Not since the Civil War has an event divided the nation as much as the row between Ireland football manager Mick McCarthy and team captain Roy Keane on the island of Saipan in the run-up to the 2002 World Cup campaign. Now the drama is to be re-enacted in a new movie starring Steve Coogan as McCarthy, and Éanna Hardwicke (above) as Keane. Wild Atlantic Pictures will shoot Saipan in Ireland and on the infamous Pacific island.
Two-time Oscar nominee Coogan (Philomena, The Reckoning) is from near Manchester and Hardwicke (Lakelands, The Sixth Commandment) is, like Keane, a native of Cork. Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn (Good Vibrations, Ordinary Love) will direct from a script by Paul Fraser (Heartlands, A Room For Romeo Brass). Bankside Films will handle worldwide sales, with Wildcard and Vertigo Releasing responsible for Ireland and the UK.
Steve Coogan will play Mick McCarthy
Saipan is produced by Macdara Kelleher and John Keville for Wild Atlantic Pictures (Evil Dead Rise, Cocaine Bear, Black 47) along with Trevor Birney and Oliver Butler for Fine Point Films (Kneecap, Bobby Sands: 66 Days) with Patrick O’Neill, Eoin Egan, and Rachael O’Kane as executive producers. The film will be made in association with Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland and Northern Ireland Screen, and will be released in summer 2025.
