Eric Cantona: Man United legend has no regrets and insists THAT Kung-fu was great - 7M sport

Eric Cantona: Man United legend has no regrets and insists THAT Kung-fu was great



Posted Wednesday, April 15, 2015 by Express.co.uk

HE WAS an icon at Manchester United and now he is flirting with soft-porn films. But Eric Cantona says acting is just the same as playing football.

Eric Cantona: Man United legend has no regrets and insists THAT Kung-fu was great
Eric Cantona insists he has no regrets about his infamous Kung-fu kick

And that suggests flinging yourself to the ground in dramatic style is the same as falling to the turf under an outstretched leg.

The transformation in his image is stark; a Premier League hardman with enviable flair to someone who is openly comfortable saying: “Love is sex and that is beautiful.”

Use that kind of line in the dressing room and prepare to be ridiculed.

Cantona is 48 now, and sporting a flat cap, fuzzy beard and a tubbier frame than when he stood peacock proud on a football pitch, collar of his red Manchester United shirt erect in a statement of fashion.

“When it [my football career] was finished, I had lost my passion for the game, for my dream,” he said.

“In sport, I had to work very hard to come in, play the game and to be confident enough to enjoy the game. And as an actor, it’s exactly the same.

“We are in front of an audience, we are in front of everything. It’s a public job so we have to share it with the people.

“And it’s teamwork also. We have to work with other actors and we are directed by a director – in football, by a coach. For me, it’s very similar. It’s just another game. So I’m not bored.”

Boredom is something many footballers fear once they retire. Gone is the adulation from thousands of fans who put them on a pedestal, treat them like gods. In one moment it is snatched away. Acting was Cantona’s saviour.

“I don’t miss football. When I retired, there were two years of feelings. It’s very difficult because the job is so big and it’s very exciting. It’s like a drug, so I didn’t want to watch a game on TV or anything.

“But I’ve been lucky because, for sportsmen, it’s very difficult when they retire. You can miss it.

“And to be passionate about something else and to be prepared to do something else because you’re passionate about it can help a lot. And it helped me a lot.

“It’s not only about acting. It’s the world of arts and creating something, to observe the world how it is and, from that, try to create my own work through my imagination.

“So it’s acting and it’s cinema or theatre and also producing things and liking things. For me, it’s very important to do many things and to be free.”

Cantona, who scored 89 goals in 192 appearances for United, is now playing The Stallion in a film called You and the Night.

It has been widely classified as a ‘soft-porn’ film but, when the Daily Express asked him if that was correct, Cantona’s answer was not only interesting but revealing.



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