Which Player Inspired Ted Lasso’s Football Brat Jamie Tartt?

Phil Dunster’s Jamie Tartt probably had the biggest character development arc in the popular comic series, Ted Lasso.

From being a rude, egoistic and narcissistic footballer to a reality star-cum-footballer who now understands teamwork, season 1 of Ted Lasso ended on a rather humane Jamie Tartt after his return to AFC Richmond.

It’s safe to say that there’s always a broad line between an actor and their character. Dunster portrays Jamie smoothly, making the viewers curse at him whenever he goes rude or picks up a fight.

So when it comes to getting ready for such a challenging role, what preparations does one go through?

In an interview with Screenrant, Dunster opened up about what inspired him to get ready to play the football brat Jamie Tartt, what does the success of Ted Lasso in the UK and US audience means for him and more.

When asked about whether the actor had particular footballers in mind for inspiration or not, Dunster listed Ronaldo, David Beckham and Eric Cantona.

He also shared that even though he grew up watching football, his and Jamie’s taste would be different. Especially when it comes to styling, he mentioned, Jamie would go more for Beckham’s different hairstyles look.

Dunster also found inspiration in Jack Grealish and Oliver Giroud (who he is a personal fan of) as well as Dimitri Payet, especially when it comes to showcasing arrogance.

The actor was also all praise for the co-creator Brendon Hunt, mentioning the writer’s “encyclopedic knowledge of football”. There’s no doubt that Ted Lasso is being received quite successfully with both the UK and US audiences, with its emotional, feel-good storyline satisfying both the nations.

So when asked about how Dunster feels with this great reception in both the countries, he shared that it means a lot to him and the team. He added,

We’re all footballers, we all love football, we talk about football all the time. This is the dream, where we get to do all that stuff. It was important to us that it looks right, and it’s important to us that it has that feel.

Phil Dunster

Also talking about whether he was surprised with Jamie coming back to AFC Richmond in the finale, Dunster mentioned that even though he had talked to the director, he wasn’t 100% sure where Jamie would end up.

But he is glad that Jamie is back on the team, as he experienced the most growth in that team and is slowly becoming a better person.

Speaking on how different Dunster comes across than Jamie in real life, the actor mentioned that there’s a certain kind of “swagger” in Jamie which he hopes to bring in his life more, particularly in context of the accents!

Ted Lasso season 2 is currently ongoing and airs every Friday on Apple TV+.

About Ted Lasso

Ted Lasso is an American sports-comedy streaming TV series developed by Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis, Joe Kelly, and Brendan Hunt. It’s based on a character of the same name that Sudeikis first portrayed in a series of promos for NBC Sports’ coverage of the Premier League.

It follows the life of Ted Lasso, a coach of college-level American football who is unexpectedly recruited to coach an English Premier League team, AFC Richmond, despite having no experience at all in association football.

It stars Sudeikis as the titular character, Ted Lasso, joined by Hannah Waddingham, Jeremy Swift, Phil Dunster, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, Nick Mohammed, Juno Temple, and Sarah Niles among many others.

Source: Phil Dunster Interview: Ted Lasso Season 2 | Screen Rant