Fionn McCumhaill, Cuchulainn, Quenn Maebh, Red Branch Knights...

epgc3fyqirnbsx

We have all heard these stories and fantastic stories they are. Lots of countries have mythology eg England with King Arthur etc but I think these ones are exceptional

Got to thinking on these tonight and had a chat about them. Learned about them in school which was always one of the more interesting stories, I presume and hope that they are still teaching them

But after having a whisket there with the aul boy we got on to them and talked (well I talked, he hadn't a clue what I was on about) about the Lord of the Rings and the huge boost that gave New Zealand. It was their biggest employer for a couple of years and has done wonders for their tourism industry. Mainly because it's a cool story that can show off a tremendous landscape.

And I think these are even better stories. Brilliant stories with a hell of a lot of depth that need not be a series but a whole untapped resource of stories that as far as I know have never been brought to the big screen. I would hate to see them be americanised though there is no real set story but al lot of interpretations.

Point is they are everything mythology should be, all have depth and morality at their core and amazing imagery and as such have an incredible potential. And I think they would be brilliant to share. And also, of course, that they could employ and boost tourism, moreso than the "I'm three eights Irish" florisa pastel wearing tourists.

Just a thought

Saila

cool story bro

epgc3fyqirnbsx

Saila wrote: »

cool story bro

die

Absurdum

the problem with this country is that we're afraid of glorifying our warriors

Saila

Ezekiel Shapely Electrician wrote: »

die

"no its not anything bad it means THE BART THE "

KnifeWRENCH

I actually remember very little about those stories tbh.

Fionn MacCumhaill ate the salmon of knowledge.
Cúchulainn was some warrior guy who fought a giant.....possibly....
Queen Meabh stole a bull, or something.....

That's about as much as I can recall.

Absurdum wrote:

the problem with this country is that we're afraid of glorifying our warriors

Not if you're Bill Cullen.

Dravokivich

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

Queen Meabh stole a bull, or something.....

I thought she was that pirate woman?

KnifeWRENCH

Dravokivich wrote: »

I thought she was that pirate woman?

Maybe she was both. Pirates can steal bulls, I guess. (provided they plunder a ship that has a bull on it.)

ballsymchugh

setanta is a young lad from cork that's pretty handy with a hurley. mother from fiji.

was at the horslips tonight. some of their songs are based on these characters. gotta agree op, would be cool to see the stories in the cinema instead of 2nd and 3rd class teachers.

Mrmoe

Dravokivich wrote: »

I thought she was that pirate woman?

Grace O'Malley, I presume. I'm not sure it would work as a movie. Most of the best films such as Braveheart, LOTR and Gladiator had large pitched battles. I don't think we ever had them, we were more suited to guerrilla warfare or one on one combat of selected warriors.

ballsymchugh

Mrmoe wrote: »

Grace O'Malley, I presume. I'm not sure it would work as a movie. Most of the best films such as Braveheart, LOTR and Gladiator had large pitched battles. I don't think we ever had them, we were more suited to guerrilla warfare or one on one combat of selected warriors.

the fight over the brown bull of cooley was a fierce battle between connacht and ulster.

randylonghorn

Dravokivich wrote: »

I thought she was that pirate woman?

Granuaile / Grace O'Malley as MrMoe says. An actual historical figure from 16th century Ireland, though that ofc does not mean that all the stories told about her are true / verifiable.

Commonalities with Queen Maebh would be that she was a strong woman from Connaught with an ambiguous attitude to the rights of ownership (well, other peoples rights, anyway!).

Maebh is probably mainly a mythological figure, based on the Goddess Medb, though there may have been a real warrior queen at some stage and the stories became intermingled as they were wont to do, with the human Medb coming to be seen as an avatar of the goddess.



And they brought Beowulf to the screen ...

scientific1982

I was talking to a mate about this in the pub a few months ago. We have a rich mythology. Tolkien actually used norse and celtic mythology as inspiration for some of his books.

PeggyvB

I adore Irish mythology! I'd absolutely love to see them made into (well made) movies! I wonder who nowadays could play the part of Fionn mac Cumhaill or Cúchulainn ?











-A half Irish American who tries really hard not to piss of locals when she travels owing to the fact that that she can't stand tourist either.

alwaysadub

I really must read up on them again. I only remember bits and pieces of them all.
Slasher, you have the most random thoughts at times

AskMyChocolate

ballsymchugh wrote: »

the fight over the brown bull of cooley was a fierce battle between connacht and ulster.

