Film to imagine life as boy wonder Roy

From I Keano to Citizen Keane, Roy Keane is making the move from stage to screen.

Or at least an 11-year-old version of Himself is set to appear in a short movie which has received the backing of the Irish Film Board.

Titled after Keane’s schoolboy football club, Rockmount is a 12/13-minute film which, in the words of the IFB, portrays Ireland’s new assistant manager as “a small but demonic 11-year-old in 1980s Cork [who] needs to get on the starting 11 for his football club and nothing is going to get in his way.”

The film is the brainchild of writer/director Dave Tynan and producer Michael Donnelly and, according to the Dublin-born Tynan, has been germinating as an idea since he attempted a first draft three years ago.

“It’s not a bio pic, it’s a creative imagining of it,” says Tynan who, although a self-confessed West Ham supporter, has long been an admirer of Keane. “There’s some comedy in there. It’s not slapstick or anything like that, more character-based comedy.”

In essence, the short film explores what it would be like if some of the adult characteristics for which Roy Keane is famous were already present in the mind of a small boy. Hence, one must presume, the ‘demonic’ bit.

“The way it’s written is that he doesn’t think he’s scary but maybe other people find him unnerving,” says Tynan. “Eleven-year-olds normally don’t know where they’re at whereas this 11-year-old knows exactly what he wants. If something’s off, he knows that it’s off. Some of the comedy comes from that.”

Tynan reveals that before approaching the Film Board, he and Donnelly attempted to gauge Keane’s reaction by submitting a copy of the script to his agent.

“We haven’t heard back yet,” he says, “though that might change now. We’d love him to read it and get his blessing. I think it’s clear that he is a man with a sense of humour.”

Indeed, Keane has previously reacted warmly to the comedy musical I, Keano, something which Tynan hopes “bodes well” for his response to Rockmount.

The biggest challenge facing Tynan and McDonnell now is to cast the boy who will play Roy in their movie and, to that end, they are planning to hold open auditions in Cork.

After that, the schedule is to begin shooting in March with a view to having the finished product ready to premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh in July.

All of which assumes, of course, that there are no major problems during filming, such as, say. the 11-year-old star storming off the set.