Istanbul, 2005. Liverpool take to the dressing room at halftime, trailing AC Milan 3-0 in the Champions League Final. They emerge 15 minutes later to deliver the greatest comeback performance in Champions League history.
Our friends at the Kicking & Screening Festival (June 1st-5th in NYC) have shared with us an inside look at ‘15 Minutes That Shook The World,’ a comedic journey through the pivotal halftime break featuring rare performances from legends Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard. The film screens June 1st at Tribeca Cinemas.
A few words from Writer/Co-director Dave Kirby…
“Like every Liverpool fan (and every football fan) I always wondered just what the hell happened in that dressing room at half time in Istanbul. Without doubt it was the greatest and most dramatic comeback in football history of one of the greatest and emotional nights of my life. As a drama it had everything – a beginning, middle, and end – tragedy – tears –hero characters – a dramatic twist – ecstasy …in fact even Shakespeare couldn’t have written it better.
In my mythical dreams I always preferred to believe that Rafa gave some kind of Winston Churchill / Martin Luther King type speech or that maybe the players were inspired by the passionate, emotional rendition of ‘You’ll never walk alone’ which echoed around the stadium during the half time interval. No chance!
When the reports came back they all described a dressing room of complete calm and composure. I was gutted. Surely some bastard got angry? To me it felt like ‘Braveheart’ without the rally cry of: ‘Freedom’ or ‘Zulu’ without the song: ‘Men of Harlech. It was definitely that mythical yearning which prompted me to write the Istanbul story as I saw it …with humour! Much had been written and filmed about that fateful evening but not in movie format or with humour and certainly not in a way which also allows the viewer to witness our most bitter rival’s pain.
In Liverpool the humour is brutal and cutting and fundamentally based on ridicule – in many ways similar to New York (‘The Jerky Boys’ phone call tapes are still revered in my city). In Liverpool wherever there’s a compliment, a humorous insult is never far away which is evident in the film – no one escapes it – not even the players and Rafa who attended the premiere and took it in the spirit in which it was written.
Since its release the film has been translated with subtitles into German and Norwegian and is about to hit Asia such is the global appeal of Liverpool FC. That night that will stay in our hearts and minds forever. As a Liverpool fan and writer I’m proud that it’s now been captured forever in a light-hearted 100% Liverpool tale. ”
