Daily Record "Goal 2" Interview 19 February 2007

FRIEL-GOOD FACTOR

MOTHERHOOD hasn't taken the edge off Anna Friel's glamour: her red-brown hair hangs loose in a mass of curls and she's slim and sleek in her tight black t-shirt and form-fitting trousers.

Anna makes motherhood look enviably easy - but confesses that combining the jobs of actress and mother has been hard work. She said: "I think it's how you deal with it that shows how strong you are.

"I can do anything if I can do that." Little Gracie is precious cargo for 31-year-old Anna, who had long wanted to have children but was told by doctors five years ago that she would be unlikely to get pregnant. However she overcame the twin threats of ovarian cysts and endometriosis with Gracie, who was what she calls "a happy accident."

Dad is actor David Thewlis, best know as the haunted Professor Lupin in Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban.  Anna gave birth 18 months ago and Gracie's life has been a social whirl.

"She's visited 10 countries in her first year." said Anna. "I don't know what kind of mother that makes me. She's very well travelled. She has a lot of stamps on her passport but she's adapted really well to it.We spent the last three months at home so she has some kind of grounding and she's been able to mix with other children rather than having adults around all the time. She's got a very large vocabulary for a year and a half. I can travel and follow my career as much as I want until she goes to school. Then it's going to be a little more difficult. But she's a really good baby. I'm a lucky mum."

Having shot to fame as a gay teenager in Brookside, Anna has starred in films such as Rogue Trader, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Me Without You and Mad Cows. But the all-important Hollywood hit still escapes her. She turned down a part in The Mummy, then landed the female lead in Gangs Of New York, only to have the part snatched away by Cameron Diaz. Anna became one of the most talked about actors in the country in Brookside because of her screen kiss with another woman and the saga of burying her father under the patio. But she also hit headlines with her romantic liaisons with Robbie Williams and Darren Day.

David has brought her love and stability, she says. She immediately fell for him, despite the 14-year age gap, when she met him at a dinner party. "He came round that night and never left," said Anna. David also toned down her party-girl lifestyle. Once she used to hang out with Meg Mathews and Noel Gallagher, partying with Naomi Campbell and kissing Kate Moss in the Groucho Club.

Jack Nicholson said, after seeing her in the stage version of Closer, that he wouldn't rest until he'd slept with her. Jack must be getting very tired because Anna and David have been together for five years. An old fashioned girl, she would like to get married in the near future. Yet the couple have only made one movie together, a flopbuster called Timeline. "And it was only for a day," laughed Anna. "The day David finished filming, I started. I was a French woman. He gets his head chopped off. That was funny. "

They also supported each other through the pregnancy. Both gave up smoking and Anna went on a healthy eating plan and exercise regime, which included yoga, to get her prepregnancy figure back in time to film Goal 2, part of a trilogy of movies about afootie star and his longsuffering girlfriend. While she was making the first picture, she was heavily pregnant with Gracie and jokes that she had to hide her bump behind bags and blankets.

For the second picture, she had to shed her post-pregnancy weight and haul Gracie around the set. "I also had a great costume designer who found very flattering tops that were able to conceal certain bumps," she revealed.

But then Anna's never been one to mince her words. And motherhood has done nothing to curb her straight-talking style. Working up to the birth and soon afterwards was always part of the plan, she said. "If you leave too long a gap before going back to work, you're in danger of your head being filled with bunny rabbits and pink fluffy things."

In Goal 2: Living The Dream, the Rochdale babe plays a down-to-earth Geordie nurse who has to adjust to the flashy life of Real Madrid WAGS such as Posh. But rather than being jealous, Anna feels sorry for Victoria Beckham and understands the former Spice Girl's attempts to make a name for herself in the fashion world.

"I know that if I was married to David Beckham, one of the most incredibly beautiful, handsome men in the world, and one of the most talented, I'd want to make my own mark," said Anna.

"If they're being surrounded by these incredibly beautiful women, you've got to stand on your own two feet. And I think by having your own fame and celebrity you stand more of a chance of doing that. I think it's horrible they're put into that position."

David Beckham appears with Anna in the film although he never says a word, preferring to let his ball skills do the talking - for now. Will he finally break his big screen silence for Goal 3? "If Posh has her way," smiled Anna, who admits to having a WAG style, she hit the Madrid shops when she was filming Goal 2. "I like a good old shop, but I'm not into the sunbeds," she laughed.

Anna, a millionaire before she was 30, admitted: "I have a really blessed life, so I can really buy what I want. I'm not into luxuries so I'd probably buy more antiques for my house. "Some more of those lovely baby clothes for Gracie. And houses, I like buying houses. I've just bought another one. But what was interesting about playing my character was that she isn't like all those women from the magazines.She represents all the women who are married to footballers who don't want to be on the front pages of magazines."

Part of the challenge of the role was learning a Geordie accent. "It's a really nice, fun accent. It's sexy," said Anna, whose own northern tones have softened since her Brookside days. "I also work with a dialogue coach a lot because I have a great one. I've just finished playing a Hungarian which wasn't quite so much fun as playing a Geordie."

This new movie, Bathory, is based on the legends surrounding Countess Elizabeth Bathory, regarded as a female Dracula who bathed in blood and was the greatest murderess in history. But, according to Anna, she got a bad rap and was in fact something of a heroine who ultimately fell victim to men's aspirations for power and wealth. Making the picture involved months in Prague. "The director didn't speak a word of English so all the direction was given by a translator, which is why I think it took seven months," giggled Anna.

Goal 2, on the other hand, was shot in just a few months and boasts acting cameos from Ronaldo and Zinadine Zidane as well as David Beckham - although working with the gods of footie was lost on Anna. "I could lie but I don't get the game. It's all over my head," she said.

But she allowed her co-star Alessandro Nivola to take her to see the beautiful game in Madrid - and found herself enjoying it. "It was a great match to see at the Bernabeu and taught me a lot more about it," she said. "I didn't realise how exciting it could be. I'm a bit more of a football fan now. They make it look so glamorous in the film as well."

So Gracie may yet find herself in a bobble hat and scarf, being hauled around the terraces by her mum. Someone should get that girl a rattle. 'I'm more of a football fan now. They make it look so glamorous'