Development In August 1989, British writer-producer
Pen Densham began a new treatment of
Robin Hood. He did not want to make an
Errol Flynn-style devil-may-care adventurer (made famous by the 1938
The Adventures of Robin Hood), but rather imagined Robin as a rich kid transformed into a socially conscious rebel by imprisonment in
Jerusalem during the
Crusades. He wrote a 92-page outline, which was then rewritten as a screenplay by his producing partner
John Watson. On February 14, 1990,
Morgan Creek, the small production company of
Young Guns (1988) and
Major League (1989), saw "gold on the page" and immediately funded the film. Watson scouted filming locations in the United Kingdom, setting September 3 as the filming deadline in aggressive competition against other potential
Robin Hood remakes from Morgan's Creek former distribution partner
20th Century Fox (the 1991 film
Robin Hood) and
TriStar Pictures (which was not produced). For the role of
King Richard, comedian
John Cleese was proposed but
Sean Connery, who had portrayed Robin Hood in
Robin and Marian (1976), was selected at the passionate behest of Costner and Densham. Fearing that the sudden cameo of a notorious comedic icon would destroy the drama, Densham recalls, "I so wanted to not have John Cleese that I said, 'Would you give me Sean Connery? We can't give him a credit because you can't have the audience waiting for the whole movie to see him—but he only has to work one day.'" With the project already over-budget, Connery agreed to reduce his requested $1 million fee down to a $250,000 donation to a hospital in Connery's native Scotland. In 2015,
Alan Rickman said he had secretly asked his scriptwriter friends
Ruby Wax and
Peter Barnes to punch up the script: "Will you have a look at this script because it's terrible, and I need some good lines." Reynolds agreed to add the suggested new lines.
Filming Costner's explosive career gave him only a few days between the long-term epic projects of
Dances with Wolves,
Robin Hood and
JFK. This project's time frame was compressed by the cold seasons in England and by competition with other possible
Robin Hood films, giving Reynolds only ten weeks for preproduction and little time for planning, rehearsal, or revision. Costner said, "It's very dangerous to be [working] so fast. We are relying on the weather, and every time the weather turns against us we could get behind. When that happens there is always the feeling that certain people want to do something about it to shorten the filming time. That is not always the cure." Reynolds said, "Are things going as planned? Ha! You always start with a picture in your mind, and it is a compromise all the way from there. We have been struggling from Day One. We are trying to finish by Christmas, and the days are getting shorter. It's horrible." On the first day of filming, the suddenly changing weather caused jet traffic to be diverted from London's
Heathrow Airport away, and roar over the filming location at
Burnham Beeches. Principal exteriors were shot on location in the United Kingdom. A second unit filmed the medieval walls and towers of the
Cité de Carcassonne in the town of
Carcassonne in
Aude, France, for the portrayal of
Nottingham and its castle. Locksley Castle was
Wardour Castle in
Wiltshire—restored in an early shot using a
matte painting. Marian's
manor was filmed at
Hulne Priory in
Northumberland. Scenes set in
Sherwood Forest were filmed at various locations in England: The outlaws' encampment was filmed at
Burnham Beeches in
Buckinghamshire, south of the real Sherwood Forest in
Nottinghamshire; Chalk cliffs at
Seven Sisters, East Sussex were used as the locale for Robin's return to England from the
Crusades. Interior scenes were completed at
Shepperton Studios in
Surrey.
Post-production Furious at the studio's repeated demands for yet another heavy editing session just to boost Costner's presence and prevent Rickman's performance from stealing the movieand at the studio locking his own editor out of the cutting roomReynolds walked out of the project weeks before theatrical debut. He did not attend the screening. The 2003 cut adds 12 minutes of previously unreleased footage, which details the conspirators' plot to steal the throne from King Richard and further explores the relationship between the Sheriff and Mortianna (
Geraldine McEwan). In one scene, Mortianna explains that she killed the true George Nottingham as a baby and replaced him with her own infant son, revealing that she is the Sheriff's real mother. In another scene, Mortianna accuses the Sheriff's scribe (
John Tordoff) of being disloyal and suggests the Sheriff remove the scribe's tongue. A subsequent added scene shows the now-tongueless scribe forced to communicate via chalkboard. This creates a continuity error with a later scene that is retained from the theatrical cut, in which the scribe easily provides spoken directions to Robin and Azeem Al Bakir (
Morgan Freeman) as they rescue Marian.
Books An official
novelization of the film was released in 1991 by author
Simon R. Green. He received a commission to write this book in 1989, and it has sold more than 370,000 copies. The novel adds in a subplot not shown in the film. ==Release==