Lionsgate has located its Friar Tuck for Robin Hood: Origins – and not a moment too soon.
With the studio expected to set up production in Budapest, Hungary over the coming weeks, it’s been revealed that Aussie actor, comedian and musician Tim Minchin has closed a deal to play one of Robin Hood’s closest allies in the fight against the English crown. Kingsman: The Secret Service breakout Taron Egerton is attached to play the cunning thief – one famed for stealing from the rich and giving to the poor – and will spearhead an ensemble cast comprised of Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One) as the Sheriff of Nottingham, Eve Hewson as Maid Marian, Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades Darker) as Will Scarlett and, finally, Jamie Foxx as Little John.
Screenwriter Joby Harold turned in the script for Robin Hood: Origins, which has since been described as a “real revisionist version” of the folklore classic. Don’t expect a merry band of men in tights, then, after Jamie Foxx promised a grittier account of life in the Sherwood Forest. It’s fallen prey to corruption and evil since Egerton’s hero left to fight the war, but upon returning to his rightful home, Hood sets about staging a revolt against the English crown and everything it represents.
Filming on Robin Hood: Origins is expected to commence over the coming weeks, when Otto Bathurst’s star-studded Medieval actioner will take a leaf out of John Wick‘s book when it comes to stunt choreography: “The stuff we’re doing with the bow and arrow, it’s the same thing that Keanu does with the gun.”
March 23rd, 2018 is the date for your diaries.