Russell Crowe as Robin Hood
Russell Crowe reunited with his old mate Ridley Scott earlier this year to bring us a new take on an old tale... Robin Hood, with Crowe in the title role.
In 13th century England, Robin and his band of marauders confront corruption in a local village and lead an uprising against the crown that will forever alter the balance of world power.
- There was a very intimate feeling in the film - like you were really there. Was that something to do with the way Ridley made the film?
Ridley shoots in such a way that he doesn’t impact the actors. He matrixes a room or a field and he uses multiple cameras everybody is playing at the same time. He doesn’t shoot one half then turn around and shoot the other half.
He tries to shoot the world as it exists which means you get great responses. One of the things Ridley has learnt over time is if you cast the right way, you want to have both sides of the conversation at every take.
- Oscar was saying there is even room to ad lib a bit.
Ridley is all about great ideas. There were things in the earlier drafts that were very attractive to Oscar Issac and he came to me and talked about them. I told him that Ridley is not going to stop you from doing something great.
Very early on when we were doing Gladiator together - our first movie - we didn’t know each other and it was an odd situation because he is very strong minded and we were working with a raft of producers and ultimately Steven Spielberg.
It was a very pressurised situation, but he said to me one day that if I tell him about a good idea in post production I’m going to hate him forever. 'If something comes to mind, you have to tell me. I want to hear them,' we have worked on that basis ever since.
If something is on my mind for any particular thing I will bring it to him. That’s what I told Oscar, that he is that rare beast who actually loves actors.
He is in awe of the bravery of actors. If you are prepared to go to a certain place on his behalf than you will only get appreciation from Ridley.
- The Robin Hood story has been told many times, the idea of doing an original story, was not just because it was different but more interesting to you as an actor because you could show how he developed?
There are a lot of questions in pretty much every cinematic Robin Hood that never get answered. The filmmakers take it for granted that you know a certain amount about the story and they go from there.
We weren’t really interested in what people think they know about Robin Hood. We wanted to wipe the slate clean and start again.
Because really once Mel Brooks has been there and done Men in Tights it’s time to take a fresh look at it. Just reading books and sifting through the history and going on this journey of discovery that we did.
There were certain things attached to Robin Hood that didn’t make any sense. King Richard the Lionheart rides in at the end of the day and saves the situation.
Richard spent six months of his reign of ten years in England but only spoke French and was elevated to a hero status because he was an assassin on behalf of the Pope and his Crusades.
In reality, he had a very negative attitude and tried to sell the city of London at one point. So why is he remembered so fondly and his brother who took over from him remembered so negatively?
When you realise his brother invented pay as your earn taxation - that’s a pretty good reason. For us, the adventure was to find that place where a rebel leader would rise in England, apply pressure to the monarch, for whatever reasons and what his central motivation was.
- You were instrumental in a lot of the casting, all the Merry Men you knew well before the film.
My core thing is that I’ve worked with them and I know who they are. I’ve been in pressurised situations with them and I know how they cope. That was my attitude when I talked to Ridley.
You can throw all the A list names at me that you want but I’m not interested, I’m interested in a team. I’m interested in guys who will take on a physical challenge and spend whatever time is required.
I also need all the Merry Men to have a musical background and Ridley is like ‘Why?’ My thing was if you spend time in the army as these men do, if you are on this battlefield of brutality, then you have to know how to celebrate.
If you have made it through that day without an arrow through a part of your body dipped in horse urine - because it poisons your blood and you die - or cleaved in two by some knight in armour on horseback.
If you get to the end of the day then you have to know how to celebrate and then get ready to do it again the next day. It was very important to have the flexibility of having someone play. Allan A’Dayle knew how to play the lute so you didn’t have some actor there pretending.
You had to have that immediacy. The lute is the troubadour in the situation - he’s significantly more accurate. He is the guy who is going to tell the story of their lives, so you needed someone who could do that. The balance of the athleticism and the emotional availability is what I wanted in the Merry Men.
- This is a film everyone can watch, even kids because the violence is not too extreme, was that deliberate?
Deliberate on Ridley’s behalf and something we discussed. It would be very easy for him to revisit the same territory as Gladiator and severe heads and limbs here and there, but ultimately there is such a strong moral core to this story that you want kids to be able to see it.
I was happy to take my two boys and they are only aged six and three and a half because at the end of the day, even though it’s a big epic story, it’s what’s actually being said about altruism and about working on behalf of other people. These are very important things and these are great seeds to put in the hearts of kids.
Robin Hood is released on DVD 20th September.
Russell Crowe reunited with his old mate Ridley Scott earlier this year to bring us a new take on an old tale... Robin Hood, with Crowe in the title role.
In 13th century England, Robin and his band of marauders confront corruption in a local village and lead an uprising against the crown that will forever alter the balance of world power.
- There was a very intimate feeling in the film - like you were really there. Was that something to do with the way Ridley made the film?
Ridley shoots in such a way that he doesn’t impact the actors. He matrixes a room or a field and he uses multiple cameras everybody is playing at the same time. He doesn’t shoot one half then turn around and shoot the other half.
He tries to shoot the world as it exists which means you get great responses. One of the things Ridley has learnt over time is if you cast the right way, you want to have both sides of the conversation at every take.
- Oscar was saying there is even room to ad lib a bit.
Ridley is all about great ideas. There were things in the earlier drafts that were very attractive to Oscar Issac and he came to me and talked about them. I told him that Ridley is not going to stop you from doing something great.
Very early on when we were doing Gladiator together - our first movie - we didn’t know each other and it was an odd situation because he is very strong minded and we were working with a raft of producers and ultimately Steven Spielberg.
It was a very pressurised situation, but he said to me one day that if I tell him about a good idea in post production I’m going to hate him forever. 'If something comes to mind, you have to tell me. I want to hear them,' we have worked on that basis ever since.
If something is on my mind for any particular thing I will bring it to him. That’s what I told Oscar, that he is that rare beast who actually loves actors.
He is in awe of the bravery of actors. If you are prepared to go to a certain place on his behalf than you will only get appreciation from Ridley.
- The Robin Hood story has been told many times, the idea of doing an original story, was not just because it was different but more interesting to you as an actor because you could show how he developed?
There are a lot of questions in pretty much every cinematic Robin Hood that never get answered. The filmmakers take it for granted that you know a certain amount about the story and they go from there.
We weren’t really interested in what people think they know about Robin Hood. We wanted to wipe the slate clean and start again.
Because really once Mel Brooks has been there and done Men in Tights it’s time to take a fresh look at it. Just reading books and sifting through the history and going on this journey of discovery that we did.
There were certain things attached to Robin Hood that didn’t make any sense. King Richard the Lionheart rides in at the end of the day and saves the situation.
Richard spent six months of his reign of ten years in England but only spoke French and was elevated to a hero status because he was an assassin on behalf of the Pope and his Crusades.
In reality, he had a very negative attitude and tried to sell the city of London at one point. So why is he remembered so fondly and his brother who took over from him remembered so negatively?
When you realise his brother invented pay as your earn taxation - that’s a pretty good reason. For us, the adventure was to find that place where a rebel leader would rise in England, apply pressure to the monarch, for whatever reasons and what his central motivation was.
- You were instrumental in a lot of the casting, all the Merry Men you knew well before the film.
Tagged in Robin Hood Russell Crowe