'Robin Hood: Origins' News: Otto Bathurst to Direct?
Robin Hood, the beloved outlaw of medieval England, is making a major comeback on the big screen in the coming years. It's not surprising in this era of remakes and revivals. In fact, there are currently four "Robin Hood" movie projects in the pipeline in Hollywood and one of them may be moving forward faster than the others.
Lionsgate's "Robin Hood: Origins" movie project is currently looking for a director and according to a report in Deadline, the studio is eyeing Otto Bathurst. Bathurst is known for his work in the U.K. gangster series "Peaky Blinders," where he is said to have injected a "modern and distinctive tone" to the period series. Reports says that Bathurst is currently in negotiations to helm Lionsgate's take on Robin Hood.
The film is said to differentiate itself from the other takes on Robin Hood by being an origins story, based on a script by Joby Harold, who also wrote Guy Ritchie's "Knights of the Round Table: King Arthur," an upcoming film that is set to start a new franchise.
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Harold's story of Robin Hood picks up when Robin, fresh from the Crusades, returns home to find Sherwood Forest "rife with corruption and evil." He decides to form a band of outlaws and "take matters into their own hands." According to the report, it's a "gritty take, with no felt hats." This much can be expected from Harold, according to another report in Collider, as his "Knights of the Round Table" has the same characteristics. The report also cited that this Robin Hood film has been likened to "The Dark Knight" in terms of origin stories.
Most of the Robin Hood films in Hollywood history go for a light-hearted and sometimes comedic take on the outlaw, except for a few that attempted a more serious approach, but did not fare well in the box office. The last Robin Hood film that was released was that of Ridley Scott and starred in by Russell Crowe in 2010.
Leonardo DiCaprio is a producer for "Robin Hood: Origins" through his Appian Way banner. Lionsgate is targeting to start production in early 2016. Sony on the other hand is rumored to have budgeted $1 million for "an 'Avengers'-style" take on Robin Hood.
As the film is in the early stages of the development, no casting news have come out yet.
