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Ridley Scott talks to bc about his take of theRobin Hood legend.Director Ridley Scott is no stranger to convoluted productions –struggles over movies such as Legend and Blade Runner are nowpart of cinematic history. His latest project, Robin Hood, started lifeas a revisionist story with the Sheriff of Nottingham as the hero. TheHollywood writer’s strike halted production in 2008 and then copiousrewrites geared the tone and thrust of the film into a completelydifferent direction. Scott persevered, however, and a completedRobin Hood is due for release in May. The director has a few thingsto say to bc about his efforts to bring the legendary story to life.

This project started out as Nottingham, with Robin as the badguy. How did the script change?Ridley Scott: A complete page-one rewrite. It was a ridiculous idea.It was terrible. If you’re going to invest in a story about Robin Hood,why on earth would you call it Nottingham? In 80% of the countrieswhere you’re releasing it, you’d have to explain why it’s calledNottingham. It doesn’t make any sense.

Do you think someone could read this film as a politicalparallel for our modern age?No, not at all. Other than the fact that England was bankrupt at thetime… and bankrupt because of the wasteful behaviour of RichardCoeur de Leon, the “glorious king” who was completely savage. Hehacked the heads off of 2,500 Muslims outside the walls of Acre onemorning because the ransom turned up late. The [statue of Richard]outside the Houses of Parliament – glorified by the English – iscomplete romantic bull. I never understood why King John wasalways personified as a bad king. To a certain extent he increasedtaxation so, logically, he was kind of a sensible ruler. He was on thethrone for 17 years and ended his rule by signing the Magna Carta.

It sounds like your film has a lot of moral gray areas.Well, it was a tough situation. John has got this horrible task oftrying to pull this bankrupt country together. Then comes Richard’sarmy that’s been away for 10 years. No one’s been paid. Thesoldiers and yeomen are trying to return to their families – if theirfamilies exist, because there was a lot of starvation in England atthat particular point. In this case, Robin has no home – the lastmemory of his father was from when he was about five years old –and he’s returning to find out where he came from.

Are there any Robin Hoods in our dark times?You can have a Robin Hood who wants to do the right thing, but isprevented by the pressure of seven billion people all coming to theforefront and saying ‘Me, me, me!’

What made Russell Crowe a great Robin Hood in your mind?He’s a great actor. And he’s also a very physical actor, so thatcombination works very well.

You also have a very strong female lead in Cate Blanchett.How hard was it to get that to work in a medieval setting?The way the story went, it required that strength to providecredibility for something she may be able to do towards the end.She’s a woman, she’s been on her own for years and has essentiallybecome the man of the house. Her husband has been gone for 10years in the Crusades, and that was after a late wedding. Let’s saywe’re playing her at 35 – and I know Cate is a little older than that– but at 25, she was already an old maid. She knew him for a weekand then he announced that suddenly he was going off to theCrusades. He dies on the way home. That’s her through-line at thebeginning. Because the estate was his and not hers, the crown willtake it and toss her out. That’s a problem for her.

How different were notions of sexuality at the time?It changed a lot. Right now, there’s an idea of sexuality that goesbeyond the pale, beyond being sensible. There was a time whenwomen would not have had sex until they were married. That was probably 50 years ago; the ’60s changed everything. Was itright to have that rule? I think absolutely. But there were obviouslyperiods in the 1920s and ’30s, with the same freedom of sexualityas there was in the ’60s. Has that occurred in other centuries?Absolutely. I think it’s like a graph, with tolerance ebbing andflowing. Over the years it’s going to fluctuate according to the times.In this instance, Marian would have had very strong standards andrules about how she would engage a man. She is the daughter-in-law of the old man Walter. If Walter dies, she loses the estate,everything. It would go to the crown. The crown could tell her, ‘I’llsend up a chap to meet you. If you marry him, you can stay on the estate.’

Did you encounter any problems shooting of the film?I tried to shoot a lot of it in France, but it was mostly shot inEngland, and the big landing stuff was shot in Wales. It wasbasically a re-enactment of 1066. I thought, ‘Let’s have the Frenchcoming to take it back.’ Philippe of France had a nephew whoinvaded England around 1198 with a small French fleet aroundPortsmith. He was turned back, but I thought it interesting. TheFrench were always trying to take England and when Richard Coeurde Leon was away, that’s when Philippe would naturally say, ‘Let’stake it back.’ He was a perpetual problem, Philippe.

Robin Hood opens 13 May 2010

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