Robin Hood, Robin Hood, skating through the ghetto with his merry posse? Those reclusive siblings
The Wachowski's have excited Warner Bros. with a pitch for a modern, urban re-telling of the Robin Hood myth simply titled '
Hood' - which they hope to entice
Will Smith to lead.
Joel Silver, who produced
The Matrix trilogy and
Speed Racer with the directors at WB is making it all happen. You may recall Will Smith turned down the lead role of Neo in The Matrix to instead make
Wild Wild West, undoubtedly a mistake, so one would imagine he will read the script four times and talk to as many advisers he can before he thinks about turning down this one. The timing of this pitch is curious as The Wachowski's aren't known to flicker between to many projects. Momentum seemed to be gaining recently on an ambitious adaptation of David Mitchell's novel
Cloud Atlas which
has a cast in place, and perhaps even a filming date of next spring/summer. Then they have their even more ambitious their R-Rated Iraq war, gay love story movie
Cobalt Neutral 9 which they are hoping to gain funding for.
Perhaps The Wachowski's have pitched Warner Bros. a brainless summer tentpole, with a huge movie star, with a concept they probably came up with in just five minutes - for an agreement that WB would distribute Cobalt Neutral 9. Certainly this is the most commercial of all the films the Wachowski's have had interest in the years since
Speed Racer was released, so don't be surprised if this one gathers pace quickly.