An occasional writer's journal

It is disappointing that Ridley Scott, for all the writing and rewriting of his forthcoming movie starring Russell Crowe as legendary outlaw Robin Hood,  did not stick with the evocative title of Nottingham.

Few cities can better demonstrate the need for Robin’s hand in escaping the effects of a global recession prompted by ambitious bankers and naive politicians, many of whom would make King John or the Sheriff of Nottingham look saintly.

Russell Crowe wants to be the best Robin Hood.

Whatever chapter of history Robin might have actually belonged to, and whether hero or villain, he is most closely associated with Nottinghamshire and the northern counties of England where you don’t have to venture far before coming across some tribute to Robin Hood by way of a pub name or road sign.

Nottingham has traditionally claimed him as a hometown boy, but the wider county of Nottinghamshire has failed to fully exploit the potential earnings of one of British culture’s most recognisable exports. As so many Robin Hood movies have been filmed overseas, Scott’s $130m project is a timely opportunity for Nottingham to revive interest in tourism and inward investment.

The global recession has especially hit local tourism and last year a popular family visitor centre, “The Tales of Robin Hood” located at Maid Marian Way in Nottingham city centre, was forced to close because its owners couldn’t pay the rent.

The Nottinghamshire newspaper Chad, formerly the Chronicle Advertiser, reported that the proposed filming of part of Scott’s movie in Sherwood Forest — postponed from last year — could not take place locally after producers realised that the forest’s leaves would change colour and fall halfway through the autumn.

Getting permission to film there was not straightforward because of the sensitive nature of the forest which, as readers of this blog will remember, has been the subject of a massive campaign to protect its remaining oak trees. The most famous tree in the forest is the Major Oak, in which outlaws are said to have hidden. It is estimated to be more than 1,140 years old and weighs a massive 23 tons.

The forest once covered about 100,000 acres, but although rich in wildlife it measures only 450 acres today. Modern development aside, the greenwood has been steadily reduced over centuries for massive timber construction projects including ships and cathedrals.

Ye Olde Salutation Inn, Maid Marion Way.

Scott’s film boasts an all-star cast including Vanessa Redgrave and William Hurt, and Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett as Robin and Maid Marion. Hurt plays the supporting role of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who was a legendary knight and statesman and whose youth inspired the character played by Heath Ledger in A Knight’s Tale.

There are expectations that this will be the best Robin Hood film ever made, but it could have gone so much further in highlighting the social challenges facing this historic part of the world.

In a pre-production interview, Scott suggested that the working title Nottingham had been dropped, saying, “Oh yes, I think we are just going to call it ‘Robin Hood’.”

I’d been intrigued by the initial concept for the Nottingham movie which was to feature Crowe as a good Sheriff battling an evil Hood possibly played by Christian Bale. Then Scott changed his mind, perhaps thinking of the box office receipts.

What an opportunity he has missed by failing to anchor the legend within an identifiable historical framework. One hopes the project does not go the way of Kevin Costner’s unashamedly commercial Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves which, ironically, was filmed in the north of England but simply lost the plot.

Scott’s Robin Hood is due for release in May 2010. Encouragingly, Crowe, who doubles the part of Sheriff with the lead role of Robin, is quoted as saying, “You don’t want to be doing Robin Hood unless you’re going to be doing it really f*cking well. It’s got to be the best one ever done. . . otherwise you should do something else.”