I thought it was settled by one on one combat between cuchulainn and Ferdia. I could be wrong now, just dredging my memory.


Btw OP, excellent idea.

Son Of A Vidic

Absurdum wrote: »

the problem with this country is that we're afraid of glorifying our warriors

Indeed and thanks to decades of revisionism, some people sadly even seem ashamed.

danh789

Funny I was just read up on these stories yesterday. Recently bought a race horse and I'm trying to name him. Was looking for some old celtic word or name that showcased speed and power. So far I have been unsuccessful!

Tigger

Sliotar

BraziliaNZ

Personally I think the stories are a load of bollocks lol

Wibbs

IIRC there's a film script in development with one of the major studios as we speak.

There's plenty of material to chose from in the Ulster cycle stuff. There are picthed battles alright, one on one combat, magic stuff, love, betrayal, lots of ridin going on and very strong female characters. The latter very unusual in ancient sagas. In the classical world women are usually pawns to move the story along. Helen of Troy? yea we all know her name but she doesnt do much in the stories, except hang around looking lovely and causing wars.

We also forget that these are some of the earliest non classical European epics to be written down in their original form. EG King Arthur is much later and evolved a lot.

Logical Fallacy

Personally, i would rather see something like this done as a proper Anime than a live action thing. The Secret of Kells was really nicely done and there is no reason why Ireland couldn't produce more of such films.

WindSock

I've been thinking of this a bit, lately too. There is plenty of interesting fodder in our history and mythology there for the movie industry. I am surprised nothing has been made yet.
I remember hearing a rumour a while ago (probably here) that they were making Brian Ború with Leo DiCaprio as himself. Hopefully it was just a rumour about the casting, I would even rather Colin Farrell took the part.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

I never liked the Cúchulainn story as a child because we were the bad guys.

AntiMatter

WindSock wrote: »

I've been thinking of this a bit, lately too. There is plenty of interesting fodder in our history and mythology there for the movie industry. I am surprised nothing has been made yet.
I remember hearing a rumour a while ago (probably here) that they were making Brian Ború with Leo DiCaprio as himself. Hopefully it was just a rumour about the casting, I would even rather Colin Farrell took the part.

It may not have the international appeal that the likes of LOTR or Harry Potter would have, and so isn't a big draw for major productions.

Rhyme

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

The Secret of Kells was really nicely done and there is no reason why Ireland couldn't produce more of such films.

This.



(though an amount of the animation was outsourced to France)

Nodin

WindSock wrote: »

I've been thinking of this a bit, lately too. There is plenty of interesting fodder in our history and mythology there for the movie industry. I am surprised nothing has been made yet.
I remember hearing a rumour a while ago (probably here) that they were making Brian Ború with Leo DiCaprio as himself. Hopefully it was just a rumour about the casting, I would even rather Colin Farrell took the part.

Though it was strongly touted, its not listed as one of his upcoming on IMDB. In fairness he's lost some of the annoying babyishness about his mush, but he'd still be wrong for it. Liam Neeson is your only man there really.

ballsymchugh

AskMyChocolate wrote: »

I thought it was settled by one on one combat between cuchulainn and Ferdia. I could be wrong now, just dredging my memory.


Btw OP, excellent idea.

it eventually was.

WindSock

AntiMatter wrote: »

It may not have the international appeal that the likes of LOTR or Harry Potter would have, and so isn't a big draw for major productions.

I don't see why our mythological stories couldn't, there is plenty to draw on. It's all about the production of it. Sure look at Braveheart for example. Who would have thought a story about a Scotsman would become so popular?

WindSock

Nodin wrote: »

Though it was strongly touted, its not listed as one of his upcoming on IMDB. In fairness he's lost some of the annoying babyishness about his mush, but he'd still be wrong for it. Liam Neeson is your only man there really.

I think Leeson would be too old for the role, I thought Ború was meant to be a young chap?

hidinginthebush

Saila wrote: »

"no its not anything bad it means THE BART THE "

Nobody who speaks German could possibly be bad

Nodin

WindSock wrote: »

I think Leeson would be too old for the role, I thought Ború was meant to be a young chap?

emmmm no? He was supposed to be in his 80's at clontarf.

WindSock

Nodin wrote: »

emmmm no? He was supposed to be in his 80's at clontarf.

