{"id":481628,"date":"2026-06-17T08:45:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T08:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/481628\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T08:45:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T08:45:13","slug":"hugh-jackman-interview-on-the-death-of-robin-hood-and-his-turn-to-a-dark-hearted-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/481628\/","title":{"rendered":"Hugh Jackman interview: On The Death of Robin Hood and his turn to a dark-hearted hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

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There is an early moment so brutal in Hugh Jackman\u2019s new film \u2013 a revisionist take on the legendary outlaw Robin Hood \u2013 that you wonder how he channelled so much dark fury for the performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of repressed rage,\u201d the New York-based Australian star says via Zoom. \u201cYou\u2019d think by now, after playing Wolverine for 25 years, I might have exorcised some of that, but it\u2019s clearly all still there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if he is joking, Jackman\u2019s role is so much darker than anything he has worked on for a while: a Neil Diamond impersonator in Song Sung Blue (2025), a kind shepherd in surprise hit The Sheep Detectives (2026) and, until last week, a tree surgeon falling in love in New Born on an off-Broadway stage, which The New York Times raved about as \u201ccharmingly relatable and lightly comical\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"HughHugh Jackman as George Hardy in The Sheep Detectives.Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios<\/p>\n

Actors shape-shift constantly but Jackman, even at 57, still seems more like the heroic Robin Hood than the monstrous outlaw he plays in The Death of Robin Hood \u2013 a cold-hearted killer coming to the end of his life, weary from too many murders, struggling with decades of pain.<\/p>\n

In a last battle alongside Little John (Bill Skarsgard<\/a>), he is gravely injured and taken in by a benevolent prioress, Sister Brigid (Jodie Comer<\/a>) in a remote religious community, where he meets an enigmatic leper (Murray Bartlett<\/a>) and a traumatised girl, Little Margaret (Faith Delaney).<\/p>\n

Who played him best? Ranking the Robin HoodsErrol Flynn \u2013 Captain Blood (1935) and The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) had already made the dashing Australian a star by the time he was cast in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). While Douglas Fairbanks had previously starred in a silent Robin Hood (1922), Flynn\u2019s charming performance defined the character for generations as a roguish, swashbuckling hero.\u00a0The Fox \u2013 In Disney\u2019s animated Robin Hood (1973), English actor Brian Bedford voiced another heroic outlaw. He defeats the cowardly Prince John (a lion), outwits the Sheriff of Nottingham (a wolf) and wins the heart of Maid Marian (another fox).\u00a0\u00a0Sean Connery \u2013 In Robin and Marian (1976), which was originally titled The Death of Robin Hood, the ageing warrior rescues Marian (Audrey Hepburn) from the sheriff and their romance takes a tragic turn.\u00a0Kevin Costner \u2013 After sweeping the Oscars with Dances with Wolves (1991), Costner\u2019s movie star charisma turned Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) into a hit. Alan Rickman became the best ever Sheriff of Nottingham.\u00a0Cary Elwes \u2013 Years after The Princess Bride (1987) established him as a charming comic hero, Elwes was perfect casting for the Mel Brooks parody Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a film that subverts the classic hero that a swashbuckling fellow Australian Errol Flynn made famous in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) almost 90 years ago, establishing such classic elements of the legend as his robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, his archery skills, a band of merry men that includes Little John, Will Scarlet and Friar Tuck, his love for Maid Marian and the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham as his enemy.<\/p>\n

Sean Connery, Kevin Costner, Cary Elwes, Russell Crowe and Taron Egerton are among the many actors who have played the character since then.<\/p>\n

\"HughHugh Jackman in The Death of Robin Hood: \u201cIt was just a beautiful script.\u2033\u2063Aidan MonaghanRelated Article\"Director<\/a><\/p>\n

This time round, there is nothing heroic, romantic or swashbuckling about Robin Hood. He is a loner in the 13th century. No merry men. No robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. No Maid Marian. Just a character whose fierceness, is, for Jackman, closest to his ageing Wolverine in Logan (2017).<\/p>\n

Ditching everything legendary goes against that great line from the classic Western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962): \u201cWhen the legend becomes fact, print the legend\u201d. When it comes to Robin Hood, that legend has sold a lot of movie tickets.<\/p>\n

The Death of Robin Hood was written and directed by American Michael Sarnoski, who made his name with the Nicolas Cage drama Pig (2021)<\/a> then followed up with hit horror film A Quiet Place: Day One (2024).<\/p>\n

While Sarnoski thinks there was probably never a real Robin Hood \u2013 \u201che was probably an amalgamation of a few different people\u201d \u2013 the story was told initially in oral stories then in early ballads from the 14th century.<\/p>\n

The genesis of the film \u2013 the latest release from the buzzy American independent distributor A24 \u2013 goes back to Sarnoski\u2019s childhood. The headmaster of his school gave the future filmmaker his own 1940s edition of Robin Hood when Sarnoski\u2019s father died when he was nine. He knew they used to love watching Disney\u2019s animated Robin Hood (1973) together.<\/p>\n

