Russell Crowe as the Sherriff of Nottingham?

Now here's a little bit of revisionist history going on:

Universal Pictures has scored a bull's-eye, winning a heated bidding war for a revisionist take on the legend of Robin Hood with Russell Crowe attached to play the Sheriff of Nottingham.

The script revolves around Crowe's character's investigation of a series of murders in which Robin Hood is the suspect.

The project hails from Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, creators of the series "Sleeper Cell." Imagine Entertainment is producing

Part of the strength of the script was the simple idea of doing Robin Hood by making the sheriff the good guy," Reiff said.

The bidding war came down to Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema, though Regency Enterprises, DreamWorks Pictures and Columbia Pictures were said to be involved as well. About 36 hours after the script had gone out, Universal won. And the writers -- whose "Sleeper Cell" Showtime had canceled on January 25 -- became part of one the biggest deals in some time.

Me, I'd put this down to the American idea that the lawman is always the good guy. It's us, the Brits, through bitter historical experience, who remember that that is not always so.

 

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