Oh right. I must murder my source then :pac:

citizen_p

they were to make a film about brian boru.

was to be made by mark mahon, they released a comic on it before they didnt get funding, not surprising.


edit, already being disscussed, i heard leonardo di caprio waas to be cast at one stage, from somone working on the production

Nodin

Mousey- wrote: »

they were to make a film about brian boru but couldnt get the funding

was to be made by mark mahoon, they released a comic on it before they didnt get funding.


edit, already being disscussed, i heard matt damon waas to be cast at one stage, from somone working on the production

That would explain the absence of the listings then so....ze well has dried.

Nodin

WindSock wrote: »

Oh right. I must murder my source then :pac:

Harsh but fair.

Coriolanus

Brendan Gleeson for Boru anyway.

citizen_p

Nodin wrote: »

That would explain the absence of the listings then so....ze well has dried.

edited my last post, think it was leanardo.
but its understandable that it didnt get funding really, mark mahons last movie, strenght and honour got bad reviews both here and in the US. it won a few awards in film festivals ive never in heard of but got bad reviews.

i have the first part of the comic and it looked some what tacky.... horns made from bull horns used to signal the village of an attack etc...

Nodin

There was a book - "Lion Of Ireland" - a few years back that would be a sounder basis for the movie.

Coriolanus

Mousey- wrote: »

edited my last post, think it was leanardo.
but its understandable that it didnt get funding really, mark mahons last movie, strenght and honour got bad reviews both here and in the US. it won a few awards in film festivals ive never in heard of but got bad reviews.

i have the first part of the comic and it looked some what tacky.... horns made from bull horns used to signal the village of an attack etc...

Sure it wasn't supposed to be one of these?

http://www.libraryireland.com/images/horn.gif

AntiMatter

WindSock wrote: »

I don't see why our mythological stories couldn't, there is plenty to draw on. It's all about the production of it. Sure look at Braveheart for example. Who would have thought a story about a Scotsman would become so popular?

I would suggest the anti-establishment, Anglophobe leanings may have contributed more to the success of the movie, than the actual subject matter. That and all the violence.

WindSock

AntiMatter wrote: »

I would suggest the anti-establishment, Anglophobe leanings may have contributed more to the success of the movie, than the actual subject matter. That and all the violence.

Do you think we could muster up an anti-establishment, Anglophobic story of the same calibre here?

Wonder would a 3D film about the famine take off...

northernpower

I think they would make for great stories, the "tain bó cuailgne" story could be adopted, it has everything, the story of cu chulainn / setanta could develop alongside it, massive battle scene and depending on what story you read cu chulainn fighting to exhaustion ties himself to a rock, his enemies afraid to approach until a crow lands on his shoulder, signalling to them that cuchulainn is dead, with the right writing it could be epic, though i'd leave out a lot of the magic and leave it more along the lines of braveheart e.g. mortals.

On another note i remember reading "trinity" by Leon Uris and thinking it would make quite a could talkie if ye left out all the american diddly de di de doh dur dur, so again it would need an irish script writer, or at least a culturally sensitive american one (if there is such a thing)

AntiMatter

WindSock wrote: »

Do you think we could muster up an anti-establishment, Anglophobic story of the same calibre here?

Wonder would a 3D film about the famine take off...

You've the bare bones of a story, right there.

maninasia

Funnily enough, advances in technology make this a goer, as the full magic of the tales can come to life on the big screen using computer animation. The battle of Connaught and Ulster, Cuchullain , Children of Lir, Tir na nog, Fir Bolg...there's a lot of amazing stories to be put onto the big screen.
Irish people should celebrate our culture more and have more confidence that this would work. It's all about the story in the end, these stories have been passed on orally for thousands of years...they are good ones!

EverEvolving

I love the Children of Lir story, think it make an excellent film for all ages.

Viggo Mortenson would make a great Brian Boru, I can't think of an Irish actor that would fit the role.

Coriolanus

The more I think about it, the more I think it could work.

Get Jim Fitzpatrick to do the art workups. Michael Scott to do the script/story.

judestynes

Dravokivich wrote: »

I thought she was that pirate woman?

I think your confusing her with Grace O'Malley the pirate queen. Another great character.

Krusader

Deirdre & Naoise would be a great tradgic love story to see on the big screen

AlmightyCushion

Saila wrote: »

cool story bro

Fionn McCumhaill story bro, would have been a lot funnier and been more topical. Poor attempt.

kowloon

Nevore wrote: »

The more I think about it, the more I think it could work.

Get Jim Fitzpatrick to do the art workups. Michael Scott to do the script/story.

Does he not have a series of childrens books worthy of filming already?