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Anna Friel

Motherhood is Anna's goal

Eillen Condon
26/ 9/2005

WITH her tiny frame and boundless energy, you’d never think actress Anna Friel has just given birth to her first baby.

Not only that, the 29-year old shot her new movie, Goal!, during her pregnancy and is back at work just two months after giving birth to baby Gracie.

However, the hard-working star insists looks can be deceiving.

“If you’d have seen me just half an hour ago, you might have a different view of me,” she says with a laugh. “I just breastfed Gracie and it just leaves you feeling...” she sighs heavily and flops back in her chair.

“Then I had to come here and talk and I was thinking ‘I can’t, I’ve got nothing to say. I feel too weak’. But you know, I think you’ve got to pull it off, you’ve got to get yourself together and just do it.”

The birth of Gracie, with her 42-year old partner actor, David Thewlis, was a particularly poignant event for Anna, who suffers from the womb complaint endometriosis and was warned by doctors that she might never be able to have children.

But, though she’s clearly besotted with her new bundle of joy, the Rochdale-raised actress has no intention of being a stay-at-home Mum.

Bunny rabbits

“I think if you leave too long a gap before going back to work you’re in danger of your whole head being filled with bunny rabbits and pink,” she laughs.

“I’ve got a great man by my side to help me and a great au-pair. I didn’t exercise for the first six weeks but I’m starting to get back into shape and taking every day as it comes and managing it day by day.”

Little Gracie has already had a taste of the showbusiness world – forming an enviable bond with none other than Billy Connolly.

“He has a week of games up in Scotland and we go every year,” explains Anna. “He got really attached to her, she sat on his knee and he sang along to her.”

Not only that, but Gracie also made her first set visit while still in the womb. Anna was in the early stages of pregnancy when she started filming Goal! and says she owes her credible performance as a single, childless, Geordie lass to big pants.

“The big challenge was trying to hide the pregnant tummy with big Bridget Jones knickers,” she laughs. “Holding everything in with the tightest knickers possible.”

Despite that, the actress also says she’s never felt so well during a film shoot.
“I was eating healthily, I’d stopped smoking, I wasn’t drinking, so I had lots of energy,” she says.

“My schedule was easy compared to the guys. I came in and had a few days filming and I’d be off for a week then come back, so it was a really nice character to play at such a difficult stage. But just towards the end of filming I walked in and the director said ‘Oh, my God! How are you going to cover up?’ because I was out here,” adds Anna pointing to her stomach.

“I was saying ’you can’t see it, you can’t see it...’ But, of course, you could,” she laughs.

In the film, which also stars Alessandro Nivola and Stephen Dillane, Anna plays Roz Harmison, a Tyneside nurse who falls in love with Santiago Munez (newcomer Kuno Becker) a poor, Mexican boy with a passion for football who has been offered a trial with Newcastle United.

Football-lover’s dream

The movie is a football-lover’s dream with cameo roles from David Beckham, Alan Shearer and Zinedine Zidane as well as action-packed scenes at St James’s Park (Newcastle United’s ground) during real matches. However, the football-fest is wasted on Anna, who confesses she knows nothing about the game.

“I could lie and say ‘yeah,’ but unfortunately I don’t,” she giggles. “I think I’ve only watched one football match on the telly in my life. But if I had to support a team I would say Manchester United, because I’m from there and I’ve got to be loyal.”

Anna has signed up for all three movies in the Goal! Trilogy, and says she’s going to take more of an interest in football in the future.

“We’re shooting in Madrid next and I’m going to watch my very first football match at Real Madrid. I think I should, really,” she says with an embarrassed grin.

“My excuse is that my character isn’t interested in football, anyway.”

Anna says the reason she was drawn to a football movie in the first place was because it gave her a chance to tackle the Tyneside accent.

The actress, who shot to fame at 18 playing Beth Jordache in the Liverpool-based soap Brookside, says she’s always wanted to play a Geordie lass.

“I’ve always wanted to try and use the Geordie accent and study it,” she says. “I hope it’s come out OK. It’s a lovely accent to work with because it’s so tuneful and fun.

Endearing

"You can tell a great story with just the accent alone. I do think this was a really nice story anyway, it flowed very well and has endearing, sympathetic and tangible characters that all linked together in a believable way.

"It seemed different from other sports movies I’ve seen.”

With the remaining Goal! movies lined up, plus a further two new films, Irish Jam and Niagara Motel, Anna isn’t about to take things easy. But, though she’s busier than ever on the work front, it’s clear motherhood is her favourite role so far.

“It’s fantastic, she’s so cute,” beams Anna “and David and I have talked about what roles to take so that one of us is always with her.

"It’s great to be breastfeeding at the moment because I can take her anywhere. She’s very portable – and very portly. She loves her grub – like her mum!”