Fassbender to Play Ancient Celtic Hero in “Irish Myths”

Michael Fassbender, who lit up Hollywood’s radar this year with X-Men: First Class and Shame, is in the early stages of developing Irish Myths with writer Roy Bennett. Irish Myths will bring to the big screen the life of Cuchulain, an ancient Celtic hero and a pervasive cultural figure in Ireland. He shares certain traits with his more famous Greek counterpart Achilles: both were fierce warriors given to episodes of frenzy and both were destined to have short lives, but  would be remembered throughout history.

The stories of Cuchulain, however, are a comic book reader’s dream. His life takes dizzying twists and turns, both heroic and tragic, and some of his encounters read like the fever dreams of Edgar Allan Poe. One of his most well known tales, and one that will likely be featured in a film version, is known as “The Cattle Raid of Cooley,” in which Cuchulain fights off the army of Connaght on his own by invoking the right of single combat. For months, Cuchulain defeats one Connacht warrior after another, even with the mythical Morrigan conspiring against him.

And there is, of course, the battle frenzy. When Cuchulain enters his battle frenzy, called the riastrad in Celtic, he physically transforms. This is a description of one such transformation, translated by Thomas Kinsella:

The first warp-spasm seized Cúchulainn, and made him into a monstrous thing, hideous and shapeless, unheard of. His shanks and his joints, every knuckle and angle and organ from head to foot, shook like a tree in the flood or a reed in the stream. His body made a furious twist inside his skin, so that his feet and shins switched to the rear and his heels and calves switched to the front… On his head the temple-sinews stretched to the nape of his neck, each mighty, immense, measureless knob as big as the head of a month-old child…

Sound familiar, ye Fans of the Green Goliath? When one also considers that Cuchulain is described as a dark haired, small, beardless fellow, the parallel to Bruce Banner and the Hulk is almost undeniable.

The movie is still in the early stages of development, with no release date or director announced, but it’s exciting to know that these long overlooked Irish Myths are finally getting some big screen attention.

Tags: Cuchulain, Irish Myths, Magneto, Michael Fassbender, Roy Bennett

About the Author

Written by Brien Gorham

Once of New Jersey, now of Seattle, Brien Gorham writes and talks about culture... a lot. When not writing about television and movies for Comic Booked, he hosts the weekly media and culture podcast C.O.T.U.S Radio and runs his own culture blog at virgilsdiner.com. He firmly believes that Shakespeare wrote his own plays and that Han did indeed shoot first.

Follow me on Twitter | Find me on Facebook