Robin Hood: a ‘militarised anarchist with PTSD’
Outlaw is portrayed as a resentful crusader in new film that’s ‘not tied firmly to medieval England’
FOR some, Robin Hood will forever be Errol Flynn swashbuckling his way through Sherwood Forest. For others, Kevin Costner’s pairing with Alan Rickman’s Sheriff of Nottingham was simply unimprovable.
A new version of Robin Hood, destined for release this year, is to reveal a rather different side to the beloved outlaw: a “seriously militarised anarchist revolutionary” returning from an unjust crusade with PTSD.
The 2018 Robin Hood, played by Taron Egerton, the British actor, will see a hardened crusader believing he has been deceived into fighting for a “b ******* ” cause, returning to England full of resentment. There, as he observes a “fractured” society, he is moved to his famous ambition to steal from the rich to give to the poor after observing the inequalities in society.
Newly released pictures show the cast, which includes Jamie Foxx as Little John, using bows and arrows which, the actor said, have been computer-generated to make them “rapid-fire, almost like an AK”.
The Sheriff of Nottingham, played by Ben Mendelsohn, is seen in a very modern steel-grey coat, flanked by a futuristic army wearing heavy metal armour and appearing to wield guns.
Members of the cast have previously likened elements of the film to Zero Dark Thirty, a thriller based on the hunt for Osama bin Laden, and The Hurt Locker, set in the Iraq War.
Publicity material for the film states: “A war-hardened crusader and a Moorish commander mount an audacious revolt against the corrupt English crown in a thrilling action-adventure. Packed with gritty battlefield exploits, mind-blowing fight choreography, and a timeless romance, Robin Hood is a never-before-seen story of how Robin Hood became the icon and legend as we know him today.” Otto Bathurst, who is directing the film and has previously worked on television shows Black Mirror and Peaky Blinders, has hinted that his interpretation will have a military leaning.
He told Entertainment Weekly:
“You don’t become a legend for 800 years if you’ve just stolen a few bags of money from rich people to give to the poor.
“In my mind, Robin Hood was this sort of seriously militarised anarchist revolutionary; a freedom thinker and a truth seeker. And the more I got into the story, it just became startling how utterly relevant it is to what’s going on in society now.”
Originally billed as an origin story, the film is said to be “entirely revisionist”, and not tied firmly to medieval England.
Basil Iwanyk, its producer, told film website Collider: “I feel that it captures the adventure and the fun and the spirit of Robin Hood, but because it’s the origin story. It’s a kid going off to war thinking he’s going on a great crusade, and realising it’s all b ******* and coming back with some PTSD and realising he’s been lied to.
“Coming back to kind of a fractured society that doesn’t really accept him and realising, ‘Okay the super rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer.’
“You could describe that now.” He added the film was written to feel “very allegorical and very contemporary, and youthful”, with all the anger and energy of a typical 25-year-old protagonist.
Egerton, 28, born in Birkenhead and best-known for his role in Kingsman:
The Secret Service and its sequel, plays Robin Hood, while Foxx takes the role of a war-weary veteran Little John.
The villainous Sheriff of Nottingham is played by Ben Mendelsohn, who appeared in The Dark Knight Rises and
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, while Jamie Dornan, star of The Fall and Fifty
Shades of Grey, takes the role of Will
Scarlett.
Tim Minchin, the comedian, is to play Friar Tuck, while the part of Maid Marian is taken by Eve Hewson, the Irish actress and daughter of Bono, frontman of U2. The film is due for release on Sept 21.