Cannes -- If Robin Hood had never existed, Hollywood would have had to invent him.
In fact, whether or not there was an actual historical person behind the Robin Hood sung of in English ballads -- a matter of some debate -- the outlaw of Sherwood Forest owes his present-day celebrity to the big screen, beginning with Douglas Fairbanks' silent-era 1922 swashbuckler.
"America more or less hijacked Robin Hood at that point," says Thomas Hahn, a professor of English at the University of Rochester and Robin Hood scholar. "The movie took a local English folk hero and turned him into an international icon of popular culture."
Robin Hood's enduring appeal will be tested once again as the Festival de Cannes gets under way Wednesday with the world premiere of Ridley Scott's "Robin Hood," with Russell Crowe in the titular role of an archer in the employ of King Richard...
In fact, whether or not there was an actual historical person behind the Robin Hood sung of in English ballads -- a matter of some debate -- the outlaw of Sherwood Forest owes his present-day celebrity to the big screen, beginning with Douglas Fairbanks' silent-era 1922 swashbuckler.
"America more or less hijacked Robin Hood at that point," says Thomas Hahn, a professor of English at the University of Rochester and Robin Hood scholar. "The movie took a local English folk hero and turned him into an international icon of popular culture."
Robin Hood's enduring appeal will be tested once again as the Festival de Cannes gets under way Wednesday with the world premiere of Ridley Scott's "Robin Hood," with Russell Crowe in the titular role of an archer in the employ of King Richard...
- 5/11/2010
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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