Proverbial eyebrows were raised by movers and shakers in the film industry when the Lord of the Dance star announced that he was planning to write, produce, direct and star in a full length feature film. As it's no easy task, even for a seasoned pro, never mind a novice. But Michael Flatley insists that his debut movie is not a "vanity project".

Michael Flately plays a secret agent in his debut film, Blackbird. It also stars Rachel Warren, Julia Robert's brother Eric Roberts and Irish legend Patrick Bergin, who coincidentally starred with Eric's little sister in Sleeping with the Enemy, which made the Irishman a star in Hollywood back in the early '90s.

“I want to be clear about this – I didn’t finance it because I wanted to make a vanity project," Michael Flately insists in a new interview with the Hollywood Reporter.

At the height of his fame, Michael Flatley's legs were insured for €35 million. So he's certainly not short of a bob or two, as the old saying goes. Explaining why he took the risky decision of pumping millions of his own money into the project, Michael said: “It would have just taken too long to raise the money, and I didn’t know what I’d be doing next year.

“And when the window was there, we had to get it done. We’ve since had several offers already for people to come in and take the film, which is really good. So it won’t be on my dime at the end of the day.”

Patrick Bergin and Michael Flatley in a scene from Blackbird

Despite appearing on the poster, Rachel Warren's name does not appear above the title on the poster as one of the main stars. Michael Flatley now says that this was a "mistake".

“It could actually be argued that she’s the real star of the movie, in my opinion,” Michael insists.

The making of the movie has fulfilled a lifelong dream for the Chicago-born star who first burst onto the limelight following his Riverdance performance on Eurovision.

“I’ve wanted to do it all my life, but I’ve never had the opportunity," he says. “I remember when I was six years old in the backyard of our house in Chicago we used to reinvent John Wayne movies with my buddies.”

The film, in someways, sounds very much like a remake of Casablanca. According to IMDb, Blackbird is about a troubled secret agent who "abruptly retires" from service and opens a luxurious nightclub in the Caribbean to "escape the dark shadows of his past". Then an "old flame arrives and reignites love in his life but she brings danger with her".