Bend It Like Beckham is now a cult classic, but Keira Knightley was warned it sounded ’embarrassing’ while she was filming it.
The film, which was released in 2002, follows Jesminder Bhamra (Parminder Nagra) and Jules Paxton (Keira), who wished to pursue professional football careers despite their parents’ wishes.
It grossed $76 million (about £62 million) in theatres, making it the highest-grossing football film of all time.
Nonetheless, there were some sceptics when the film was being made.
‘I literally remember telling people that I was doing it and saying, “it’s called Bend It Like Beckham” and them going “oh, that’s really embarrassing”,’ Keira said.
‘They were all like “don’t worry, nobody will see it, it’s fine”.’
Keira, 37, explained why she believed people didn’t embrace the initiative by saying that women’s football wasn’t taken seriously at the time.
‘It was the idea of it, because you know, women’s soccer was not as big back then and the idea of the whole thing was ridiculous,’ she explained while appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
However, she added: ‘But it’s amazing, because it’s still the film even today, if somebody comes up to me and talks about my work, it’s that one. It’s so loved. It’s amazing.’
The film celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, but Parminder admitted she hadn’t played football since the cameras stopped filming.
‘Nope, and [I’ve] never played it since,’ she said when appearing on The One Show.
Reflecting on the behind-the-scenes football training, she added: ‘I never played, so we had to learn all these set moves and I managed to hurt my foot in the process because bending a ball is really not that easy.’
Kiera had previously stated that she wasn’t a great admirer of the film’s title and was pleasantly surprised when it became a huge hit.
‘I remember when I did it I would say to people the name of the film is Bend It Like Beckham, and they would say “that sounds awful” and even when it was coming out you’d think “god, can’t you change the name?”,’ she said.
She went on to say that the film’s popularity took her by surprise.
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon airs on NBC in the US.