\"HughHugh Jackman and Jodie Comer at The Death of Robin Hood world premiere in New York on June 10.John Nacion\/Variety via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Sarnoski describes it as a way of saying \u201chey kiddo, I know this was important to you and your dad\u201d as the headmaster became a mentor to him. He loved the stories , especially a brief ballad about Robin\u2019s death at the hands of a prioress.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrappling with the loss of my dad and understanding a symbolic male figure can die like any human being, having to deal with all of that\u201d left a vivid impression, he says. \u201cI knew that if I ever made a Robin Hood movie, it would probably be about that story.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Sarnoski, it feels more truthful about life in the 13th century than the traditional account.<\/p>\n

Jackman can\u2019t remember ever being offered the chance to play the heroic Robin Hood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was at drama school, I used to love the fencing classes,\u201d he says. \u201cI would still love to do a little bit of that, maybe a Princess Bride kind of role. But this script just came and it was undeniable and then I saw Michael\u2019s film Pig. I was 10 minutes into it and I just said, \u2018I\u2019m doing this movie.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"RobinRobin Hood (Hugh Jackman) and the leper (Murray Bartlett).Madman<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I kind of knew I was doing it anyway. It was just a beautiful script. What I loved about it was the ending didn\u2019t go to the place I thought it would go. It went to some beautiful, meditative place. It felt very human in its greyness, in the nuance of it, and the connection between Jodie\u2019s character and my character.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Russian<\/a><\/p>\n

Jackman thinks there is something spiritual about the film\u2019s late stages, particularly in the connection between these characters. He and Comer had briefly worked together on a \u201cdance bootcamp\u201d for a film that sounds fascinating but was never made: they would have played Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.<\/p>\n

While the times seem ripe for another classic telling of the legend \u2013 robbing the mega-rich tech barons to give to the rest of us \u2013 The Death of Robin Hood leaves viewers in no doubt that this is a different version with a bloodthirsty action film opening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell you, those action sequences, that\u2019s the tiredest I\u2019ve ever been on a film set,\u201d Jackman says. \u201cThey were brutal. There was about a foot of mud. It was winter, Ireland, and it was hardcore. But it was awesome and I loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hair and make-up team, Sean Flanigan and Pamela Westmore, came up with the character\u2019s grizzled look.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were sitting in the trailer of Song Sung Blue and we were playing around with ideas,\u201d Jackman says. \u201cWe wanted to have a look that could be very much like a hermit at the beginning, unrecognisable, like a cave dweller, that could then clean up a little bit, so we could feel some transformation or that he\u2019s had some sort of care.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Jackman first donned the look, Flanigan\u2019s response was \u201chello, hot Santa\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"HughHugh Jackman in The Death of Robin Hood.Aidan Monaghan<\/p>\n

Sarnoski concedes there is a risk that the tough opening will alienate audiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you come into this movie thinking you\u2019re going to see a fun, action-adventure thing, we want you to know \u2018no, no, no we\u2019re treating this violence in a realistic way\u2019,\u201d he says. \u201cWe want this violence to feel unpleasant and difficult to watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to set that up for Robin\u2019s character. He came from a brutal world. His life was filled with violence. That\u2019s what he\u2019s grappling with for the rest of the movie. It had to be like \u2018we\u2019re landing the violence and we\u2019re going to land the meditative side\u2019. Both co-exist through this character in an honest way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given audiences are introduced to Robin in his 40s or 50s, could he have started out as a noble, heroic figure in, say, his early 20s before being broken down by decades of pain? In other words, was he once the traditional hero?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think there was ever a cheery, dancing-in-the-woods version of Robin Hood,\u201d Sarnoski says. \u201cBut even in our version he probably doesn\u2019t fully remember what his life was like, although he definitely remembers the violence and the darkness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some moments later on where he\u2019s reminded of things that he had chalked up to myth. In my mind, he was a leader of child soldiers. He was recruiting young men and using stories to get them to commit violent acts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarnoski points to another layer of the film: \u201cIt\u2019s about the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and the stories we tell other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackman thinks we need heroic outlaw stories like Robin Hood or, in Australia, Ned Kelly.<\/p>\n

\u201cMichael gave me a couple of books to read, which I found fascinating,\u201d he says. \u201c[Originally, Robin] was just an out-and-out bad guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the character morphed as times changed, and the idea took hold \u201cthat maybe the royalty and the landed aristocracy weren\u2019t such good guys. All of a sudden, this outlaw bad guy cautionary tale becomes this folk hero who steals from the rich and gives to the poor.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then, centuries later, Errol Flynn came along. The legend started selling tickets.<\/p>\n

The Death of Robin Hood opens in cinemas on June 18.<\/p>\n

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