page_title: Robin Hood (2010 film)
section_title: Development and pre-production
hierarchical_section_title: Robin Hood (2010 film) / Production / Development and pre-production
caption_attribution_description: English: Sheriff of Nottingham Nederlands: Sheriff van Nottingham
context_page_description: Robin Hood is a 2010 action-adventure film based on the Robin Hood legend, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, William Hurt, Mark Strong, Mark Addy, Oscar Isaac, Danny Huston, Eileen Atkins, and Max von Sydow.
  Development first began on the project in January 2007 with Universal Pictures' purchase of a spec script by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris which would see the film focus on a more prominent and sympathetic Sheriff of Nottingham. Crowe would be cast in the title role, with Ridley Scott hired to direct later that same year. Rewrites would delay the film throughout 2008, with Brian Helgeland hired to rewrite the screenplay, which saw a refocus of the story to be about Robin Hood once again, abandoning the Nottingham angle entirely. Filming would commence in March 2009 throughout England and Wales.
  Robin Hood held its world premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival the same day as its United Kingdom and Ireland releases. It was then released on 14 May 2010 in North America. The film received mixed reviews and grossed $321.7 million worldwide.
context_section_description: In January 2007, Universal Studios and Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment acquired a spec script written by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, creators of the TV series Sleeper Cell. Their script portrayed a more sympathetic Sheriff of Nottingham and less virtuous Robin Hood, who becomes involved in a love triangle with Lady Marian. The writers received a seven-figure deal for the purchase. The following April, Ridley Scott was hired to direct the film, with Sam Raimi and Bryan Singer also considered for the position. Scott had attempted to get rights for himself and 20th Century Fox, but had previously collaborated with Grazer on American Gangster and signed on as director rather than producer. Scott was not a fan of previous film versions of Robin Hood, saying "the best, frankly, was Mel Brooks's Men in Tights, because Cary Elwes was quite a comic".
  Scott's dissatisfaction with the script led him to delay filming, and during 2008 it was rewritten into a story about Robin Hood becoming an outlaw; at one point Crowe was even being considered for a dual role as both Robin and the Sheriff. Scott dropped the latter notion and Nottingham was retitled to reflect the more traditional angle. In June, screenwriter Brian Helgeland was hired to rewrite the script by Reiff and Voris. Producer Marc Shmuger explained Scott had a different interpretation of the story from "the script, [which] had the sheriff of Nottingham as a CSI-style forensics investigator". Scott elaborated the script, portraying the Sheriff of Nottingham as being Richard the Lionheart's right-hand man, who returns to England to serve Prince John after Richard's assassination. Though Scott felt John "was actually pretty smart, he got a bad rap because he introduced taxation so he's the bad guy in this", and the Sheriff would have been torn between the "two wrongs" of a corrupt king and an outlaw inciting anarchy. Locations were sought in North East England including Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, and Kielder Forest. A portion of filming was intended to take place in Northumberland. As a result of the WGA strike, production was put on hold. Scott sought to begin production in 2008 for a release in 2009.
  Filming was scheduled to begin in August in Sherwood Forest if the 2008 Screen Actors Guild strike did not take place, for release on 26 November 2009. By July, filming was delayed, and playwright Paul Webb was hired to rewrite the script. The film was moved to 2010. The Sheriff of Nottingham's character was then merged with Robin. Scott explained Robin "has to retire to the forest to resume his name Robin. So he was momentarily the Sheriff of Nottingham." Hedgeland returned to rewrite, adding an opening where Robin witnesses the Sheriff dying in battle, and takes over his identity. Scott chose to begin filming in February 2009 in forests around London, having discovered many trees which had not been pollarded. Scott was also pleased that the 200-acre (0.81 km²) Nottinghamshire set that was built during 2008 had aged into the landscape. By February 2009, Scott revealed Nottingham had become his version of Robin Hood, as he had become dissatisfied with the idea of Robin starting as the Sheriff.
caption: Earlier drafts of the script featured a bigger, more sympathetic focus on the Sheriff of Nottingham, with one idea being Robin Hood beginning as the Sheriff.
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