Fassbender to star in Cuchulain movie!

[Roger Godpleton]

It only looks like that because you're all short like leprechauns and it looks big in comparison to the rest of your miniature Gaelic frames.

[TordelBack]

He has us there, begob. 

[JOE SOAP]

Liitle jockeys have big whips.

[maryanddavid]

I recall an article somewhere that Barry Devlin was to be involved in producing a CuChulainn film, and around the same time Mills involved in a film about a 'legendary Irish hero'.

Ill see if I can dig them out.

David

[maryanddavid]

http://forums.2000adonline.com/index.php?topic=32315.0

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/film-cinema/warrior-cu-chulainn-star-of-new-movie-2335233.html

[Emperor]

Yes the "film" referred to there is War Dog, a graphic novel concept he is looking to get developed into a film. It did seem very Slaine-like from the image they had on the page at Repeat Offenders which has since been removed:

www.repeatoffenders.co.uk/productions/war_dog.html

Unless the concept is radically different from a reworking of Cuchulain (which I think Pat addressed in an interview, possibly the earlier ECBT2000AD podcast interview), then I suspect this might torpedo its chances too. Which would be a pity as I'd imagine something from Pat would be great.

[SmallBlueThing]

I think there's room for both this movie and a slaine film, dont you? After all, there's every chance fassbender's effort will be a semi-serious 'historical epic' in the Gladiator tradition, whereas Slaine could be a fully mental kick-bum fantasy. It depends on the approach taken.

And besides, at least the wider audience can pronounce 'slaine'.

SBT

That last bit may be a joke, by the way.

[mygrimmbrother]

Is there any chance this could be a Slaine movie? I'm just remembering that announcement from a month or so back, that revealed 2 (I think it was 2) more 2000 AD movies were being developed besides Dredd. We've had the story about Grant Morrison writing a Rogue script - could this be the other one?

[Richmond Clements]

Is there any chance this could be a Slaine movie? I'm just remembering that announcement from a month or so back, that revealed 2 (I think it was 2) more 2000 AD movies were being developed besides Dredd. We've had the story about Grant Morrison writing a Rogue script - could this be the other one?

No.

[mygrimmbrother]

Ok

[Cthulouis]

And besides, at least the wider audience can pronounce 'slaine'.

SBT

That last bit may be a joke, by the way.

I chuckled. Genuinely, I did, and I'm not sure what that says about me...

[Patrick]

There've been several Cú Chulainn films mooted over the past few years. Fassbender's got some clout, so this one might make it into development, and maybe even production, but the attrition rate for film projects at this stage is pretty brutal. He's too old for the part though. Cú Chulainn is a boy hero, a baby-faced seventeen year old who opponents are reluctant to face because he's only a lad and hasn't even started shaving yet.

I have a google alert set for various spelling of Cú Chulainn, so I've been following this pretty closely, and the amount of chinese whispers and reliance on Wikipedia going on as the mainstream press try to spin a pretty bare press release into a story while earnestly pretending they know what they're talking about has been rather amusing.

Thanks for the link, Proudhuff!

[TordelBack]

You've a point there, Paddy - the scene in your own version where Laeg glues horse-hair to CúChulainn's face to make a spotty-oik beard makes for a great beat in the story.  A film that took that kind of care with the more counter-intuitive parts of the tale would be a thing to see. 

However, one of the things Troy got right, amongst so very much it got wrong, was casting Brad Pitt as Achilles.  Like CúChulainn he should have been a beardless boy, able to pass for a girl before Odysseus winkled him of hiding, but somehow Pitt's depressingly ageless face managed to convey something of an almost-immortal demi-god, as well as his making his squabble with Agamemnon seem slightly less like a teenage sulk.  So sometimes these odd casting decisions can work, especially if it brings in the girls and others so-inclined. 

[TordelBack]

Ooops, left out the point of that post, which was to say that teenage protagonists can be quite irritating in film (see also:  Shia LeBoeuf, Hayden Christiansen) - Fassbender fits into an ongoing trend for older grittier types in hero roles.

[Patrick]

Achilles is a full-grown man in the Iliad - it's set nine years into the Trojan War, a long time since he was able to pass as a girl. Okay, so Troy shortens the length of the war, but only to get to the events of the Iliad faster. So I don't have a problem with casting Pitt as Achilles - in fact, it lends the character Pitt's superstar status.

Wasn't a great film though. Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze is a much better retelling of the Trojan War. Which is why it's always best to be cautious about film adaptations. Comics aren't made by committee and don't cost the GDP of an emerging nation, so they can afford to explore the kinks in the material rather than smooth them out for fear of alienating the mass audience.