at some point I plan on writing a Cúchulainn script. I have thought a little bit about it and done a little research and I have a vague idea of the structure.
It starts with his conception and birth (he’s the son of the ancient irish god, Lugh) and the first part of the film would deal with his early years, primarily the event that gives him his name where he kills Culanns guard dog in self-defence by hitting a sliotar down his throat. I’d then cover his marraige with Emer before moving onto the "Battle Raid of Cooley" which would be the main focus of the film with him defending Ulster against Queen Medb (Maeve).
One of the things with Cúchulainn is that he "hulked out" when he fought and pretty much turned into a monster…i wouldn’t go that far but he definitely would be superhuman and I think it would be damn cool seeing him fight off Maeve’s army all by himself.
The film would end with his death…from what I’ve read, Cúchulainn had said that he would never refuse a meal and never eat dog meat…so his enemies tricked him by inviting him to eat but actually giving him dog meat, so he essentially broke his word since he had to eat it (never refusing a meal) and it weakened him. But even then he still fought off huge numbers of people before finally being killed.
I actually think it would be a cool movie…the only real problem I have is trying to justify maeve’s reason for going to war with ulster…essentially she wanted the prize bull of the Ulster king.
i did look at Fionn MacCumhail, but Cúchulainn frankly is easier to adapt. Fionn’s story doesn’t really have any structure to it…in fact after the salmon of knowledge and defeating the demon/goblin at Tara, the biggest event in Fenian Cycle is about his son Oisin and Tir na nOg. There is the story of Diarmuid and Grainne…but the whole Fenian Cycle is really just a collection of stories related to Fionn, without much too connect them.
Cúchulainn is infinitely more suited to the screen…I just hope nobody makes it before I do 