Tim Roth is a real and talented actor who has been nominated for an Academy Award, among other recognitions of his good work, which made it very strange to see him starring as Sepp Blatter in the FIFA-financed propaganda film about the organization’s history, United Passions. FIFA spent about $27 million on the movie, which returned a paltry $200,000 at the box office, and is considered to be the 69th worst film of all-time by IMDB users.


So why would Roth agree to a part lionizing the leader of an organization that supports slavery? The sweet cash, of course. Here’s what he said during a Reddit IAmA the other day:

The film is awful (can’t say that because I haven’t seen it) I hated doing it, it was the wrong film but for the right reasons. I had two kids in college so I had to make a decision and it was probably poorly judged, but once you make that decision you have to follow through. It’s a hard road, being in something you don’t want to do, but I’m glad I did it for my family. As for Fifa I thought the movie would be much more about the corruption of this guy at first. I don’t know if he is going to go down, he seems to have survived everything that has been thrown at him. There doesn’t seem to be any way you can get to them because of all those big corporations behind him. It looks the most promising though now though, it looks like he is a on a back foot now because he looks more exposed then he has ever been in the past.


Sepp Blatter does indeed look exposed, Tim, but at least he’ll always have your whitewashed portrayal of him.

Photo of Sepp Blatter and United Passions star Gerard Depardieu via AP; h/t Rob Harris