Original-Cin Q&A: Kneecap Director Rich Peppiatt on Turning Gaelic Rappers into Stars of Their Story

Kneecap is one of those unique films that not only entertains but teaches.

The film is (loosely) based on and stars the Irish rap trio Kneecap who rose from a garage band to become a sensation rapping in their native Gaelic, leading a movement to save their mother tongue in a sea of English.

Bonnie Laufer spoke with director Rich Peppiatt about how he connected with Kneecap and why he wanted to tell their story.

CLICK HERE watch Bonnie’s interview with 2/3rds of Kneecap (DJ Próvai and Móglaí Bap).

CLICK HERE to read Thom Ernst’s review of Kneecap.

ORIGINAL-CIN: When was the first time that you saw  Kneecap, and what was it about them that got the wheels turning thinking they would make great subjects for a film?

RICH PEPPIATT: I moved to Belfast, and one weekend I was wandering down the street and decided to go for a beer on my own. I saw a sign saying “Irish hip-hop,” and I followed the sign. And the next thing I knew, I was standing in a room with about 800 major Kneecap fans.

I was very taken, not just by their stage presence, their charisma and the music itself, but by the fact that there were 800 or so young people who knew every word that they were rapping in Irish.

I didn't realize there was this young, vibrant Irish-language community in Belfast. I thought, “I live here and it's a city I've been coming to for many years, then there must be millions of people who don't know that either.”

I think that as a filmmaker, the minute you find something or someone that you feel that has not been explored, that's the foundation of a story. Kneecap had a story to tell and I didn’t want to do it as a documentary.

O-C: I’ve had the opportunity to travel to Ireland a few times and I never heard anyone speak in Irish. Why is it such a dying language?

PEPPIATT: Well, you're quite right. You can go to Belfast, you can go to Dublin, and you wouldn't hear the Irish language at all.

That's not to say that people can't speak it, because South of Ireland, you have to learn it at school. But like anything that you're made to learn. it tends to not be taken too seriously. I know that when I was learning French at school, I had a terrible teacher, was awful at it and swore off languages for life. 

With Kneecap I think their love of the language is their cultural impact far beyond this film or the music. 

Director Rich Peppiatt from (@richpeppiatt) /X

When I first met them, I signed up for Irish-language classes the next day. When I went to that Irish-language class the first day, I discovered that half of the people there were there because they were Kneecap fans. This was 2019, so even then, the band had this real-world cultural impact of making people reassess their relationship with the language.

I can tell you, as someone who lives in Ireland, that  the language is really having a resurgence. The thing about a language is that it is the window to your culture, to your history. It is one of the oldest languages in the world, it predates English. People are finding that by learning the language, they can reconnect with their history and I think that's a beautiful thing.

It's exciting that we've made a film that is kind of pushy and edgy.  I think a lot of films in the Irish language look back into the past and we have made an Irish language film that is modern and gritty and raunchy, and that's a first, and that's cool.

O-C:  So you approach these three lads and pitch the movie idea to them.  These guys had never acted before and had turned away many film offers, so how did you get them to trust you?

PEPPIATT: There was lots of alcohol involved in the process. (Laughs). There's that scene in the film in the garage where they are getting pretty wasted. That was quite a mild version of what occurred the first night that I met Kneecap.

I think it was a test to see, “Can this boy keep up with this, and let's make sure he also is not a copper!”

We just got on really well, and I think that it's one of those unexplainable things where we just connected. They could see how determined I was about making a film and telling their story. 

I wanted to make this film and at that point I didn’t care if we were going to  make it with our iPhones.  I think that that's one thing that's always been my approach when it comes to filmmaking. It’s, “Don't talk about things, just do it.” Just say you're going to do it and then commit to it. It doesn't matter how that happens, somehow drag it over the line.

We were very lucky and blessed by getting supporters on board very early in terms of funding. People could see that there was a real different story there. I don't think there's another film that is quite like it, a biopic in real time, if you like.

The subjects are biopic, not a documentary, playing themselves, which I believe was quite unique to the film.

Sure, it was a big risk, because as you say they've never acted before, and it could have gone horribly wrong. But the best things in life, they're either the best things in life or things can be terrible.  Let’s just say this turned out to be the best decision experience for everyone.

O-C: Plus, it's not too shabby to have Michael Fassbender on board playing one of the boy’s dad. Who knew he was fluent in Irish? What a gift to have him on board.

PEPPIATT: I always say reach for the unreachable! (Laughs).

We decided to see what top tier actors there are who can speak Irish and it turns out there are three and Michael was one of them.

Because he had played Bobby Sands in the film Hunger, he’s a hero in the north of Ireland, and so straight away we thought it would be great to have him.  Also his character, Arlo, is kind of like Bobby Sands if Bobby hadn't died on hunger strike, it's kind of the direction he could have gone.

Speaking to Michael at the early stage, before he committed to the film, he saw that connection too. I told him that I could see how he could sort of carry on with Bobby Sands there, but take him in another direction. 

This is about the guy who didn't die on hunger strike, but has political grounding. This is the guy who feels guilty about that, who carries around a certain amount of shame and, and I think that that's something he really brought to the role.

By the way, once we had Michael on board, even the catering got better!

O-C:  I understand that you have a close tie to Canada.

PEPPIATT: How did you know that?  No one knows that?

O-C I have my ways!  Your parents live in Canada.

PEPPIATT: They live In Vancouver, North Vancouver. I went to UBC for about two terms before I met a Californian in a bar, fell in love, ditched out of University, moved to California and had a lovely 18 months living there. I was young. living off my wits (laughs) but unfortunately, that didn’t last. I kept up the ruse to my dear parents for quite a while that I was still at University. And then they found out.

 O-C: I think in the end it all worked out for you. Although this movie is definitely entertaining, it still has a strong political message that you do not hit the audience over the head with. How challenging was that to kind of keep the balance? 

PEPPIATT: That was a big challenge, because we knew early on that we wanted to deal with a lot of really weighty issues. But I think black comedy is a great way to channel those sorts of things.

I think the sense of humor we have in the North is very dark. But yes, it's a very challenging project in the sense you've got three protagonists, which to my memory, there really aren’t any. 

The band were adamant, no one could be the lead character, they all had to be treated equally. They were basically counting lines. And I was like, “Lads, it's not kindergarten. You're all characters. None of you have got a walk-on part. You're all showcased in a different way.  I think we've got that balance, right?”

One of the best bits of feedback that we’ve gotten with how the film has been received is that people feel that they come out of the cinema having learned a great deal about Irish politics, but at the same time, they've been really entertained.

They really enjoyed it. They had a good laugh and I think that ultimately that is the elixir, the golden place where you want to be.

Let’s face it, cinema is having a bit of an existential crisis at the moment, and I really feel that Kneecap is a film that deserves and finds rewards in collective viewing. It's big, it's brash, the music, the sound system.

It’s that sort of film that we're really hoping is going to get people out with their mates, go and have a good night. You walk out of that cinema to go grab yourself a beer.