Jurgen Klopp and his team's real-life karaoke parties.
13.Juno Temple was very nervous to play Keeley, especially because she's "not known for comedy work," but the writers eventually had to rewrite the character just because of how much funnier Juno was than the original character.
Brett said, "Let me say this about Juno, because she would never say it about herself: when we did that first read-through, not only was she fucking funny, but us – the writers – were like, 'Oh, she’s funnier than we’ve written.' The character that changed the most in the writing was Keeley because of Juno. She was so much more fun than what we had written."
14.Jason always meant for the series to be three seasons, but executive producer Bill Lawrence is open to doing more.
Jason told Entertainment Weekly, "The story that's being told — that three-season arc — is one that I see, know, and understood. I'm glad that they are willing to pay for those three seasons. As far as what happens after that, who knows? I don't know." As for what happens after, Bill shared, "Hey, in my head, I'm like, Ted Lasso moves home and he should coach the professional team that's a block away from Jason's home in real life."
15.Cam Cole, the street performer that replaces Robbie Williams in the fourth episode of Season 1, is actually a real street performer who lives in London.
16.AFC Richmond's training stadium is actually the real-life stadium for Hayes and Yeading FC and is located in West London.
17.When Jason called Marcus Mumford (of Mumford and Sons) to do the music for Ted Lasso, he accidentally ghosted Jason and didn't respond until months later.
Marcus told USA Today, "[Jason] left me a very long message on my US phone, which I don't keep on when I'm in the UK. So I actually missed it and it had been on my phone for a couple of months, and he thought I was just ghosting him. So when I finally picked it up, I called him and was like, 'So sorry, man, but I'd love to talk more about your TV show.'"
18.Marcus Mumford is also a huuuuge football fan, too, so this show was a perfect project for him to work on.
He said, "You know what my team is called? AFC Wimbledon. And of course, Ted Lasso's team is AFC Richmond, and Richmond and Wimbledon are in the same part of London. So it felt like serendipity to me because I'm a diehard AFC Wimbledon fan. So if it offers me an opportunity to talk more about football and AFC Wimbledon, that's basically the long game with this whole thing."
