It’s really happening: after the travesty that was ‘Blackbird’, a biopic about Michael Flatley is currently in the works.
‘Dancelord’ will tell the story of the dancer’s humble beginnings growing up in an Irish Catholic family in Chicago, and how he revolutionised the world of Irish dancing thanks to his work on ‘Riverdance’ and his own subsequent shows.
Casting is reportedly getting underway imminently - but the question producers will be asking themselves is who could possibly play the Lord of the Dance himself?
Here are five possible actors who could do the job (perhaps with a dance stand-in for the close-ups.)
JOE ALWYN
Alright, we’re going primarily on the physical appearance here - but admit it, you could see Joe Alwyn in the role, couldn’t you? If he grew his hair out a little, fashioned it into that mullet-y shape, donned a nice silky blouse and grabbed the hand of a slender red-haired Irish cailin, it’s giving immediate Riverdance Eurovision ‘94 vibes. Flatley was 36 by the time ‘Riverdance’ debuted; Alwyn is 32 now. Nothing a good make-up department couldn’t solve.
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ZAC EFRON
If someone’s going to play Michael Flatley on screen, they’ll need to give their American accent a comedy Irish twang. Efron has already tackled Aussie and British accents in films, so we’re curious to hear what his take on the Irish one would be. If it's awful? No big deal! No one will be able to tell, either way. Efron's biggest selling point, however, is his dancing ability: previously proven in both the ‘High School Musical’ films and in ‘The Greatest Showman’. He certainly has the charisma to pull it off…
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PAUL MESCAL
There has to be at one Irish contender in the mix - so why not Paul Mescal? Maynooth’s most famous son has turned his hand to various roles in recent roles and he has proven himself a versatile actor, but could he do Flatley justice? He’s already honed his dancing chops with theatre roles in ‘The Great Gatsby’ at Dublin’s Gate Theatre, and in a promo video for Samsung (okay, a different type of dancing, true…) He's an actor who currently has the world at his feet... so why not make them them tap 35 times per second? (Flatley actually did hold the record with that insane stat many years ago.)
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KEVIN BACON
All of the actors named above are young men who would certainly do justice to Flatley in his prime. But the dancer is now 64 years of age and has been retired since 2016 - which begs the question, who could play the older version of the Dancelord? Step forward, Mr. Kevin Bacon. Bacon has proven himself a more than worthy contender on the dancefloor thanks to ‘Footloose’. Okay, that film was almost 40 years ago, but we reckon he could still shake his tailfeather.
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TOM HOLLAND
When it comes to dancing, Tom Holland has got all the bases covered. The Londoner has been dancing since he was 9, later going on to star as Billy in ‘Billy Elliot: The Musical’. He has since, of course, graduated to Hollywood, famously taking on the role of Spider-Man. However, he recently mentioned how he was taking a year off after the “emotionally taxing” experience of filming Apple TV+’s ‘The Crowded Room’. If you’re looking for a comeback project, Tom…
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WILDCARD: NICOLAS CAGE
Wait, wait, wait… hear us out. This could be truly brilliant, when you think about it. Nicolas Cage may have lost his way over the last decade (or two), but there are still glimmers of his greatness in evidence and he has redeemed himself with roles in the likes of ‘Renfield’ and ‘Mandy’ over the last year or two. A well-known method actor, he would undoubtedly commit to the part, and would definitely bring a zany quality to the hammy character of Flatley, which is precisely what this series needs. Let’s face it - it’s undoubtedly going to be cheesy, so maybe an element of the surreal would serve ‘Dancelord’ well.
