Brazilian set to become slimmer version of Marlon Brando

When he dressed up as Godzilla for an Brazilian soft drink advert, (Fat) Ronaldo may have lost a sizable chunk of his dignity, but he developed a taste for life in front of a camera.

Spanish paper AS are reporting that the tubby World Cup winner will make his movie debut* in an Iranian film, after signing a ‘preliminary contract’ with its producers.

The main character is a Palestinian girl who lives in a refugee camp in Southern Lebanon. The young football fan - known as ‘Ronaldo’ - dies after losing a leg to an anti-personnel mine.

The as-yet-untitled film will begin filming in Lebanon in September. Conveniently, Ronaldo’s Corinthians are set to play a friendly against Flamengo in the region on September 15th, giving the striker the perfect opportunity to hone his acting chops.

*Before the pedants windmill in, we know Ronaldo already made his film debut in the utterly unremarkable Goal! 2: Living the Dream. However, we’re pretty sure this went straight to DVD, so it doesn’t count.