Ted Lasso’s Maximilian Osinski On How He Modeled Zava After Tom Cruise

Awards Daily talks to Ted Lasso’s Maximilian Osinski about playing the larger-than-life Zava and how he modeled him after real-life athletes. . .and Tom Cruise.

Unlike his omnipresent, god-like character Zava, Maximilian Osinski wasn’t feeling superhuman when he took the role on Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso.

“It was very exciting, but to be honest, I was really nervous, too,” says Osinski, “because I watched the show like you did. As an actor, there are a few shows that catch fire in the country and the business, and you’d love to be on them, but you know those are really competitive just to get in.”

Osinski nearly talked himself out of pursuing Zava in the audition process.

“If anything, I told myself to use [that nervousness] and just to go full out and commit and have confidence, to harness these butterflies and nerves and remember you’re working with amazing people who have all these accolades.”

After Osinski pushed through and got the part, he modeled Zava after real-life European football players, portraying a bravado that’s a bit different from American athletes.

“I think you’ll find that bravado in athletes from both sides of the pond, but in football or soccer (as it’s known in the states), that is a global game, and if you’re an icon in football in Europe, you’re an icon all over the world—Africa, Canada, Russia, all over Europe. There is that bigger sense with the athletes that come out of Europe that they’re a global star, not just an American star. It lends into more of that bravado that some of them show and command those salaries and come to the states to end their careers.”

Early on in Season 3, the entire team and Richmond crew buzz about Zava. . .except of course for Ted Lasso who has no idea who he is. Did Zava know who Ted was?

“I don’t think he knew who Ted Lasso was until maybe his team probably told him that Richmond wants to make you an offer and this is who they’re being coached by. It wasn’t addressed whether he knows him or not. I think for Zava, it was the challenge of, all right, I’ve done everything I’ve ever wanted to achieve in this game. Now, maybe I’ll go to Richmond.”

The scene with Rebecca in the bathroom. where she berates him while he’s using the urinal, is certainly “a gauntlet thrown down.”

“I don’t think he’s ever had a woman, let alone any people, speak to him that way, maybe outside of his wife, and he liked that challenge, as opposed to everyone else who was just sucking up to him. Some athletes toward the end of their careers ask themselves, What haven’t I done? Well, [in Zava’s case] I haven’t played on a team that isn’t coached well and doesn’t have a lot of star players around me. So why not try this challenge and try to carry this team on my shoulders and see if I can take them to the top?”

Zava wins over the team almost immediately, and Osinski says he thought about Zava as like Tom Cruise working a room.

“I’ve met people who’ve worked with him, and they said you are the most important person that he’s talking to. He’s looking you in the eye, learning your name. I was telling Jason [Sudeikis], that’s Zava’s charm.”

Zava even manages to win over Roy Kent, which is a pretty big get.

“Brett Goldstein’s reaction when he finds out [Richmond is getting Zava], I was dying. Someone tells him Zava’s coming, and he stops and chokes on his own words and almost cries. I was so grateful for that because he did all this work for me before I even walked into the locker room. lifting this character up. Everyone did on that show in that scene, which made my job so much easier coming in and playing this larger-than-life alpha soccer player.”

But just when Zava starts to help Richmond win a few games, out of nowhere, he retires. Osinski says he had a conversation with executive producer Brendan Hunt (who also plays Beard) about what could have driven Zava to retire and Hunt pointed to the game against West Ham.

“He sees the team lose focus and purpose when they see Nate rip up that sign. They go on the field, and they’re there to punch back and get revenge instead of what Zava would do—use the game as a pantheon to the gods. He’s here as a vessel to serve the game and let the game flow through him.”

The other thing that Osinski believes drove Zava to retire is just what happens to athletes in the golden years of their career.

“They want to do stuff to make their families happy. A player in any sport, American or English, wants to go where their partners are happy. It’s not about chasing the trophy and the glory anymore. In Zava’s case, he just wants to make his wife happy. She loves the British Office, so they’ll go to England. He’s thinking past what team he wants to play on. What do I want to do when I’m done with the game?”

Ted Lasso is streaming on Apple TV+.