The newest version of the Robin Hood story to hit the screen has had some extra time to get things lined up since their star has been busy with other things. They’re not letting that time go to waste, however, as they just picked up Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx for a major role. In what will surely make for a unique take on this version of the story, Foxx will be playing Robin Hood’s right-hand man, Little John.
With Kingsman: The Secret Service star Taron Egerton set to take the title role of Robin Hood, this makes for an interesting pairing. At first glance it might appear that this version of Little John would be the older, wiser mentor character who tries to teach the young Robin how to fight (the movie is called Origins after all). However, that’s not really the case. This Little John will be a warrior who fought against Robin in the Crusades, and therefore, doesn’t trust the young man at first. According to Deadline, Foxx’s Little John will have more in common with his character from Django Unchained than he will with Morgan Freeman’s Azeem from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
Robin Hood: Origins has been playing the waiting game ever since they got the short end of the stick in the tug-o-war over young star Taron Egerton. They wanted to start filming early this year, right around the same time that Kingsman 2 was looking to get started. Kingsman won that fight and so Robin Hood has to wait for Egerton to finish there.
The only other casting announcement so far has been the role of Maid Marian who will be played by The Knick’s Eve Hewson. We have little detail about the plot of Robin Hood: Origins so whether we’ll see a Sheriff of Nottingham or a Prince John, is far from clear. The plot synopsis simply says that Robin returns from The Crusades to find corruption in Sherwood Forest, which to be honest, is the same plot summary one could make about Kevin Costner’s turn as the character.
The main difference between the upcoming new Robin Hood: Origins, directed by Otto Bathurst of Peaky Blinders fame, and its predecessors is the promise to be a gritty version of the story. Because it’s 2015 and if your movie doesn’t have the word gritty in the description, nobody will give you any money. They’ll probably rename Robin’s band the "Brooding Men" as they’re likely not allowed to be very merry.
All jokes aside, we look forward to seeing what this new version of Robin Hood will bring to the story. It will be out sometime in 2017 and we'll be sure to keep you updated as more details become public.
