Universal Pictures announced today the start of production on Ridley Scott’s untitled Robin Hood adventure and announces the complete list of cast members and synopsis.
The most prominent new name added to the cast is Vanessa Redgrave as she joins Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Mark Strong, Oscar Isaac, Léa Seydoux, Scott Grimes, Kevin Durand and Alan Doyle in the action-adventure, that will mark Crowe and Scott’s fifth collaboration following Body of Lies, American Gangster, A Good Year and, of course, Gladiator.
The film was once titled Nottingham and was put on hold around the time of the writer’s strike. At that time it was described as a revisionist story in which Crowe would play a sympathetic Sheriff of Nottingham who labors for a corrupt king and engages in a love triangle with Maid Marion and Robin Hood. Sienna Miller was also aboard as Maid Marion.
Since that time the title was said to have changed to Robin Hood and Miller was replaced by Blanchett and the story now had Crowe playing the part of Robin Hood as a member of the army of Richard Coeur de Lion.
Well, as production begins the film is apparently without a title and is being referred to as the untitled Robin Hood adventure and comes with the following synopsis:
Russell Crowe stars as the legendary figure known by generations as Robin Hood, whose exploits have endured in popular mythology and ignited the imagination of those who share his spirit of adventure and righteousness. In 13th century England, Robin and his band of marauders confront corruption in a local village and lead an uprising against the crown that will forever alter the balance of world power. And whether thief or hero, one man from humble beginnings will become an eternal symbol of freedom for his people.
The untitled Robin Hood adventure chronicles the life of an expert archer, previously interested only in self-preservation, from his service in King Richard’s army against the French. Upon Richard’s death, Robin travels to Nottingham, a town suffering from the corruption of a despotic sheriff and crippling taxation, where he falls for the spirited widow Lady Marion (Blanchett), a woman skeptical of the identity and motivations of this crusader from the forest. Hoping to earn the hand of Maid Marion and salvage the village, Robin assembles a gang whose lethal mercenary skills are matched only by its appetite for life. Together, they begin preying on the indulgent upper class to correct injustices under the sheriff.
With their country weakened from decades of war, embattled from the ineffective rule of the new king and vulnerable to insurgencies from within and threats from afar, Robin and his men heed a call to ever greater adventure. This unlikeliest of heroes and his allies set off to protect their country from slipping into bloody civil war and return glory to England once more.
Ridley Scott is directing from a script by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris (creators of television’s “Sleeper Cell”) and Oscar winner Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential). Scott assembles a team of longtime collaborators for the action-adventure, including John Mathieson (Gladiator, Hannibal) as its cinematographer and Arthur Max (Gladiator, American Gangster) as the production designer. The film’s editor is two-time Oscar winner Pietro Scalia (Black Hawk Down, JFK), and its costume designer is Oscar winner Janty Yates (Gladiator, American Gangster).
The picture is currently slated for a May 14, 2010 release.
