The new Robin Hood movie starring Taron Egerton in the title role had already shown us a very non-traditional take on the main character, but it appears that style will extend to the film's villain as well. We now have our first image of Ben Mendelsohn as the Sherriff of Nottingham, and it's a much, well, cleaner, look than we might have expected from a story that takes place back when bathing wasn't a primary concern.
We'd previously seen an image of Taron Egerton and Jamie Fox as Robin Hood and Little John that showed that the new Robin Hood wasn't going to be going with a traditional aesthetic, as there wasn't a bit of green on either of them. While there isn't necessarily a "traditional" look for the Sheriff of Nottingham, we can probably all agree that Ben Mendelsohn's look here, posted to the film's official Twitter account, is very much the opposite of what we might expect.
Still, the look is a striking one. He's probably the most dapper Sheriff of Nottingham we've ever seen on film. It's not the wildest idea, as certainly the Sheriff is a man of high office and can certainly afford to look good. Still, this is the last guy we'd expect to see getting into an epic sword fight with Robin Hood. He'd probably be too afraid he'd get dirty.
Most of us are probably more familiar with the look from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. While the Kevin Costner film had some issues, it's Sheriff of Nottingham was not one of them, being played to its scene-chewing best by the great Alan Rickman.
Based on the look of the new Sheriff we can probably expect Ben Mendelsohn's portrayal of the role to be something that is as different from Alan Rickman as the look is here. There will be some similarities between the two Robin Hood films, however, as Taron Egerton revealed that his character will also be a veteran of the crusades, which is the same way that Costner's character was introduced in Prince of Thieves.
Robin Hood was hoping to release before this coming fall, but the production schedule of the film was delayed due to Taron Egerton's commitments to the Kingsmen sequel. The origin story movie is now set for a September 21 release.
