Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe’s “Nottingham” To Be ‘Gladiator Version of Robin Hood’

By Jason

October 23, 2007 in Movies

Determined not to be outdone by Scorsese and DiCaprio, Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe are making plans for another trip down the Hollywood aisle - their fifth together (Gladiator, A Good Year, American Gangster, Body Of Lies).

Reports about the rumored “Nottingham” first surfaced early this year but not much has been known about the possible film since Scott has been hard at work prepping “American Gangster” for its November 2 release. However, at recent press events for Gangster, producer Brian Grazer made several mentions of the film including a statement describing it as “the Gladiator version of Robin Hood.”

On the MTV Movies Blog Grazer said that “…it will have the same propulsion that ‘Gladiator’ had - the same adrenaline hits.” That could be one of the reasons the spec script was so highly sought after. Universal Pictures acquired the rights to Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris’s spec script only after an aggressive bidding contest with other studios such as New Line Cinema, Warner Bros., Sony, New Regency Enterprises, and DreamWorks. Other directors wanted in on the action as well. Filmmakers Bryan Singer, Sam Raimi, and Jon Turteltaub were all in contention for the directing assignment on this film at one time or another.

This version of the Robin Hood tale will be told from the Sheriff’s point of view. Scott has said that the movie centers around a familiar, yet very different set of characters, than we normally see in tales of Robin Hood and that this story begins when a legend first walks into history. Scott elaborates even further:

“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.

It sounds like it could definitely be a really cool movie. Telling the story from the Sheriff’s point of view should change it enough to make it seem like something new while adding the same kind of production values that “Gladiator” had should certainly make it a must-see film. It would seem imperative that the casting of Robin Hood and Marion be just right (I’m guessing they won’t go with Kevin Costner). Finding suitable stars shouldn’t prove too difficult.

The challenge they will face now will be getting this film into production before the possible strikes occur next year. Scott and Crowe are both currently tied up working on “Body Of Lies” with Leonardo DiCaprio.

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