Meet Michael Hatley
As audiences shun the Lord of the Dance’s spy romance, we celebrate the real stars, rakishly angled and hair-raisingly funny... his crowning glory Colm McGuirk and Olivia Jones
ITS bombastic trailer and not entirely favourable reviews had the whole country talking this week, with some expecting that audiences might be tempted to go and see it out of curiosity alone.
But it seems interest in Michael
Flatley’s debut film, Blackbird – which has been four years waiting for a theatrical release – has not translated into big box office sales just yet.
A sample survey carried out by the Irish Mail on Sunday this weekend suggests a disappointing opening weekend in many of the cinemas screening the spy thriller, despite terrible weather yesterday and most cinemas charging just €4 for National Cinema Day.
Aside from an opening night sell-out in Dublin’s Lighthouse, tickets were available in abundance at other cinemas we contacted.
IMC Dún Laoghaire told the MoS all films had sold out or almost sold out yesterday except for Blackbird, which still had around half of its tickets available. It was a similar story in other Dublin cinemas, and Blackbird appears to be drawing even fewer punters outside the capital.
Opening night showings in Clonmel, Athlone and Ballina attracted six, four and zero film fans respectively, according to staff who spoke to the MoS.
The film tells the story of Victor ‘Blackbird’ Blackley, an ex-MI6 agent who is cajoled out of his Caribbean retirement to pursue one last baddie.
Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight, Suits) plays villain Blake Molyneaux, Patrick Bergin (Sleeping With The Enemy, opposite Eric’s sister Julia) plays Blackbird’s MI6 superior, and Nicole
Evans is love interest Vivian.
Written, directed by, starring and mainly financed by Flatley, Blackbird has been written off by many as a vanity project. The auteur Flatley has disputed this, telling The Hollywood Reporter that he financed it himself simply because that was the fastest way to get it made.
But the Riverdance maestro gave another non-egocentric explanation on Friday’s Late Late Show. Flatley told Ryan Tubridy that his ‘dear old Irish mother would call every Sunday and say, “Give up that old dancing now and go off and make a few movies”’.
He said he spent his childhood imitating the likes of Humphrey Bogart – which may explain the hats in Blackbird – and that his mother encouraged him to pursue a screen career. On retiring from dance in 2016, he gave her his word that he would make the film. Sadly, she died later that year.
‘But a promise made is a debt unpaid – and mission accomplished,’ he said.
The film’s distributor here, Wildcard, could not be reached over the weekend to supply official audience figures.