Matthew Macfadyen cast as The Sheriff of Nottingham

Not that I have anything against 35 year old British actor Matthew MacFadyen but if this were any other kind of Robin Hood picture, I would be feeling pretty outraged at this point by his casting in this iconic screen role. Alan Rickman, whether it was an outrageously over-the-top and ridiculous performance or not, put his heart and soul into one of the true memorable and charasmatic villainy parts in cinema history which saved Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and made that movie seem ten times better than it really was. Rickman went at that part with full gusto and no fear, knowing the material was camp stuff, and he performed it in such a fashion that the campness was both disguised and made fun of. MacFadyen, the lead star of Spooks, who bored the world to death with his forgettable performance as Mr. Darcy in Pride & Prejudice (showing that Colin Firth actually did a lot more than simply put on the costume of unsinkable character first time around) has been cast as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Ridley Scott's now filming epic it has been confirmed by his agent over at a fansite. He shoot his scenes sometime over the next two months. But as I say, this isn't an ordinary Robin Hood adaptation. From everything we have been told, The Sheriff is now a miniscule part, he's probably only going to have a few scenes, a supporting role if you will, as the country of France is being setup as the main antagonist. You may remember, originally the part of the Sheriff was going to be a duel part with Robin Hood (as they were said to be the same character in the first draft of the screenplay) but a late re-write changed all that. Anyone else feeling extremely sour towards this picture now? I've been feeling it for a while and despite Ridley Scott ramming down our throats that this is the new Gladiator, I hate that they transformed an originally intriguing idea (Robin Hood bad guy, Sheriff the good guy) into the same old, same old. via - /film