Sunday
28Sep2008
Crowe to Play and Pursue Robin Hood in 'Nottingham'
Sunday, September 28, 2008 at 1:24AM 
Is this a shrewd ruse or shrewder casting?
Ridley Scott
told MTV
that his
Body of Lies star and frequent collaborator,
Russell Crowe, wouldn't
just be playing the Sheriff of Nottingham in his upcoming inversion on the
classic Robin Hood, but the guy who steals from the rich and gives to the poor,
as well.
"He's playing both," explained Scott. That's a bit of a
shock; we'd heard a few names suggested, but Scott has apparently chosen a guy
he knows very well for the protagonist and antagonist, however, the hero and the
villain aren't who you think.
In the classic version of the story, it's the Sheriff
who's the bad guy, but
Nottingham will turn it around so that Robin Hood is, as
his thieving may indicate, the villain. I imagine it'll be tough to shoot the
final confrontation between Crowe and himself, but that's Ridley's problem, not
mine.
Scott was not forthcoming on other details about the
movie, saying it would take too long to explain it all (Oh, you mean like
watching
American Gangster?), but he did see casting Crowe for both roles makes sense
because he's using, "a good old clever adjustment of characters. One becomes the
other. It changes."
Hmm...that makes things interesting, if Scott's not just
blowing smoke to create a quick headline. I already loved the
idea of switching the perspective on the story, and this development, showing
the duality of man or some such thing, makes me all the more intrigued. Delayed
because of script issues and - honestly - the changing of the seasons,
Nottingham is back on track to begin production next spring.
Reader Comments (3)
Well, the rumour is that when Christan Bale turned down the role of Robin Hood, essentially because he was a villain, Ridley decided to twist the story and make Robin Hood the alter ego of the Sheriff of Nottingham.
I like the idea because it's definitely not the route of least resistance for either the film-maker or the audience.
What bothers me is that it requires a major re-write of Brian Helgeland's screenplay. Brian Helgeland has written such classics as Mystic River, L.A. Confidential and Man on Fire and the really refreshing take on history in A Knights Tale. For this I happen to rate him very highly as a writer.
The people employed to re-write his script are two guys who wrote Bullet Proof Monk and Kung Fu Panda.
I am both surprised and concerned.
I got it wrong. Brian Helgeland is the one re-writing the script. Just ignore anything I say ;)
Russell Crowe's got the accent for Robin Hood (or the sheriff), though he'll probably have to get a bit slimmer than what his recent role in Body of Lies