Watch the trailer for Kneecap’s epic biopic movie starring Michael Fassbender
Kneecap have shared the official trailer for their upcoming self-titled biopic, starring Michael Fassbender. You can watch it below.
Written and directed by Rich Peppiatt, the feature-length comedy-drama won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in January. It is due to arrive in Irish cinemas on August 8, before hitting the big screen in the UK on August 28.
“Based on the origin story of the riotous and ground-breaking Irish-language rap trio Kneecap, the film stars the band’s Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí in their acting debuts,” an official synopsis reads.
“Set in West Belfast in 2019, it chronicles how fate brings the trio together and how they then go on to ‘change the sound of Irish music forever’.”
The official trailer for Kneecap has been released online today (June 6). “D’you know what? Every story about Belfast starts like this,” a voiceover says at the beginning of the video ahead of footage of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. “But not this one…”
In the clip, we see Kneecap getting into scrapes with the police and refusing to “speak the Queen’s English” while being questioned at the station. Later, the group work on songs and play their rowdy first live shows.
Tune in here:
Fassbender (who plays Bap’s father, an exiled IRA member) stars in Kneecap alongside the likes of Simone Kirby, Jessica Reynolds, Fionnuala Flaherty and Josie Walker. Visit here for tickets and more information.
During a recent interview with the trio for The Cover, NME wrote: “The ballsy biopic is a runaway romp of sex, drugs, music and politics. A clash of 8 Mile and Trainspotting with a dash of Steve McQueen’s Hunger…”
NME‘s Andrew Trendell said that “Kneecap’s performance couldn’t be more convincing – but then, they’ve already lived it”, adding: “Holy shit. What a film.”
DJ Próvaí told NME: “It needed to feel genuine. If it didn’t feel like something we would do, we just went, ‘No chance’.”
NME continued: “With thrills, pills and bellyaches, the film shows the band at war with both sides – the Belfast authorities and dissident Republicans – and makes a case for the Irish language in the modern world with existence as an act of defiance.
“Ultimately, it sums up Kneecap’s mission: being seen in a place that never wanted you to exist.”
The trio will preview Kneecap at Glastonbury Festival’s cinema tent, Pilton Palais, next month and participate in a Q&A session at the screening. They’ll also perform live in the Woodsies tent at this year’s event, in addition to a set on the Peace Stage.
Kneecap’s debut studio album, ‘Fine Art’, is out next Friday (June 14) via Heavenly Recordings. The title was the group’s two-word response to the media frenzy that followed their 2022 unveiling of a hometown mural that showed a Police Service of Northern Ireland jeep on fire.
“We knew that was going to have that reaction of people being really outraged,” Chara told NME.
“It’s such an extreme form of art through satire that it creates this dialogue where people start defending us or coming after us online. It’s hilarious that they’re so dedicated and they’re not even sure why they’re annoyed.”
Produced by Toddla T and set in their “favourite wee, dark, dingy pub” The Rutz, the songs and skits on the LP follow Kneecap’s history via the sounds, stories, characters and emotions of a West Belfast night out.
“The whole concept of the album is that we never really did spend that much time in nightclubs, because we love sniffin’ coke and talking shite,” Bap explained to NME.
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Tom Skinner
NME
