Sinéad O’Connor biopic in development

A feature film exploring the early life and rise to fame of Sinéad O’Connor is in development.

According to Variety, the untitled project will be directed by Josephine Decker, whose credits include the 2020 horror drama Shirley.

With a script by Belfast-born writer Stacey Gregg, the project's producers include Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly of Nine Daughters, Iain Canning and Emile Sherman of See-Saw Films, and Neil Chordia.

Tim Clark will serve as executive producer from Irish production company ie: entertainment, which previously worked with O’Connor on the 2022 documentary Nothing Compares. BBC Film is backing the project’s development.

O’Connor, who died in 2023 at the age of 56, became one of Ireland’s most influential cultural figures.

Her 1990 album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got topped the U.S. Billboard chart for six weeks and included the global hit ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, which earned her a Grammy and multiple other awards.

Beyond her music career, O’Connor was known for her outspoken activism, challenging sexism in the music industry and criticising the Catholic Church.

Her 1992 protest on Saturday Night Live, when she tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II, drew worldwide controversy.

The film, Variety claim, will "look to tell the story of how one young woman from Dublin took on the world, examining how her global fame may have been built on her talent, but her name became synonymous with her efforts to draw attention to the crimes committed by the Catholic Church and the Irish state."

It is understood to have been in the works since shortly after the release of the Nothing Compares documentary.