THE DAMNED UNITED is not so much screenwriter Peter Morgan’s achievement as it is about Michael Sheen’s brilliant performance as one of the best managers in the history of English football. Sheen’s ability to… capture Clough’s pride, obsession, total disregard for people’s opinion and the trash-talking habits is masterful, the stuff that great actors are made of.
Set in 1960’s and 1970’s England, “The Damned United” tells the confrontational and darkly humorous story of Brian Clough’s doomed 44 day tenure as manager of the reigning champions of English football Leeds United.
Previously managed by his bitter rival Don Revie, and on the back of their most successful period ever as a football club, Leeds was perceived by many to represent a new aggressive and cynical style of football – an anathema to the principled yet flamboyant Brian Clough, who had achieved astonishing success as manager of Hartlepool and Derby County building teams in his own vision with trusty lieutenant Peter Taylor. Taking the Leeds job without Taylor by his side, with a changing room full of what in his mind were still Don’s boys, would lead to an unheralded examination of Clough’s belligerence and brilliance over 44 days. This is that story. The story of The Damned United.
This is an exaggerated biopic, a faction, if you will, of Brian Clough because it doesn’t deal with his glory days with the team Nottingham Forest and it only touches a bit of his excessive drinking, and hardly any focus on his family. It’s more about Clough and Taylor and also about Clough and Don Revie, seeing how one relationship makes an impact on the other and vice versa. THE DAMNED UNITED focuses on the few parts of Clough’s career that pretty much summarizes what kind of person he was so there’s no need to go back to childhood or depict his final days.
Peter Morgan is one of the best screenwriters of our generation, but his adaptation of THE DAMNED UTD is more of an open-book compared to his previous work. There’s no metaphorical symbol or a character that represents something or implies a turning point like standing in awe of a great deer in The Queen or making Frost/Nixon interview seem like a heavyweight class boxing match. THE DAMNED UNITED is quite straightforward, about a man who’s been holding a grudge all these years that when he finally gets the opportunity to manage his rival team, it becomes a personal vendetta instead of making it about the game or the players or the fans and it terribly backfires, meanwhile he goes down that ambitious road at the cost of losing his trusted friend, without whom he is not as great a manger as he can be.
I think Sheen was overlooked when he played David Frost in Frost/Nixon, Sheen to me has always been one of those under-appreciated actor who’s willing to give his all even for a non Oscar worthy gig like Underworld: Evolution. It’s fascinating to see him play Clough, seeing his facial expression just quickly changes from a confident smile to a nervous grin. Sheen understands that this is a man who’s very proud, whose loud mouth could only be compared to Muhammad Ali, who thinks that the success of everybody around him happens only because of his self-proclaimed charm. Sheen’s dramatic timing is perfect, whether it’s an explosive argument or admitting defeat, Sheen presents different Clough’s possible response to different situation at hand. It’s interesting to know that the very same media that Clough uses as his podium for bragging rights becomes the one medium that forces him to swallow his pride when confronted by his rival Don Review on live TV.
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