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Ridley Scott's Nottingham is the 'Gladiator Version of Robin Hood'!

by Alex Billington
October 23, 2007
Source: MTV

Way back in April we ran some news about a revisionist Robin Hood in the works from legendary director Ridley Scott titled Nottingham that would star Russell Crowe. Since then it hasn't been mentioned because Ridley has been hard at work finishing American Gangster due out on November 2nd. However, at the recent press events for American Gangster this past weekend, producer Brian Grazer said a few very exciting things regarding Nottingham, including that it "is the Gladiator version of Robin Hood."

Grazer added via MTV that, "I think it will have the same propulsion that Gladiator had - the same adrenaline hits." Can you imagine that? My jaw dropped just thinking about a Gladiator-epic version of the Robin Hood tale! Apparently the story is a bit different than almost everyone knows. Told from the Sheriff’s point of view, the new movie centers around a familiar, yet very different, set of characters. Ridley Scott elaborates on the story further, and it's an interesting twist.

"Richard the Lionheart is on his return from the Crusades [when] he took an arrow in his neck and died," Scott said of the flick's set-up. "His brother, John, [becomes king.]" John, known in his own life as John Lackland (because as the youngest son he didn't get any inheritance) "was actually pretty smart," Scott insisted. "[But] he got a bad rap because he introduced taxation. So he's the bad guy in this."

Meanwhile, "You've got the returning Nottingham who is the right hand man of Richard and witnesses Richard taking the arrow," Scott revealed. "And so he comes back to England to carry forward Richard's dream about England." The Sheriff, then, strives to do right while caught in the middle of two wrongs – on one side a corrupt and unpopular King who orders him to arrest outlaws, on the other the outlaw himself who threatens to rouse the public in popular anarchy.

"[Caught between] the minority of haves and the majority of have nots."

I know I'm totally sold on this. I was sold at "Gladiator version of Robin Hood." I really am excited to see what Ridley Scott and especially Russell Crowe will bring to this. I think it has all the right pieces in place, now it just needs a solid script from a good writer and for pre-production to begin before the strike hits next summer. Whenever this arrives I certainly know we'll have a film that will live up to Gladiator - and that would be a phenomenal achievement.

The photo at the top is courtesy of deviantART.

Filed under Hype, Movie News

From around the web:

http://www.critical-acclaim.info grendel

The background story sounds awesome. A great pitch! I would personally prefer Ridley not to go with a Gladiator style but move towards Kingdom of Heaven instead. Also, I think it's time for a new leading man. Kinda tired of Russell Crowe in everything Ridley does. Bring in some new blood.
Gregg

Sounds more of a wait for DvD movie. Lost my ticket sale on "is the Gladiator version of Robin Hood"
Ryan

Is Russell Crow, ridley Scott's muse or something? He is in EVERYONE of his films. IDK, sounds like a DVD rental if that.
Matty p

Gladiator was amazing so if this is half what Gladiator was I'll be happy. Though Ridley Scott can be very hit or miss with his films (Kingdom of Heaven, Hannibal, and Someone to Watch Over Me = Bad, but then there's Matchstick Men, Gladiator, Blade Runner, and Alien which were some of my favorite films). I guess I'll wait to see how good American Gangster is and how they handle the marketing for this film.
avoidz

Agree with the above comments; Ridley: lose your hard-on for Russ Crowe! Otherwise, this could be terrific
Richard

sounds like robin hood is the bad guy, gay
Pete

Get Crowe out of this, they need Englishmen for the roles. And I say this as an Australian.
Bruce

Another pathetic attempt by Hollywood to redo classics in a miserable way. We love Robin Hood and Errol Flynn's is considered a classic. Costner's remake was okay but sad in some ways. The best part was Alan Rickman. Now Nottingham is going to be a hero? Did they learn with that miserable retelling of King Arthur. Why do you have to smash legends to make a movie? And is the industry so short of creative new ideas that they keep returning to the classics. Now we learn we will see another Lone Ranger by Bruckheimer. What will the great Masked Man be doing back flips on Silver?
avoidz

Lone Ranger? Jerry Bruckheimer?... Get Michael Bay to direct and I reckon you've got something there
ramez

haha ryan, what about scorsese and dicaprio? I think there's better chemistry between director and lead actor if they've worked on many movies together. Im excited about this one
alex Chen

whoever didn't like kingdom of heaven should watch the directors cut, a beatiful film that flew under lost appreciation cause producers put the axe to it to shorten it. This robin hood, if you guys read any of that isn't a considered a remake, its from a completely different historical angle. Sounds awesome can't wait to see it
avoidz

Kingdom of Heaven just trod all-too-familiar ground, and epic battles featuring thousands of CG warriors? Been there, done that. Not a big fan of Crowe, and Scott hasn't had a decent hit in a long time. So I'm hoping for a good result from this Robin Hood re-telling.
Paul

I know it probably isnt very important to most people but was'nt sherwood forest (the real star of the story) a magnificent wild and dangerous broadleaved oakwood filled with large animals like wolves, bears and boar and not a manmade pine plantation filled with people. Ive only seen a few photographs of the new film, but it looks to me (a past ridley fan) like most filmmakers yet again have no attention to detail. This is like filming out of africa in legoland. Come on creatives start to earn your money.
Steve

Wow what a list of stupid comments
snickers

@14 - Including yours.
moe

well, ridley scott was very close to give russell two roles in this movie (robin hood, sheriff of nottingham), apparently he read the comments... and if he reads this i tell him, we are fed up of russell being in the leading role in most of your films!