Movie legend Kevin Costner has revealed he wants to make a film about the ‘Greatest ever Irishman’ Michael Collins.
The Bodyguard star, who used to live in Ireland, has a keen interest in Irish history and is fascinated by the life of the ‘Big Fella’.
He has wanted to make a movie about Collins for years. He was considered for the role of Collins for the 1996 Neil Jordan movie but the part ultimately went to Liam Neeson.
While Costner missed out, he admits it wasn’t quite the type of movie he envisioned anyway. When he spoke to Joe.ie – ahead of the release of his movie ‘The Highwaymen’ – he revealed he would like to tell the story of the War of Independence leader his way.
He said: “I wanted to make the Michael Collins story, I still do. I know it was made by another director (Neil Jordan) but that’s not the story I was going to make. I love the epic notion of Michael Collins. I’d still like to make that movie someday.
“I found him to be an incredible person that was compromised by politics. His story is coming up more and more now. He was a dynamic person that was caught in politics. For me, Michael Collins is a large reason why I lived in Ireland.”
Indeed, while preparing for the role that never came in 1996, Costner moved to Ireland, where he lived in West Cork and studied Collins’ life.
It led to a script being written by Eoghan Harris, which Costner described as being epic and iconic, resembling an Irish version of Lawrence Of Arabia.
He said: “There was a final line in the script that said ‘God Ireland, I love you’ and that was his final line in it. While it’s a fictitious line in the movie, I think it encapsulated who he was.
“That always affected me. I thought the script from Eoghan Harris was just superior. It was an epic. It was like a real Lawrence Of Arabia look at Collins.”
Take a look at the video below.
Written by Michael Kehoe @michaelcalling