 Gracie made her first set visit while still in the womb. Anna was in the early stages of pregnancy when she started filming Goal! and says she owes her credible performance as a single, childless, Geordie lass to big pants.
"The big challenge was trying to hide the pregnant tummy with big Bridget Jones knickers," she laughs. "Holding everything in with the tightest knickers possible." Despite that, the actress also says she's never felt so well during a film shoot. "I was eating healthily, I'd stopped smoking, I wasn't drinking, so I had lots of energy," she says. "My schedule was easy compared to the guys. I came in and had a few days filming and I'd be off for a week then come back, so it was a really nice character to play at such a difficult stage. But just towards the end of filming, I walked in and the director said 'Oh my God! How are you going to cover up?' because I was out here," adds Anna pointing to her stomach. "I was saying 'you can't see it, you can't see it . . .' But, of course, you could," she laughs. In the film, which also stars Alessandro Nivola and Stephen Dillane, Anna plays Roz Harmison, a Tyneside nurse who falls in love with Santiago Munez (newcomer Kuno Becker) a poor, Mexican boy with a passion for football who has been offered a trial at Newcastle United. Liverpool-born film mogul Mike Jeffries, chairman of Milkshake Films, co-produced the $35m Goal!. It is a football-lover's dream with cameo roles from David Beckham, Alan Shearer and Zinedine Zidane, as well as action-packed scenes at Newcastle's ground, St James's Park, during real matches. However, the football-fest is wasted on Anna, who confesses she knows nothing about the game. "I could lie and say 'Yeah', but unfortunately I don't," she giggles. "I think I've only watched one football match on the telly in my life. But if I had to support a team I would say Manchester United because I'm from there and I've got to be loyal." | 
