USA Today have released the first image of Russell Crowe from the set of Robin Hood, his fifth colloberation with director Ridley Scott and the first since Gladiator nine years ago that brings the duo back into the realm of the summer adventure blockbuster.
If you’ve been reading OWF for a while, you’re already aware that I think Crowe is about five years past playing this kind of role and Scott missed a trick by not casting him as the older and bitter villain, The Sheriff of Nottingham. Having said that, Crowe has clearly slimed down and the short hair cut does knock a few years off him.
That haircut and beard combination worked for Gladiator, I’m certain that’s what Scott is harpening back to here. Producer Brian Grazer agrees…
“He doesn’t have the old Robin Hood tights,” says producer Brian Grazer. “He’s got armor. He’s very medieval. He looks, if anything, more like he did in Gladiator than anything we’re used to seeing with Robin Hood.”
What surprises me most about the image is the lack of green and how dry the landscape looks. The reason we aren’t seeing Robin Hood in cinema’s this year is because the movie was delayed from shooting because Scott didn’t think the grass was green enough in the British autumn to shoot the movie.
Scott has gathered a great cast for this, I really hope he pushes the boundary of epic and that he has something new to bring to a mythology that has been well told out so far.
5 Comments
Logic tells me that the short-cropped hair may be more true to the real life of the times, but I think Crowe should have kept the hair he grew to put the ‘locks’ in Locksley. (Yes, Wikipedia tells me it’s “Loxley” too.)
I think that in creating a new character for himself, Crowe should have stayed committed to the idea of creating a new look for that character and having Robin Hood look evoke Maximus the Gladiator so much will backfire dramatically, IMHO.
Does anyone else think Russell’s too old for this part?
I hope his Robin Hood goes to Wall Street and shoots Jim Cramer and the rest of the CNBC fools in the Ass with that bow and arrow. Make Robin Hood relevant for a relevant time. Sounds funny but Im serious!
chuck
@ Evan – I never really thought of Robin Hood as a very young man. In fact, I kinda like him older, having been someone who has seen injustice enough to want to do something about it.
The hair is NOT accurate to the time at all.
@ chuck – Hopefully a much larger revolution will get those guys.
@Ray: I just did some Google research, because your remark on Crowe’s hair had me curious. I found the following reference:
“. . .When the Crusades had drawn all the smart young fellows into Palestine, the clergy did not find it so difficult to convince the staid burghers who remained in Europe, of the enormity of long hair. During the absence of Richard Coeur de Lion, his English subjects not only cut their hair close, but shaved their faces.”
- Mackay, Charles. Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds: Chapter Eight: Influence of Politics and Religion on the Hair and Beard. London: Office of the National Illustrated Library. 1852. Library of Economics and Liberty [Online] available from http://www.econlib.org/library/Mackay/macEx8.html
If you’re looking for the boundary pushed and something new brought to the mythology then you should check out Robin Hood: The New Zen Warrior at http://www.robinhoodfilm.com
Robin is updated for today’s generation as a leather-clad Buddhist superhero; as a matter of fact it includes a special message given by Robert Thurman (Uma’s Dad) who is known as the Dalai Lama’s “Right hand man in America”
I also want to see some originality and I think Robin Hood on a Global scale stealing from the rich and giving to the poor with today’s technologies is a great concept. It also has crazy martial arts scenes and filmed in 12 countries. I’m actually looking forward to this film more