By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
“I came here because the Antetokounmpo brother, the oldest one Francis is shooting his first video clip, music video. And he wants me in the video clip. So, Thanasis called me and he said if I want to come,” Darko Peric, the “La Casa de Papel” star, explained about his trip to Athens where Eurohoops caught up with him for a chat.
The 43-year-old Serbian has grown up loving basketball and, in a kind of a roundabout way, found his way to it through his acting career. He met many people in the sport including a couple of ‘Antetokounbros’ which he grew fond of.
“One night we get to a restaurant in the center of Paris and there was Theo Papaloukas, with Thanasis, Giannis, and they recognized me. I was with my nephew and was like “really?”. Because I know Papaloukas, he’s actually my age, but you know he’s been playing for so many years. And then, of course, I met Giannis and Thanasis, they really have good vibes.”
That must have played a part in Peric ‘joining forces’ with the Bucks: “This year I’m going to be the ambassador of Milwaukee Bucks. For me, that’s also a big pleasure because I’m a big basketball fan and all these things that have something to do with basketball.”
But his love for the ball doesn’t stop there. In fact, Peric’s got big plans. A European version for thirty documentaries about basketball. However, that will have to wait a bit.
“Unfortunately, with coronavirus, everything gets stopped and now traveling is really difficult. But yeah, the idea is still there, now I get to know more and more people in basketball and people get to know more about my passion about basketball. So, who knows? I was talking with my friend Ilias Panou that we have here. Next year, I was thinking that this year I was gonna go to Tokyo. But I have shootings, now we’re gonna start to shoot the new season of Casa de Papel and next year I’m going to be free. Maybe if the universe wants, to go next year and start the project in Tokyo. That would be nice, in the Olympic Games.”
Take a look at the full Eurohoops interview with Darko Peric who also talked lots more about basketball (including his matchup against Nikola Milutinov), about his first time in Greece, and, of course, his experiences, the success, and influence of “La Casa de Papel”: