Éanna Hardwicke and Steve Coogan will star as Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy in Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa's upcoming Saipan, based on the infamous 2002 World Cup incident.
IFTA winning actor Hardwicke (Lakelands, The Sixth Commandment) will star as Irish football legend Keane, joined by Oscar nominee Steve Coogan (Philomena, Alan Partridge) as then-Ireland manager McCarthy. The two men notoriously had a public falling out during the 2002 World Cup while the Irish team were training in Saipan, which caused a media storm at the time. Keane returned home to Ireland early, and Keane did not play for Ireland again until 2004 when McCarthy had stepped down.
Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa (Ordinary Love) will direct from a script by Paul Fraser (Dead Man's Shoes), with production set to start this summer.
Saipan is produced by Macdara Kelleher and John Keville for Wild Atlantic Pictures, along with Trevor Birney and Oliver Butler for Fine Point Films, with Patrick O’Neill, Eoin Egan and Rachael O’Kane serving as executive producers.
Wildcard and Vertigo Releasing have acquired U.K. and Ireland rights for the film, and are planning a release in summer 2025. Bankside Films will handle worldwide sales, with Stephen Kelliher and Sophie Green as executive producers. Saipan will be made in association with Screen Ireland and Northern Ireland Screen, with filming set for Ireland and Saipan. Greg Martin is executive producer for Screen Ireland, with Ursula Devine executive producer for Northern Ireland Screen.
Kelleher and Keville said “A million words have been written about what happened on that fateful week in 2002 on the tiny island of Saipan. Next year, audiences will finally get to experience firsthand the feud between Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy and why it was labeled ‘the worst preparation for a World Cup campaign ever’. We are so excited to have Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn direct this iconic story with our equally iconic cast.”
The directors added “We’re thrilled to be working with this extraordinary cast and creative team to tell the story of an infamous moment in Irish and football history that drew battle lines across a nation, cast its hopes, dreams and sense of identity into disarray, and briefly made a tiny volcanic island in the Pacific one of the most famous places on earth.”
“Vertigo Releasing and Wildcard are delighted to be partnering on ‘Saipan,’ which is set to be a major theatrical release in U.K. and Ireland in summer 2025,” said the distributors. “The events of Saipan divided a nation, but we are sure everyone will be united in their love for this once in a generation Irish film directed by the brilliant filmmaking team of Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa.”
