Rich Peppiatt’s music biopic Kneecap fed the cultural phenomenon of the eponymous Irish-language rap group, whose rise hasn’t been immune to controversy. Continuing his focus on foregrounding Irish experience and heritage, his follow-up project Bad Bridgets has been acquired for distribution by Netflix, after being launched at last year’s American Film Market (AFM).

With principal photography set to begin in both Ireland and Northern Ireland this month, the film has also secured a high-profile cast, which includes Alison Oliver (Wuthering Heights, Saltburn) and Emilia Jones (CODA) in the lead roles, with support from Colin Farrell (recently seen in Ballad of a Small Player and the series Sugar), Steve Coogan (recently in Saipan, soon in the new season of The White Lotus), Domhnall Gleeson (seen this year in Sundance in The Incomer, soon in Bucking Fastard), Himesh Patel (now in The Odyssey) and Charlie Heaton (of Stranger Things fame).

Based on an academic research project and subsequent book by historians Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick, which was adapted by Peppiatt himself, the film is a crime saga following the experiences of Irish immigrant women in 19th century New York, and the “mayhem” that ensued.

Oliver (who took over the role from Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Jones play twin sisters who embark on a treacherous journey to the United States, seeking escape from an abusive father, poverty, and hunger. On arrival in New York, they fall in with a group of other Irish women, the so-called “Bridgets,” (a derogatory historical term for Irish domestic servants), who are creating mayhem in the city. While we’ll have to wait for the film for exact details of what unfolds, the historians’ book Bad Bridget: Crime, Mayhem and the Lives of Irish Emigrant Women, and its follow-up podcast, detail a time, with over 7.5 million people emigrating from Ireland to New York and the surrounding North American cities, where Irish women outnumbered Irish men in prison. Over ten chapters, the book recounts real-life court cases involving Irish women arrested for prostitution, theft, drunkenness, manslaughter and murder. With the placid likes of In America and Brooklyn recently depicting this time-honoured story of Irish immigration, Peppiatt should present a more raucous, ribald take on this historical phenomenon.

Peppiatt is producing the film together with Trevor Birney for Belfast-based Coup d'État Films, with Margot Robbie’s US and UK-based LuckyChap also backing the work. Cáit Collins is credited as executive producer, with Northern Ireland Screen also backing the film and Queen’s University Belfast supporting its development. The below-the-line team includes BAFTA-winning DoP Ryan Kernaghan (Kneecap), Academy Award-winning production designer James Price (Poor Things), and Academy Award-winning costume designer Kate Hawley (Frankenstein).