Crowe vs. Robin Hood

Russell Crowe will receive a whopping $20 million against 20% to star in the upcoming Universal Robin Hood update NOTTINGHAM. I originally thought it was interesting that Crowe would be playing the villianous Sheriff of Nottingham, then I read that oh wait, he really won’t. In this version, written by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris (“Sleeper Cell”), the Sheriff is the good guy and Robin Hood is the bad guy. There will, of course, be the requisite love triangle between the Sheriff, Robin Hood and Maid Marion. The script was a hot property in Hollywood with New Line, Warner Bros., Sony and DreamWorks all angling for a piece. Had it not fallen to Universal, Bryan Singer and Sam Raimi were interested at their respective studios (WB and Sony). No director is attached yet to the Universal version but Crowe will once again team with Brian Grazer for whom he just wrapped AMERICAN GANGSTER. The script from Reiff and Voris comes just after word that their Showtime series “Cell” wouldn’t be renewed for a new season. Crowe is currently filming 3:10 TO YUMA with Christian Bale for director James Mangold. Filming on NOTTINGHAM is scheduled to begin later this year or early 2008.