THE LORD OF the Dance has written, directed and starred in a film and people have suddenly realised there’s nothing they’d rather see more.
This week, Michael Flatley perhaps took many off guard with his tweet heralding the completion of his film Blackbird.
“I’ve dreamt of making a movie since I was 7 years old,” he said. “Nothing great is ever easy but nothing is impossible!! Job done!!”
For any followers of the retired superhoofer on Twitter, it would have come as little surprise as he has been tweeting updates from the set of the self-financed flick for months.
Here’s everything we know so far about Blackbird:
What on earth is it about?
There’s a short blurb for it on the IMDB website, which says:
Troubled secret agent ‘Blackbird’ abruptly retires from service and opens a luxurious nightclub in the Caribbean to escape the dark shadows of his past. An old flame arrives and reignites love in his life but she brings danger with her.
Of all the gin joints in all the world etc. etc.
Its tagline on the poster is “some things are still worth dying for”.
There’s not a lot else we know about in terms of plotline so far, although the image of Flatley firing a gun in the poster makes it clear this will be an action-packed bullet fest. As well as that, the snappy costumes in the production shots so far could mean it’s set in the past but that’s not clear as of yet.
We do think he gets to drive a 1971 Jaguar E-Type in it too, while his hat is tilted sharply to one side.
We also know there’s a boat scene at some stage.
Who’s in it?
Well Flatley is of course the titular Blackbird, or Victor Blackley.
There’s also veteran actor Eric Roberts, playing Blake. Roberts is probably best known for playing crime boss Maroni in the film The Dark Knight. He was also the villain in the Mr Brightside video by the Killers.
It seems he and Flatley became fast friends on set.
When Flatley tweeted the film poster earlier this week, Roberts replied “loved every minute” to which Flatley replied “thanks for being our superstar, Eric. You’re beautiful in this film, bless you.”
There’s another veteran actor in the form of Patrick Bergin, who plays The Head. We presume this means his character is in charge.
Bergin gets above-title billing on the poster even though he doesn’t appear in the main illustration.
The blonde woman next to Flatley – who doesn’t get top billing on the poster – is Rachel Warren who plays the character, Brea. She’s appeared on British TV shows such as The Royal and Top Boy.
There’s also a Game of Thrones actor in there in the form of Ian Beattie who plays Nick. Beattie played Ser Meryn Trant in the popular HBO show, as a knights guard to King Joffrey.
Who else? Not that many recognisable actors, to be fair.
But Flatley repeatedly emphasised who the real stars were on this production.
When’s it coming out?
There’s no release date, yet, unfortunately.
Flatley’s company Dance Lord Productions made the film, but it’s yet to pick up a distributor.
There was a private screening of the film last week in London, but audiences will have to wait until the autumn at the earliest before getting a chance to see the Lord of the Dance on the silver screen.
There’s been intrigued – if mixed – reaction to the news of the film on Twitter.
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