The team behind 2012 biopic Good Vibrations is behind new feature film Saipan – charting the events leading up Ireland’s incendiary 2002 World Cup campaign.
An infamous “incident” between Roy Keane and then-Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy in Saipan resulted in team captain Keane being sent home from the World Cup training camp in 2002 when the team was preparing for its matches in Japan in that year’s FIFA World Cup.
Starring Steve Coogan as Ireland manager Mick McCarthy and Éanna Hardwicke as his fellow Corkman Roy Keane, Saipan will go intro production this summer.
Award-winning filmmakers Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn, behind Good Vibrations, are set to direct from an original script by Paul Fraser – best known for Heartlands and A Room For Romeo Brass.
D’Sa and Leyburn were also behind Ordinary Love, a 2019 romantic drama starring Liam Neeson which tells the story of a married couple who lead mundane lives until they’re affected by cancer.
Meanwhile, Saipan is also set to be produced by founder of Fine Point Films Trevor Birney and Oliver Butler, who were also behind Kneecap and Bobby Sands: 66 Days.
It will also be produced by Macdara Kelleher and John Keville for Wild Atlantic Pictures (Evil Dead Rise, Cocaine Bear, Black 47), along with Patrick O’Neill, Eoin Egan, and Rachael O’Kane serving as Executive Producers.
Producers 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 first-hand the feud between Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy and why it was labelled ‘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.”
Directors D’Sa and Leyburn said: “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.”
Wildcard and Vertigo Releasing have acquired UK and Ireland rights on the film, and are scheduling a theatrical release for summer 2025. Bankside Films have taken on the film for worldwide sales, with Stephen Kelliher and Sophie Green Executive Producers.
Saipan will be made in association with Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland and Northern Ireland Screen, with a shoot set for Ireland and Saipan later this summer. Greg Martin is Executive Producer for Screen Ireland, with Ursula Devine Executive Producer for Northern Ireland Screen.
Distributors Wildcard and Vertigo Releasing said: “Vertigo Releasing and Wildcard are delighted to be partnering on Saipan, which is set to be a major theatrical release in UK and Ireland in Summer 2025. 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.”