Steve Coogan and Éanna Hardwicke play the respective roles of soccer manager and soccer star who butt heads at the 2002 World Cup.
As the Olympic games commence this summer, Variety reports on a new upcoming film about an infamous world sports event. Comedy actor Steve Coogan is set to play former Ireland soccer manager Mick McCarthy along with the fast-rising and BAFTA-nominated Irish star Éanna Hardwicke (The Sixth Commandment, Lakelands), who will be portraying Manchester United and Ireland soccer legend Roy Keane, in the Irish movie Saipan. McCarthy and Keane would suffer a public falling out and this conflict will be the focus of the film.
Saipan will be helmed by directing duo Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa. Leyburn and D’Sa have also worked together in the past on the critically acclaimed Irish comedy-drama Good Vibrations from 2013, as well as the romance Ordinary Love, which starred Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville from 2019. The duo will be directing from an original script by Paul Fraser, whose past work included the film Dead Man’s Shoes. Production is due to start this summer.
According to Variety, “The film’s title comes from the infamous so-called ‘Saipan Incident’ in 2002, when Keane was captaining the Irish national side ahead of the FIFA World Cup finals in Japan. While preparing on the tiny island of Saipan, the soccer star — known for his hot-headed temperament on and off the field — had a very public, very bitter disagreement with McCarthy, reportedly furious at the training conditions, strategy, travel arrangements, diet and also McCarthy’s competence.
A subsequent interview with Keane in the Irish press sparked a major fallout at the camp, where the footballer is said to have delivered an angry verbal tirade at McCarthy in front of his teammates, telling him to ‘stick your World Cup up your arse’ before flying back to Ireland (although McCarthy later stated he had sent him home). The incident caused a huge controversy in Irish society over who was to blame and Keane wouldn’t play for his country again until 2004, after McCarthy had stepped down as manager.”