Most people tend to ridicule Kevin Costner when they remember the 1991 film ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves’.
They forget that Christian Slater’s English accent was far worse – looking like somebody who’s never been in a forest before (ironic given how wooden his performance is), he might as well have been wearing a baseball cap – and that Morgan Freeman’s role was based on … a character made up for a British series just a few years earlier.
Freeman’s character was even given the same name and background as ‘Nasir’, the Saracen in 1980s series ‘Robin of Sherwood’, before it was quickly rewritten to avoid copyright issues.
Dane makes telling contribution
But the latest cinematic instalment of the tale, ‘Robin Hood’, which hits cinemas on November 29 and also has a Moorish character (played by Jamie Foxx), won’t be laughed at by anyone if expert Danish archer Lars Andersen has anything to do with it.
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Andersen, who became famous in 2015 after footage emerged of him using medieval techniques to fire multiple arrows in quick succession, coached actor Taron Egerton for the main role with some seriously intense archery training.
Andersen, who again grabbed headlines last year when he demonstrated how to fire an arrow around a corner, taught Egerton the correct historical techniques, enabling him to speed-fire from a variety of positions.
So forget the tantric style of Kevin Costner’s Robin, waiting for Maid Marian to blow for luck – thanks to Andersen’s input, this Hood has multiple shafts in the chamber.
