''Best'' is a 2000 British film portraying the football career of the

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

soccer star

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest pla ...

, particularly his years spent at

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. It was directed by

Mary McGuckian Mary McGuckian (born 27 May 1963) is a film director, producer and screenwriter from Northern Ireland. Early life Born and brought up in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, McGuckian completed her formal education in the Republic of Ireland ...

Cast

* John Lynch as

* Ian Bannen as Sir Matt Busby * Jerome Flynn as Bobby Charlton * Ian Hart as Nobby Stiles * Patsy Kensit as

Angie Best Angela Best (née MacDonald-Janes; born 26 July 1952) is an English model and former Playboy Bunny, known as the first wife of footballer George Best. Biography Born in Westminster, London and raised in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, Angela MacDonald- ...

* Cal Macaninch as Paddy * Linus Roache as

Denis Law Denis Law (born 24 February 1940) is a Scottish former footballer who played as a forward. His career as a football player began at Second Division Huddersfield Town in 1956. After four years at Huddersfield, he was signed by Manchester City ...

* Adrian Lester as Rocky * David Hayman as

Tommy Docherty Thomas Henderson Docherty (24 April 1928 – 31 December 2020), commonly known as The Doc, was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times betwe ...

, The Barman *

Philip Madoc Philip Madoc (born Philip Arvon Jones; 5 July 1934 – 5 March 2012) was a Welsh actor. He performed many stage, television, radio and film roles, and was recognised for having a "rich, sonorous voice" and often playing villains and office ...

as Jimmy Murphy * Jim Sheridan as Bob Bishop * James Ellis as Dickie Beal *

Roger Daltrey Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is a co-founder and the lead singer of the Rock music, rock band The Who. Daltrey's hit songs with The Who include "My Generation", "Pinball Wizard", "Won't Ge ...

as Rodney Marsh * Clive Anderson as Interviewer *

Sophie Dahl Sophie Dahl (born Sophie Holloway on 15 September 1977, later taking her mother's name for professional reasons) is an English author and former fashion model. Her first novel, ''The Man with the Dancing Eyes'', was published in 2003 followed b ...

as Eva Haraldsted * Stephen Fry as Frazer Crane * Dave Duffy as Limousine Driver * Neil Caple as The Barber * Nick Wall as Photographer * John McCarthy as Hairdresser * Nick Woolham as #1 Boy Autograph Hunter

Filming locations

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

, England * Saints RLFC,

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside, was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For a period, the venue also hosted ...

St Helens, Merseyside St Helens () is a town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 102,629. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, which had a population of 176,843 at the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census. St Helens i ...

, England

Release dates

* UK - 1 May 2000 (Belfast Premiere) * UK - 12 May 2000 (General Release) *

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

- 1 June 2000 * USA - 15 September 2000 (Temecula Valley International Film Festival) *

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

- 28 March 2001 (Video Premiere) *

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

- 26 July 2001 * Italy - 10 May 2002 * Netherlands - 6 April 2004 (DVD Premiere)

Reception

Ian Nathan of

Empire magazine ''Empire'' is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. The first issue was published in May 1989. History David Hepworth of Emap, the publisher of British music magazines '' Q'' and ''Smash Hits'', among other title ...

gave it 2 out of 5.

Awards

Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival

Best Actor - John Lynch (tied with Dirk Roofthooft and Pleure pas Germaine)

Temecula Valley International Film Festival

Best Foreign Film - Mary McGuckain

References

External links

* 2000 films Northern Irish films British biographical films British association football films 2000s biographical films Biographical films about sportspeople Cultural depictions of association football players Cultural depictions of Irish men George Best 2000s English-language films 2000s British films {{sport-film-stub