After financing, producing, writing and starring in what was described by critics as among the worst films ever, Michael Flatley is back with more drama.
The dancer is to executive produce a six-part biopic of his life, one his script writer likened to the fictional boxer played by Sylvester Stallone in Rocky.
In publicity material, the series, titled Dancelord, promises to reveal the 64-year-old's "epic" life that has reached a "plane beyond mere rock stardom".
“His star burns too brightly, and the fall is fast,” according to the promotional material.
Flatley found fame as the main dancer along with Jean Butler during the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, which launched a career performing and producing shows, including Lord of the Dance.
Scriptwriter Mico Rutare told the Guardian the comparison with Rocky was inevitable.
"The underdog pushing yourself beyond what you’re supposed to push yourself, risking your wellbeing physically for the sake of your craft, your art. It’s the courage to put your body on the line and to be willing to endure the pain of that.
“You see the flawless performance onstage but you don’t see all the physical therapy, the bleeding feet, the aches and pains that never go away, the loneliness of the road."
It is Flatley's second foray into drama after the ill fated production of Blackbird, released last year but only shown a handful of times at the cinema, including at a premiere in the Lighthouse in Dublin.
It can still be seen on Amazon, to rent for £1.99 or buy for £4.99, though not through other streaming platforms such as Google Play or Apple.
Some said the release of the film, in which Flatley plays a retired secret agent with a wardrobe often topped with an angled fedora on his head, was worth it alone for the review by critic Mark Kemode.
He described the film as “genuinely one of the worst films I have ever seen”.
"And as we all know, I’ve seen Oversexed Rugsuckers From Mars, I’ve seen Exorcist II: The Heretic, I’ve seen Sex Lives of the Potato Men," Kermode said.
He added: "This is not cinema; this is something so staggeringly self-regarding. I’ve seen a lot of very bad performances, but this is in a stratosphere of his own.”
Kermode added it was not even worth watching for a laugh.
