5 Characters That Should Get A Gender Swapped Adaptation (And 1 That Really Shouldn't)
4. Robin Hood
As this November's Taron Egerton-starring origin story demonstrates, Hollywood shows no sign of tiring of attempts to reimagine Robin Hood for a new audience. Eve Hewson co-stars as the Sherwood outlaw's traditional love interest Marian (who's married in this version, so not technically a "maid"). There is no sense, however, from trailers and production stills that the film has really figured out the problem of what to actually do with Marian.
Modern Marians from Prince Of Thieves' Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio to Cate Blanchett in Ridley Scott's "realistic" take, via the lacklustre BBC TV version, tend to shy away from the old fashioned damsel in distress trope. Instead we are given Marians who, in the interests of being "strong female characters" (TM), can handle themselves and go toe to toe with our hero at swordplay.
The flaw here is that a Marian who is a wealthy aristocrat that secretly fights for justice as a hooded swashbuckling adventurer is a narrative and character arc which is essentially indistinguishable from Robin's own. You've got two characters playing the same role. The solution? Why not cut out the Earl of Locksley entirely and make "Robin Hood" the secret hero identity of Marian herself?
Remember when Scott's version was first pitched as a reimagining in which Robin was a persona created by the Sheriff of Nottingham, making them one and the same person? Wasn't that a much more interesting sounding movie than the formulaic gritty reboot we finally got? A Marian-Robin movie would have the same appeal and give a well-defined role to a character that filmmakers really don't seem to know what to do with.
Who Should Play Her?
In amongst her various commitments to reprise the role of Harley Quinn in different team-up combinations, Margot Robbie is already signed on to a possible Marian movie in which she takes on Robin Hood's mantle after he dies.
A charismatic leading woman who has shown she can handle action scenes, Robbie is a perfect piece of casting. The film just needs some judicious Ridley Scott-style re-writes to remove the superfluous additional Robin.