The Hood that was.
Read Ethan Reiff & Cyrus Voris's first draft of Nottingham, the revisionist version of the famous Robin Hood story, in which the Sheriff of Nottingham is the hero, and Robin of Locksley a bandit and terrorist. Ethan Reiff talks about it in this interview:
'The title of our original screenplay was Nottingham. And that's basically what the story was. It was the story of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Like the untold story. I think the tagline on the first page of our script was "There are two sides to every legend." We thought it would be interesting and cool and certainly original to tell the story of the sheriff - centered on the sheriff and from the perspective of the sheriff.'
Their script was bought up by Imagine Entertainment, placed in Ridley Scott's hands, and subsequently (through some torturous process of reverse alchemy) turned into the dull-as-dirt Russell Crowe vehicle Robin Hood - and you can read all about it in Robbing From The Poor (Writer) (via alethialia).
It's a very interesting screenplay, one that bears so little resemblance to the straight-forward retelling that is Robin Hood. In a strange way, the plot has many echoes of noir fiction: a decorated officer returns from war (in this case, the crusades), is promoted to a high post (sheriff of the second largest city in England), tries to catch an outlaw whose fiancee is being very uncooperative (Robin and Marian), and finds himself caught up in a vast conspiracy (Prince John vs Richard the Lionheart, with Eleanor of Aquitaine running interference).
The main character, Sir Robert Tornham, is introduced in a thrilling action sequence in Greece, where he leads a successful siege against a castle full of Cypriot soldiers. We find out very quickly that he is an experienced soldier and administrator, but also something of an intellectual and a loner; his most prized possession is a chess set, on which he plays mainly against himself. Tornham is one part Sherlock Holmes, one part Sister Fidelma, and two parts Ed Exley from L.A. Confidential. Incredibly competent - noble, even - but someone who is trying to working within a system he knows is flawed, not against it. The ending, in true noir fashion, is somewhat bleak, but in a realistic way. (Incidentally: Matthew Macfadyen, who seems a bit out of place as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the Ridley Scott picture, would have been a good fit in the role here.)
The sizable Robin and Marian strand of the plot provides most of the humour, perhaps because it is so familiar, and yet is presented here in an unexpected way, playing against convention. (I remember, in the earliest press about Nottingham, before they completely changed the script, Russell Crowe saying that he would have liked to see Sam Riley as Robin Hood.) Robin and Robert (surely the similarity of their names is no coincidence) are alike in many ways, concerned with the idea of "justice" - but while Robin (young, brash) acts out and has to go into hiding, Turnham (older, more experienced) is forced to appear to uphold the law even when he disagrees with it, and tries to subvert it secretly. In the end, they manage to get over their enmities and work together, but only one will be remembered as a hero.
'The title of our original screenplay was Nottingham. And that's basically what the story was. It was the story of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Like the untold story. I think the tagline on the first page of our script was "There are two sides to every legend." We thought it would be interesting and cool and certainly original to tell the story of the sheriff - centered on the sheriff and from the perspective of the sheriff.'
Their script was bought up by Imagine Entertainment, placed in Ridley Scott's hands, and subsequently (through some torturous process of reverse alchemy) turned into the dull-as-dirt Russell Crowe vehicle Robin Hood - and you can read all about it in Robbing From The Poor (Writer) (via alethialia).
It's a very interesting screenplay, one that bears so little resemblance to the straight-forward retelling that is Robin Hood. In a strange way, the plot has many echoes of noir fiction: a decorated officer returns from war (in this case, the crusades), is promoted to a high post (sheriff of the second largest city in England), tries to catch an outlaw whose fiancee is being very uncooperative (Robin and Marian), and finds himself caught up in a vast conspiracy (Prince John vs Richard the Lionheart, with Eleanor of Aquitaine running interference).
The main character, Sir Robert Tornham, is introduced in a thrilling action sequence in Greece, where he leads a successful siege against a castle full of Cypriot soldiers. We find out very quickly that he is an experienced soldier and administrator, but also something of an intellectual and a loner; his most prized possession is a chess set, on which he plays mainly against himself. Tornham is one part Sherlock Holmes, one part Sister Fidelma, and two parts Ed Exley from L.A. Confidential. Incredibly competent - noble, even - but someone who is trying to working within a system he knows is flawed, not against it. The ending, in true noir fashion, is somewhat bleak, but in a realistic way. (Incidentally: Matthew Macfadyen, who seems a bit out of place as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the Ridley Scott picture, would have been a good fit in the role here.)
The sizable Robin and Marian strand of the plot provides most of the humour, perhaps because it is so familiar, and yet is presented here in an unexpected way, playing against convention. (I remember, in the earliest press about Nottingham, before they completely changed the script, Russell Crowe saying that he would have liked to see Sam Riley as Robin Hood.) Robin and Robert (surely the similarity of their names is no coincidence) are alike in many ways, concerned with the idea of "justice" - but while Robin (young, brash) acts out and has to go into hiding, Turnham (older, more experienced) is forced to appear to uphold the law even when he disagrees with it, and tries to subvert it secretly. In the end, they manage to get over their enmities and work together, but only one will be remembered as a hero.