Jason Sudeikis is capitalizing on his Ted Lasso stardom, taking a role as another coach in a music video. But just in case it appears that the actor and former Saturday Night Live cast member is typecasting himself, he plays the anti-Ted Lasso in the video for the new Foo Fighters single, “Love Dies Young.”
Sudeikis plays a synchronized swimming coach, apparently of Eastern European descent (and inspired by famed gymnastics coach Béla Károlyi), who uses insults and harsh psychology to motivate his athletes, rather than kindness and subtle nudging.
“I yell at you because I love you,” says the coach. “You listen to me because you love me. Is this a weird dynamic? Yeah, sure, from the outside. To losers.”
Check out the video for yourself, which begins with three minutes of Sudeikis before following the swimmers to the pool, where they reveal the heads of Dave Grohl and the other Foo Fighters digitally superimposed on their bodies. It make take you a while to wash those visuals from your mind.
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Grohl didn’t just portray the head of the lead swimmer (wearing a nose plug) in the “Love Dies Young” video. He directed it as well. But that’s a familiar role for the Foo Fighters’ frontman, who’s directed 17 previous videos for the band (according to IMDB), in addition to a Soundgarden video and several documentaries including an episode of the Sonic Highways series.
For this one, it appears that Grohl’s direction mostly asked Sudeikis to dance to “Love Dies Young” for the amusing visual of an older, hard-line, European coach with a mop-top haircut and bushy mustache shimmying and shaking. But that wasn’t a bad way to go.
We know Sudeikis can dance, at the very least from the recurring “What Up With That” sketch on SNL. Maybe Grohl should’ve asked for some bolder moves. Although that catwalk was probably slippery.
Grohl is also a fan of Caddyshack, judging from the visual gag with Pat Smear at the very end of the video. At least he didn’t ask Sudeikis to go there. Hey, what’s funnier than human waste in a swimming pool, right?
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