A message from Matthew Lorenzo…
I was lucky enough to grow up with Bobby Moore, he and my dad – a football writer and broadcaster – were great mates. It was terrific to have England’s captain come over to the house when I was a kid, and great to have him pride of place in my contacts book when I took up the family trade as a journalist and broadcaster.
I was not alone in having Bobby as a hero – no other footballer has achieved what he did for English football. But no one really knew about the struggles which mirrored the tremendous successes in his life.
Moore was not a natural athlete. We discover his early days were underwritten by sheer hard work and examine the effect the player he replaced, Malcolm Alison, had on early career. Just as Bobby’s dreams were being realised, he was struck down by testicular cancer. We chart the fear that ruled his young family’s life in those dark days and watch as he battled back to fitness and footballing success just months later at the 1966 World Cup.
With the World Cup won, Bobby and Tina became the first “Posh and Becks” finding themselves at the heart of the revolution that became known as the Swinging Sixties. Yet, privately, did Moore’s brush with death cause insomnia to be a persistent and troubling feature throughout his career and did the shadow of cancer loom large throughout his life? Our story then turns to Bogota and we discover how Moore managed to overcome wild accusations and detention before arriving back at the Mexico training camp to play better than ever.
Away from the pitch, Moore’s failed business deals left him almost bankrupt, providing ammunition for those who vetoed calls for him to receive a knighthood. We discover how hurt he was by the way in which the football world spurned him, and how it affected his life in a way which he revealed to no one but those closest to him.
In an exclusive interview, FA Chariman Greg Dyke tells how he thinks the game could have done more for the man what he admired after Bobby’s retirement. Could Bobby have become one of the games’s most respected ambassadors, like Pele and Franz Beckenbauer? Stephanie Moore recalls her husband’s stoic fight against the disease that eventually killed him and his daughter, Roberta describes his hidden distress at the way the football world seemed to have forgotten him.
Today’s footballing legends – including Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard – reveal the impact of Moore’s career, and leave us with the lasting image of a genuine hero, holding the most sought after cup in football, held aloft by his teammates, and celebrating the greatest moment in England’s footballing history. Revealing and shocking, celebratory and nostalgic, BO66Y – The Movie will be a timely reminder that Moore remains our greatest ever footballer, and a true legend of the game.
I’ve worked hard to pick the best team to make this documentary. Ron Scalpello is an experienced director who has worked for the BBC, made many of the commercials you’ll have seen on prime time TV, and has directed two highly-rated features in Offender and Pressure. He has recently been signed to direct the remake of The Fourth Protocol. And, as a life-long West Ham fan, Ron feels a tremendous sense of responsibility in bringing Bobby’s life to the screen.
As a journalist I have worked for The Guardian, The Times and The Sunday Times, and, as a broadcaster, worked for the BBC, Sky, ITV and Channel Four. Becoming the youngest host of a networked World Cup was a career high, making a success of BO66Y will be another.
There are dozens of other experienced and innovative professionals involved in this project – have a look at our IMDB page. Every one of us has been working with a single goal in mind: to make our portrait of Bobby Moore a winner with sport lovers and film fans alike.
With production already underway, we have secured interviews from those closest to Bobby as well as some of the biggest names in football and entertainment who were all excited to be involved with the project. Interviews shot so far include:
Wayne Rooney
Roy Hodgson
Sir Geoff Hurst
Martin Peters
Paul Gascoigne
Frank Lampard Junior
Frank Lampard Senior
Harry Redknapp
George Cohen
Gordon Banks
Norman Hunter
Russell BrandI know I’m not the only one out there who wants to know more about one of England’s greatest ever footballers, cited by Pelé as the greatest defender that he had ever played against. In the film we re-live the glory days of 1966 and, of course, the final itself. The noise when England took to the field was deafening. The team’s victory that day had people all over the country dancing in the streets.
Everyone felt part of the celebration and now I honestly think everyone can be part of another victory – one more victory for Bobby Moore, as a grateful nation gets the chance to pay him the respect he deserved. And everyone out there can help make it happen. We want to make this film for, and with, the football fans across the world. We hope that you will join us.
So if you’d like to be part of this unique project click HERE
And spread the word on social media…