The Greatest Showman actor, 57, stars alongside Jodie Comer<\/a> in the action film, directed by Michael Sarnoski (Pig). The movie finds the mythic folk hero in a much darker place, “grappling with his past after a life of crime and murder” as he staggers away from a battle he didn’t expect to survive.<\/p>\n In the film, Jackman’s brooding Robin Hood engages in an intense and unsettling fight sequence while drenched in mud. The scene featured Jackman opposite his costar Elijah Ungvary, whom Jackman told PEOPLE in a recent interview he got to know “really well” while filming the difficult battle.<\/p>\n Hugh Jackman and Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd in The Death of Robin Hood.Credit: Aidan Monaghan\/A24<\/p>\n “If you’d seen another film, we could have looked like lovers,” Jackman jokes. “And Michael said, ‘I love it.’ There is a weird intimacy to hand-to-hand combat and the brutality of it.”<\/p>\n In one especially long take of a fight scene, Jackman and his costar found themselves in increasingly close positions. In one instance, Jackman lands a particularly devastating blow, and for a time afterward, his character just lays his head on his opponent’s chest.<\/p>\n The emotional complexity of the scene, coupled with the cold, nighttime setting and the immense volume of mud \u2014 “I am still getting mud out of places, a year later,” he says \u2014 earned it a spot on the list of one of the most difficult scenes Jackman has ever filmed, he says.<\/p>\n “That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Jackman reiterated.<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n The Death of Robin Hood, which features Jackman in a striking new look of long gray tresses and a gray beard, also stars Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Hugh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/228459be-4322-449e-9db0-b0e0d0f1d071.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
![\"Hugh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/312c4f12-da45-4f78-8c96-3c733aa1d7b3.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n