Steve Coogan told Patrick Kielty on Friday's Late Late Show that he had "a chat" with former Republic of Ireland football manager Mick McCarthy before portraying him in the upcoming film Saipan.
After talking about his iconic Irish character Martin Brennan, Coogan was asked about the eagerly awaited film that chronicles Ireland's tumultuous 2002 World Cup campaign.
"You're playing another Englishman who's an Irishman in an upcoming movie about Saipan," said the host. "What can you tell us about this?"
"I play Mick McCarthy in the movie coming up with the very talented Éanna Hardwicke playing Roy Keane," said the Alan Partridge star. "I don't know if I'm supposed to talk about it, but I'll talk about it...
"Funnily enough, it's about the kind of tension between... it's partly about Irish identity, actually, and how Ireland sees itself on the international map.
"At that time, that was a period of change, I suppose, in Ireland where, if you like, the old guard of Irish identity sort of almost being wrested by a new generation to own their own history on their own terms.
"But really, it's just about a football manager having an argument with a player!"
"Did you speak to Mick before you shot this?" asked the host.
"I did, yeah. I had a chat with him," Coogan replied. "I wanted to make sure that if I was going to take part in it, it was a balanced depiction of that sort of fallout."
"You're in Ireland, you're talking about balance," said Kielty. "Clearly, we don't care about balance - we want to know whether you're on Team Mick or Team Roy after making this film!"
Are you Team Mick or Team Roy? 🤨#latelate pic.twitter.com/rYslkbjmpi
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"It's very hard to say," Coogan replied. "Probably because I'm playing Mick, I'm slightly... I'm 51% on Team Mick and 49% on Team Roy.
"My mother would never hear a word said against Roy Keane, however badly behaved he was on the field.
"I think there is something visceral about him and it has something again to do with national identity, something very, very authentic about him.
"It's different worldviews: Mick wanted everyone to have a good experience... Roy wanted to win. And there's arguments for both those things.
"Winning... striving to win, of course, is important, but it's not everything. Being nice to people is also quite important."
A release date for Saipan is yet to be announced.
Coogan is currently starring in Dr Strangelove at Dublin's Bord Gáis Energy Theatre.
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