It might not have been the best season for Tottenham Hotspur but they still ended up finding themselves sprinkled through a new hit movie
There’s always drama and chaos at Tottenham Hotspur that even a Hollywood scriptwriter would struggle to come up with, but now the club actually finds itself referenced throughout a hit new Jennifer Lopez movie.
Spurs fans were put through the wringer during a Premier League season in which the north London side almost got relegated but for the arrival of Roberto De Zerbi, their fourth head coach in a year. The summer always brings fresh hope though and unexpectedly it also brings a big Hollywood movie that features plenty of references to the Premier League club.
That movie is Netflix’s current number one hit Office Romance, starring Lopez and Ted Lasso and Shrinking star Brett Goldstein. It is Goldstein who is the connection to Spurs as the 45-year-old, who rose to fame as Roy Kent in Ted Lasso, is a huge fan of the club and he co-wrote the script for the romantic comedy with Joe Kelly.
That meant the British actor and writer was able to sprinkle in a trio of Tottenham touches throughout the tale of a UK lawyer who falls for the CEO of a US airline, played by Lopez despite their workplace banning such relationships.
The most subtle nod to Spurs which made the cut, which will probably go over the head of many, is that Goldstein’s character is called Daniel Blanchflower.
If you know your Tottenham history, Danny Blanchflower was the legendary captain of the club when they won their historic double in the 1960/61 season and became the first British side to win a European trophy with the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1963.
The Northern Irishman was not actually called Daniel though. He was born Robert Dennis Blanchflower and that middle name ended up become Danny.
That did not stop Goldstein using the little Spurs reference and during one scene in the movie his character can be seen watching Tottenham play in the Premier League in his New York apartment and he cheers them scoring against Manchester United.
Even Jennifer Lopez gets in on the Tottenham action – or more precisely former Tottenham action – as it is shown that her character has a framed Harry Kane shirt in one room of her home in the movie.
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While promoting Office Romance, Goldstein admitted that Lopez “has no other option” than to be a Spurs supporter now after their time working together.
On this season of being a Tottenham fan, he said on US talk show Late Night with Seth Meyers: “Oh, it’s been horrendous. Being a football fan, especially for teams that we support, is a form of self-harm. It’s just painful. And then the way we felt when we didn’t get relegated was like we’d won the World Cup.”
It’s not the first time Goldstein has inserted little Spurs Easter eggs into the shows he has worked on. One came when one of the characters in Apple’s hit show Shrinking, which he co-wrote and created, could be seen wearing as an exercise top the France goalkeeping shirt that former Spurs captain Hugo Lloris used to wear.
The north London outfit have had plenty of connections to movies and television over the years and as recently as last year, the big budget Edgar Wright film ‘The Running Man’ shot some scenes inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and its NFL changing rooms.
Tottenham will be hoping that they have their own Hollywood glitz and sparkle next season as De Zerbi gets to work and they line up a couple of summer blockbuster signings.
