Michael Flatley Directorial Debut Blackbird Finally Set for Release – The Hollywood Reporter

A movie that had developed almost a cult following after effectively disappearing following its splashy world premiere has — finally — been given a release date.

Blackbird, the directorial debut of famed Lord of the Dance frontman and Riverdance legend Michael Flatley is heading to cinemas in Ireland with Wildcard Distribution. The release date of Sept. 2 comes almost four years after the film had its glitzy world premiere at London’s Raindance Film Festival on Sept. 28, 2018, a premiere that famously shut out journalists and produced zero reviews or audience reactions on Twitter.

Around the time of the premiere, the film — an old school thriller directed, written, produced and financed by Flatley, who also stars as the titular Blackbird, a sharp-suited James Bond-esque secret agent who abruptly retires from the service and seeks solace as the owner of a glamorous nightclub in the Caribbean — picked up some sizeable flak in the British press. Much of the derision was aimed at a somewhat tone-deaf poster that featured an assortment of glamorous, bikini-clad, uncredited women alongside the its older and credited male stars, also including Eric Roberts and Patrick Bergin. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of its screening, Flatley said he’d had nothing to do with the poster, and also hit back at any question that the film was a vanity project, claiming that he’d had “several offers” from people to buy the film.

But after the premiere all went quiet, requests to see the film were knocked back or ignored and the story of Blackbird‘s whereabouts, much like Flatley’s spy at the center of the plot, became something of a mystery. Over the following years, a growing legion of devoted film fans and those just curious to see what had happened to Blackbird would take to social media to plead for its release.

For those in Ireland, at least, those prayers have finally been answered.

In a tweet on Thursday, Wildcard, one of Ireland’s most successful independent distributors, revealed that it would be releasing Blackbird in local cinemas on Sept. 2. The company also put out a trailer awash in beaches, sports cars, attractive women, pistol-toting spies and blood-splattered white tuxedos, all part of the many reasons why the film amassed such a following in the first place.

“The Blackbird is dead,” utters Flatley in the clip. Not anymore it isn’t.

Michael Flatley’s debut feature BLACKBIRD is heading for Irish cinemas on 2nd September.

✨ Starring Michael Flatley, Eric Roberts and Patrick Bergin
???? Written and directed by Michael Flatley

Check out the trailer ????#Blackbird #MichaelFlatley pic.twitter.com/CJIBxrJXZr

— Wildcard Distribution (@WildCardDistrib) July 14, 2022