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Brian Grazer Clarifies Dual Casting Confusion in Nottingham

by Alex Billington
December 1, 2008
Source: MTV

Ridley Scott's Nottingham is still one of those projects that we're very excited to eventually see, whether it takes two years or ten years. MTV caught up with producer Brian Grazer recently and not only confirmed that they're hoping to start shooting in March of next year, but also got some clarification behind the dual casting in the film. Back in September, it was discovered that Russell Crowe was going to play both Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham. This left everyone completely confused as to how that could even happen, which is why it's a relief, and somewhat intriguing, to hear Grazer clarify what that means.

"The two role confusion is that what Robin Hood does is he sees Nottingham in battle very early in the movie and Nottingham dies. And Robin Hood takes over the identity of Nottingham. That's how it plays out." Grazer added that this is "an origin story" for those two characters. In the classic Robin Hood story, the evil Sheriff of Nottingham has taken the place of the absent King and Robin Hood must fight him to take the throne. In Ridley Scott's Nottingham, apparently Robin Hood becomes the Sheriff, according to Grazer, and from there who knows what happens. Either way, I'm curious to find out where it goes next.

Both Grazer and Mark Strong (separately in our interview) confirmed that Nottingham is gearing up to finally go into production early next year. Initially it was supposed to start this year but it got delayed. Brian Helgeland is apparently working on a final version of the screenplay, which has had numerous revisions to make it work, one of which involved tweaking it so that the dual casting could be pulled off. I'm hoping that this hasn't been over-worked and the story has lost the depth that made it so interesting to begin with. Ridley Scott needs another big hit and I was really hoping that Nottingham would be it. Thoughts?

Explore tags: Movie News, Opinions

aaron

Kevin Costner will always be Robin Hood to me.
zachy

yes this sounds prettay intriguing! considering that Crowe is Ridley's all-star performer, it looks like both Grazer and Scott have complete faith in him to carry the whole movie! AWESOME concept too.
ha1rball

Cary Elwes will always be Robin Hood to me....
Shane

I hate these "concept" films. Just cast both Russell Crowe and Christian Bale again and have one be the Sherrif and one to be Robin Hood and tell the traditional story.
Conrad

Robin Hood is going to be played by Crowe who is going to be playing the Sheriff who does and then the new sheriff who is now Robin Hood - right? Horrible idea. That goes against everything Robin Hood stands for. He robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, that's his entire morale execution right there. Is Ridley planning to rock the foundations of our very beloved Robin Hood? So it seems.
Lady Aerin

That... doesn't make a lick of damn sense. Color me disinterested.
Darunia

This was supposed to be a sequel to Kingdom of Heaven. William Monahan, who wrote Kingdom Of Heaven, envisioned it as the origin of Robin Hood, but i believe it was supposed to have yet another movie set in the cruzades before he came back from it and became Robin Hood.
Twanzel

The Fox from the Disney movie will always be Robin Hood to me
xmulderx

I would not be so quick to write this project off as being a bad idea just yet. This is Ridley Scott we are talking about he probably deserves the benefit of the doubt till we see how it turns out. As for Robin Hood the best incarnation has to be the 80's BBC series Robin of Sherwood.
aaron

lmao at #8.
Dreckent

"The two role confusion is that what Robin Hood does is he sees Nottingham in battle very early in the movie and Nottingham dies. And Robin Hood takes over the identity of Nottingham (...) In Ridley Scott's Nottingham, apparently Robin Hood becomes the Sheriff, according to Grazer, and from there who knows what happens." My guess (and I hope im wrong) is that later it turns out that the real Sheriff of Nottingham wasnt dead, and realizing that his old enemy stole his identity, he decides to steal Robins. So in the end the battle between the Sheriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood continues. Is John Woo producing thisone?
dom

Crowe needs to slim down big time to play Robin Hood.. think Ridley should use an unknown in that role - would work much better!
http://conedude13.blogspot.com conedude13

so far it seems to be one big warm steamy pile of reindeer poo, to be keeping with the season and all. Really? Robin Hood becomes the Sheriff? Really?! Well you have to give it to them, that is definitely original. Dumbest thing I've ever heard of in terms of a robin hood film, but different.
dac

