MTV Movies Blog › nottingham

By Josh Wigler

Originally titled "Nottingham," director Ridley Scott's upcoming "Robin Hood" adaptation was previously rumored to star Russell Crowe as both Robin Hood and the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham. While there's still no official word on the Sheriff's casting, a new press release reveals a ton of other information about the film.

According to the announcement, Crowe and the previously revealed Cate Blanchett (Maid Marian) and Alan Doyle (Allan Adayle) will be joined by Scott Grimes, Kevin Durand and Academy Award-winner Vanessa Redgrave. The movie is said to focus on Robin Hood and his merry men as they "protect their country from slipping into bloody civil war." Read more...

Tags alan doyle, cate blanchett, kevin durand, nottingham, ridley scott, robin hood, Russell Crowe, scott grimes, vanessa redgrave

Last week MTV News caught up with Ridley Scott, who finally revealed just what was going on with "Nottingham" -- it was now "Robin Hood" with Russell Crowe as the titular archer. Now Robin has found his lady love, as Variety reports that Maid Marian is to be played by the lovely Cate Blanchett.

Scott already told us that his "Robin Hood" would be a fairly traditional one, and the new plot details reveal that it will be an original story that follows the historical period a little closer than Kevin Costner did. The noble Robin of Loxley is abandoned as a child, and finds refuge with the common people of Nottingham. But his abandonment leaves him unwilling to trust in others, until he meets a strong, independent woman named Marian. Read more...

Tags cate blanchett, nottingham, robin hood, Russell Crowe

When I caught up with the legendary Ridley Scott last week, I was there to discuss his “Alien” character Ellen Ripley being named one of our “Top 10 Movie Badasses of All Time ."

While I was there, however, I couldn’t resist running over a few other key projects that could become his next classic. “I am in a constant stage of development,” he told me in a conference room of his Scott Free Productions office. “I am liable to do ‘Gucci.’ I am liable to do a thing called ‘Child 44,’ and I am doing ‘Robin Hood’ next.”

That statement is notable, not only in that those first two projects are moving forward, but that “Nottingham” has now officially been renamed to reflect its lead character. “Oh yes, I think we are just going to call it ‘Robin Hood’,” Scott revealed. “We start in almost 2 months.” Read more...

Tags nottingham, ridley scott, robin hood, Russell Crowe

Maybe every generation gets the Robin Hood film they deserve. Apparently I deserved Kevin Costner and Christian Slater hugging as a Bryan Adams song played over the end credits (to be fair, I kind of love that film). And apparently this generation is going to get a Russell Crowe-led re-imagining directed by Ridley Scott (because apparently they can't be apart for more than a couple months).

We've all been gossiping about "Nottingham" for months on end and lately a lot of the chatter has concerned just who Crowe is playing. Scott told us recently that Crowe is playing both Robin Hood and Nottingham which left a few people scratching their heads. It wasn't so confusing in retrospect given what has been reported about the script elsewhere.

But now Brian Grazer has further clarified to MTV News how this dual role thing is going to work AND he even dropped a bit of a bomb about how the beginning of the film plays out. So spoiler-scared folk please go no further. Read more...

Tags brian grazer, nottingham, ridley scott, Russell Crowe

How do you find an actor of Russell Crowe's caliber to play against him? Well, Ridley Scott seems to have found the answer: let the Oscar winner play both roles! That's right, in one of the odder casting ideas in at least a few days (it just so happens this news comes in the same week Johnny Depp signed on to play Tonto), Crowe is going to play both the sheriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood himself in Ridley Scott's upcoming flick, "Nottingham."

The news comes straight from the helmer himself, with Scott revealing "He's playing both!" exclusively to MTV News during an interview for his new film "Body of Lies," which co-stars Crowe. While Scott held additional details close to his chest -- saying they would take too long to describe -- he did exclaim that Crowe's dual roles would be "a good old clever adjustment of characters. One becomes the other. It changes." Read more...

