Rich Peppiatt, who won a BAFTA for his acclaimed directorial debut “Kneecap.”
LuckyChap Entertainment is producing the project, which Peppiatt will write and direct. FilmNation has boarded sales and will be launching the hot package at the American Film Market, with WME Independent repping for the U.S.
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The script was inspired by the book “Bad Bridget: Crime, Mayhem, and the Lives of Irish Emigrant Women” by Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick, and has been developed with the support of Queens University, Belfast. Set in the 19th century against the backdrop of a famine-ravaged Ireland, the story focuses on two sisters who make a treacherous journey to America to escape an abusive father, poverty and hunger. Once in New York, they join the ranks of Irish so-called “Bridgets” creating mayhem in the city.
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The book was optioned by Peppiatt and his “Kneecap” producer Trevor Birney earlier this year, with two producing alongside LuckyChap for their Coup d’Etat Films banner, which launched in 2024.
“Bad Bridgets” will shoot in Northern Ireland and Ireland in spring 2026. Oscar-winning production designer James Price and costume designer Kate Hawley are on board.
“Kneecap,” a raucous Irish-language comedy-biopic about the Belfast rap trio of the same name, premiered in 2024 at Sundance, won the NEXT Audience Award, became one of the talking points of the festival and was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics. Starring the Kneecap band members as themselves with a supporting role by Michael Fassbender, the film was acclaimed as one of the best indie features of the year, became the most nominated debut in BAFTA history (winning outstanding debut by a British filmmaker), also claiming seven British Independent Film Awards, five IFTAs and Breakthrough British/Irish Filmmaker at the London Critics Circle. It was submitted by Ireland as its submission for the 2025 Oscars and made the international feature shortlist.
Peppiatt is represented by WME, Anonymous Content, and MMB Creative, Edgar-Jones is represented by UTA, B-Side Management, Relevant and Sloane, Offer, Weber, and Jones is represented by CAA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and the U.K.’s Artist Rights Group.
