Last week, Screen Rant reported on the first ever image of Russel Crowe as Robin Hood in the upcoming Ridley Scott-directed adventure. It depicted Crowe in full costume sporting his Caesar-style haircut (reminiscent of Gladiator) while holding a longbow.
In our report, I discussed briefly on how the project had changed drastically from its initial plan to feature the Sheriff of Nottingham as the central character and hero of the story. Since then, it has returned to the classic Robin Hood story with the prince of thieves as the central character and the film began shooting that way.
What we were still awaiting, however, is information on who will play the Sheriff. They had the strange idea to have Crowe play both him and Robin Hood but that fortunately didn’t last long. Since then, casting reports and official announcements didn’t include details on who’s playing the Sheriff.
Well, now we know actor Matthew Macfadyen (Pride and Prejudice, Death at a Funeral, Frost/Nixon) has been cast to play the Sheriff of Nottingham in Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood. This had been rumored online but Peter over at /Film did some digging and confirmed it.
According to Scott, in the revised plot for the film, the Sheriff is a significantly less important character and the primary villain would instead be the country of France. Either way, they brought in a quality actor for the role but from his previous performances in major roles, I can’t picture him as a dark and evil character so it’ll be interesting to see him in character.
What do you think of the new Sheriff in town?
Robin Hood is scheduled to open as the second major tent-pole movie next summer on May 14, 2010