Dont fuck with classic storys. It should bomb.
LeeMan

i hope this comes out by next nov, even though i'll be seeing sherlock instead
scm1000

I don't think you understand the "classic story" of Robin Hood. King John was filling in for his brother Richard the Lionheart--which really happened---and the Sheriff of Nottingham was just a really bad guy who ruled the area around Nottingham and Sherwood Forest in a tyrannical manner along with Guy of Gisbourne. Robin is a lord in some incarnations, but he never attempts to become king. Correct me if I'm wrong.
tyler wilson

yeah I think we should really give scott the benefit of the doubt, he is only one of the best directors of our time. Im sure whatever he has planed will work out great and as far as ruining the robin hood thing, I think kosner did that just fine. he was by far the worst thing to happen to robin hood. I do agree that someone else should play him though, crowe just might not be the right man for this, dare I say it. and yeah robin never wanted to be king, he wanted the true king to return to the throne. if taking the throne till he returns and keeping things right is what he needs to do though that might be a cool take on the whole thing. I dont know though. and the idea of the switched roles might work out just fine. and the best Robin Hood is Errol Flynn in what I think is the original Robin Hood movie.
D-9

Here Here 17!!!!
botface

it made sense to me... i think... the sheriff becomes the king and so robin then becomes the sheriff... thats why he is robin and the sheriff... right...??? :s
Whiskey Explorer

That idea sounds like a pile of poo! Maybe he's been reading those rumours about ripping off John Connors skin and placing it on a terminator. This role reversal c*** is a lack of imagination. What has happened to Wrigley Scott? No it's not a typo, that's what i call him.
fanboy d

sounds mad. mad good maybe, but mad nonetheless.
http://www.bleepinggeek.com Pete the Geek

This sounds like a stoner conversation in action: "Duuuuude... what if Robin Hood WAS the Sheriff of Nottingham?" but I have to say that I'm interested to see how it all plays out. Could turn out to be an interesting alter-ego storyline where the Sheriff becomes the bad guy to protect the throne for the eventual return of the king, but also jaunts around doing good deeds as Robin Hood. As long as it doesn't turn into a lame Eddie Murphy fest where Crowe plays 4 different roles in different makeup, I think we'll be okay. We made it through Prince of Thieves (c'mon Costner, at least try to fake an English accent), we'll make it through this.
RStewie

I'm very not interested in Russell Crowe as Robin Hood. Not. Hot. Christian Bale, though? That would be nice. Robin Hood should be hot...he's a legendary hero, and I don't want to watch some slobby actor attempt to replace my image of him.
mrbobbyboy

Who's playing Barrington? Always been my favourite character.
Zinglebert Bemzidak

Fuck yes, #8. My all-time favorite Disney movie. I think this sounds like it could be interesting. I wonder if he takes on the post of Sheriff temporarily, or permanently? Either way, I'm pretty intrigued. I'll keep an eye on this one.
kenn stewart

Why is it that so many people on these boards have total lack of knowledge concerning film, history AND HOW TO SPELL CORRECTLY. Ridley will make another classic historical film as he is the master when it comes to building the world his characters live in. Robin Hood is myth, the modern hollywood story is just fiction with a few true facts thrown in. So all these negative comments are irrelevant. Cant wait to see this and Forever War after that.
avoidz

Another origin story? Are we reinventing cinema here?
Devon Shaw

Since this was re-linked from the Cate Blanchett article, I still don't think there's any way to quantify exactly how much stupid was required to conjure an idea like this. I've been a Robin Hood aficionado my entire life, and will not set foot in the theater if this plot remains intact. Not to mention both Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett are FAR too old to play their respective parts. Can we axe this entire thing and start over again in five years?
A-C

Devon is on target on this one--unless it will be Russell and Cate sitting around their manor house after Richard has returned and telling their children what happened. They could then cast some appropriate actors in the flashbacks--that I could maybe live with.