Michael Flatley has a message for everyone who has a dream: "There's no shame in failure. The only shame, as I see it, is in not getting up and trying . . . Go for it!"
The Lord of the Dance star joined Ryan Tubridy on The Late Late Show on Friday to talk about his debut feature film Blackbird. Not only does he star in the movie, he also wrote the story and directed.
Michael also talked about how his mother encouraged him to pursue acting and his excitement at finally seeing his movie hit the big screen across Ireland.
"I feel like a million bucks tonight," he told Ryan. "The movie's in a hundred cinemas around Ireland. It’s a fantastic night for me and I’m just really proud. And it’s just great to see the full [Late Late Show] audience back!"
He described going into movies as "a new venture that I wasn’t expecting" before telling Ryan about his love from childhood for Hollywood stars such as "John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Cagney - all of those people".
"Then the dance thing kind of took over for me, and that sort of changed everything," he added, before recalling a regular conversation with his mother.
"She used to ring me and say: 'Michael, would you give up that oul’ dancin’ and make a few movies’ and I tried to explain that there’s 200 people counting on me for a livelihood."
But when he hung up his dancing shoes she told him "You’ve got no more excuses" and so he gave her his word that he would. Unfortunately, she didn’t live to see him make his movie debut.
"Sadly, mom didn’t make it out of 2016," he told Ryan. "God called for her on the 28th of December that year, but a promise made is a debt unpaid - so, mission accomplished."
Ryan put it to Michael that the film "could never happen" and that it was "impossible" and "a fool’s errand, almost" - to which he replied: "Well, you know, I got nothing easy in my life. And this wasn’t going to be any different.
"I can’t tell you how many told me it was impossible. It’s like it was emblazoned my forehead: ‘impossible’. ‘You can’t make. Movie, you’re a dancer’, he added in a cockney accent. "But you can’t listen to that.
"A big part of my motivation is people who have a dream to do something," he adds. "Especially younger people. Especially in this country. They have a dream to do something with their life, they want to be somebody . . .
"But they’re afraid. They paralysed by fear, of what others might think, what people might say. You can’t let that stop you. Work hard, stand up, throw your best shot, and the chips fall where they may."
Brushing away criticism of Blackbird, he told Ryan that he wasn’t interested in negativity. He also encouraged others to follow their dreams, saying: "There’s no shame in failure. The only shame, as I see it, is in not getting up and trying . . . Go for it!"
Michael Flatley also produced his flute to play "a couple of tunes", much to the delight of the audience.
