10 Movie Characters Totally Changed During Production

9. Robin Longstride - Robin Hood

The Character

Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) aka the legendary folkloric figure of Robin Hood, a common archer and veteran crusader who assumes the moniker of Robert Loxley while squaring off against the impetuous King John (Oscar Isaac) and his scheming royal guard Godfrey (Mark Strong).

What Changed?

Ridley Scott's Robin Hood - originally entitled "Nottingham" - went through numerous iterations before Scott finally settled on a concrete narrative, particularly in relation to its portrayal of the titular protagonist.

Scott initially envisioned a version of Nottingham where Crowe played both the Robin and Sheriff roles as a single character, in a Fight Club-esque story where the Sheriff is essentially chasing his own tail. Ambitious, for sure, though probably a tough sell for the mainstream and very easy to screw up, so Scott eventually ditched it.

But Robin's characterisation wasn't yet firmly set, and after a more conventional Robin Hood script was completed by Brian Helgeland, he added a last-minute prologue which saw Robin taking up the mantle of Sheriff of Nottingham (rather than Robert Loxley as in the final film).

Scott rejected this new opening, having soured on the idea of the Robin-Sheriff duality, and only weeks before shooting began was the final script locked in, depicting a far more straight-forward Robin Hood than in any of the other, more interesting scripts floating around.

The Fight Club-aping script was especially interesting, but when you're playing with a $200 million budget, it's easy to understand why Scott smoothed out the edges and made Crowe's Robin a more familiar and safe interpretation of the iconic hero.