Tags christian bale, nottingham, ridley scott, robin hood, Russell Crowe

- Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger to join forces for "Incredible Love," the story of an Indian stuntman looking for love. (Times Online)

- Russell Crowe wants "Control" star Sam Riley as Robin Hood in "Nottingham"? (Latino Review)

- "G.I. Joe" gets a subtitle: "Rise of Cobra." (Coming Soon and MTV)

- Talk about torture: "Hostel III" moving forward without Eli Roth as either writer or director. (Bloody Disgusting)

- "Green Hornet" logo revealed. (Sony)

- The force is strong with this site, where you can create your own Star Wars crawl. (Star Wars Crawl)

- The world is poorer today with the death of George Carlin. The master gives delivers his famous routine "Baseball and Football" in this old clip. (Youtube)

Tags Arnold Schwarzenegger, control, gi joe, green hornet, hostel, nottingham, Rise of Cobra, Russell Crowe, Sam Riley, star wars, Sylvester Stallone

- The rich get richer, eh Robin? Sienna Miller to play Maid Marian in Ridley Scott’s “Nottingham.” (BBC)

- Screenwriter J Michael Straczynski talks about his abandoned script for “Silver Surfer.” (AMC)

- Bill Hader and “Superbad” director Greg Mottola working on vigilante parody. (/film)

- Trailer for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” finally viewable in glorious quicktime. (Apple)

- Aaron Yoo to date Lindsay Lohan in “Labor Pains.” (THR)

Tags Aaron Yoo, Apple, Bill Hader, Greg Mottola, J Michael Straczynski, labor pains, lindsay lohan, Mard Marian, nottingham, ridley scott, Sienna Miller, Silver Surfer, superbad, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Ask any 5-year-old – never mind which 5-year-old, never mind which country - and it's likely he can give you the rundown on Robin Hood, Maid Marion, Little John, and the Sheriff of Nottingham, so familiar is the story to almost anyone in the Western Hemisphere. So how do you take one of history's most popular folk tales and make it fresh?

By putting it in the hands of Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe.

"'Nottingham' is the 'Gladiator' version of Robin Hood," super-producer Brian Grazer told MTV News about the upcoming twisted tale from the "American Gangster" tag team. "I think it will have the same propulsion that 'Gladiator' had - the same adrenaline hits."

Told from the Sheriff's point of view, the new movie centers around a familiar - yet very different - set of characters, director Ridley Scott said, revealing that his story begins when a legend first walks into history. Read more...

Tags brian glazer, nottingham, ridley scott, robin hood, russell crowe

The week rolls on and Hollywood keeps busy as an "Idol" alum get a gig, an 80's icon returns, a boxer looks East and more, in today's Dailies.

- It's no "Dreamgirls," but "American Idol" runner-up Katharine McPhee will make acting debut in indie rom-com, "The Last Caller." (Hollywood Reporter)

- "Better Off Dead" helmer Savage Steve Holland returns for pic about boy's 13th birthday party in "The Big One 3." (Hollywood Reporter)

- Lionsgate prepping "Meatballs" remake, according to rumors. (CHUD)

- "L.A. Confidential" screenwriter Brian Helgeland tapped to rewrite Ridley Scott's "Nottingham," featuring the Sheriff facing off against bad guy Robin. (Hollywood Reporter)

- Mike Tyson aims for Bollywood. The jokes write themselves. (Variety)

- New Line developing "King of Kong" adaptation, based on doc about two men battling it out for title of "Donkey Kong" champion. Read our coverage of "King of Kong" here. (Variety)

- Mark Ruffalo replaces Daniel Craig as male lead in "Blindness," about a town swept by unexplained outbreak of blindness cases. (Variety)

Tags american idol, blindness, brian helgeland, dreamgirls, katharine mcphee, king of kong, mark ruffalo, meatballs, mike tyson, nottingham, ridley scott, savage steve holland, the big one 3