‘Saipan’ Film Directors on Steve Coogan, Irish Soccer Showdown: LFF

Remember the infamous 2002 pre-World Cup showdown between Republic of Ireland soccer coach Mick McCarthy and captain Roy Keane? Whether you do or you don’t, and whether you follow soccer, or football, or not, doesn’t really matter. Saipan, screening this week at the 69th edition of the BFI London Film Festival (LFF), is told in a way to get everyone to dive in for 90 minutes. Yeah, that is really the movie’s running time. No extra time or penalty shootouts needed!

The film, which world premiered at Toronto, stars Steve Coogan, Éanna Hardwicke, and Alice Lowe. Co-directed by Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn, it was written by Paul Fraser.

“Lackluster preparations for the Republic of Ireland’s 2002 World Cup campaign, plus the presence of stolid English-born coach McCarthy, send captain Keane ballistic, leading to what might be football’s most infamous clash and subsequent media frenzy,” highlights a synopsis on the LFF website. “Another uncanny Coogan real-life portrayal, and Éanna Hardwicke nailing Keane’s self-righteous fury, anchor this fast-paced, funny and perfectly balanced head-to-head, which dares you to pick a side.”

The World Cup that year was held jointly in Japan and South Korea. Ireland played its group stage in Japan, but the team prepared for the Cup on the island of Saipan, an unincorporated territory of the U.S. in the western Pacific Ocean. 

THR‘s Georg Szalai caught up with the co-directors of Saipan during the London Film Festival to discuss the genesis of bringing the film to the cinematic field, having Coogan and Hardwicke in your creative squad, and why this is not “just” an Irish sports tale but a universal story.

How did you guys see the appeal of this story beyond Irish sports fans?

Barros D’Sa It’s a very well-known story in Ireland and in football circles all over the world. I’d heard the story before. I wasn’t new to it. But when I read the script, I realized that it’s almost like a Greek classical drama, even a tragedy.

You have this very pure story where you have these two very different characters, both with inextricable parts of their character, which are directly opposed to each other. And they’re involved in this very slow-motion collision toward each other that ends up in this volcanic explosion on an island very far from home. And then you have the Greek chorus of Ireland back home. You have the press. This is in 2002, not that long ago, but at the same time, it’s a very different place in terms of the 24-hour news cycle and the new hunger of the media for stories. All of that comes into it and then creates this commentary that allows you to amplify certain themes. It allows you to look through a lens at much bigger themes of national identity, ideas of masculinity.

The psychological drama between these two characters opens up a lot of bigger themes that feel very resonant in the world today, globally. You look for that urgency when you’re telling a story, something that kind of provokes some thinking about who we are, how we operate in the world.

Leyburn It’s told in an entertaining way, and there is certainly humor within the story, and there’s an absurdity. Bur the situation that the men find themselves in all felt richly cinematic.

The film also gives Steve Coogan another chance to show that he has more than comedy in his acting armory…

Barros D’Sa Yeah, he is a genius of a comedian. All that and those great characters he has created. But I think his dramatic work is something almost separate and different. Approaching a dramatic role is very much occupying that character from the inside, finding the emotional truth of it rather than doing a kind of impression of that character. And I think that is something that he was and obviously he is able to find. He brings the comedic notes of the character, but also that engagement and that psychological, emotional level.

It’s so thrilling to work with someone like that because we have this beautiful script by Paul Fraser. And when you have a great script, then the characters are clear and you can have fun improvising around them. And to do that kind of work with an actor like Steve was just really very exciting.

How early did you know the movie would be called Saipan and not, say, The Irish Showdown or so?

Leyburn Saipan was the title when the script was first sent [to] us. There was some discussion as to whether it would stay the title, as is often the case with movies as people discuss what’s going to be the best thing. And I’m glad we circled back to Saipan. Whilst I know it’s maybe not an island that people particularly know, I think it suits the story and the otherworldly aspect of where we go with the story. So, it’s very appropriate for the title. And, of course, we’re not just telling a story for an Irish audience.

Barros D’Sa Through the course of watching the story, it becomes a place where these two versions of Ireland come to meet. So, it’s a way for these characters in this psychological drama to confront something about who they are, far away and isolated. Outside of the usual social structures, self-revelation can occur being two islands on opposite sides of the world. Both experience bigger historical movements, and they become a mirror of each other in this sense.

Leyburn Throw in a bit of jet lag, and it becomes a sort of a fever dream, almost.