Last month we got our first look at Russell Crowe all dolled up as Robin Hood for his new film directed by Ridley Scott which is due out at the end of this year or early next year. Today we get our first look at filming on the movie which is currently in production in London, England:
Had it not been for our dwindling woodlands, the film might have been made where, legend has it, Robin Hood and his merry men once lived. As it happens, the only location nowadays deemed leafy enough to host Ridley Scott’s epic film based on the folk hero was some way south. As these extraordinary first pictures from the set of his star-studded £110 million movie Nottingham show, the Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire from medieval times has been recreated with extraordinary attention to detail on a wooded estate 150 miles away in the depths of Surrey. The film is already being heralded the most hotly anticipated blockbuster of next year and Scott and the lead actor, Russell Crowe, must be hoping to recreate a film of such Oscar-winning potential as Gladiator which they cleaned up with at the Academy Awards in 2001. Filming began this week with the principal cast, including Crowe as Robin and Cate Blanchett as Maid Marian on set for the first time … The film is understood to delve into the dark side of the fabled woodland folk hero. Scott directed Crowe to a Best Actor Oscar in Gladiator and the film also won Best Picture. Scott is also employing Janty Yates, the same costume designer who won an Oscar for Gladiator on the new film. It is perhaps no surprise that the director also shot much of the Roman epic in the same Surrey woodland as he is using for this film. On-set sources report Crowe, 45, has done none of his usual hellraising on set or off. Indeed he has been the picture of health and sobriety. Stories perhaps cooked up by locals of the fiery actor’s hellraising antics at local village pubs have so far proven unfounded. Instead Crowe has been spotted mountain-biking between scenes to slim down, he has been using a gym in his on-set trailer and he has been perfecting his horseriding at weekends. He was recently reported to have lost as much as four stones in weight for the part. Sienna Miller, 27, had been due to play Maid Marian. But producers were said to have feared her slim physique would make Crowe seem overweight during intimate scenes. Instead, Miss Blanchett, 39, was offered the job. Production on the set was halted a few days this week due to torrential rain, and is also intermittently brought to the halt by the constant passing of Chinook military helicopters from a local based training before going to Bosnia. Producers at the happily-titled Merry Men Films have been making up time with night shoots and the film is expected to be released in 12 months’ time.
To be totally honest, I’m not a big fan of Robin Hood. I don’t even think I’ve ever watched an entire Robin Hood movie all the way thru (tho, I do know that I’ve seen portions of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves … or mebbe not, perhaps I’m just remembering that annoying ass video (Everything I Do) I Do It For You by Bryan Adams which featured many scenes from the film and that played 24/7 on MTV in the early 90’s). That said, I am a big fan of Cate Blanchett and I’d see any film she is in. It really sounds like Ridley Scott is going for another Oscar with this production … but I’m not sure that Robin Hood is made of the same mettle as Gladiator was … we shall see.
[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin; Source]
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