"Robin Hood" and the Not-So-Merry Men That Brought it to the Screen

There is a very interesting article online at New York Magazine that details the extremely troubled production that became the new "Robin Hood" movie. It's the tale of how multiple screenwriters, different approaches to the material and the clashing egos of a director and star whose careers are currently not-all-that-hot came together to make the $200 million snoozer that debuted last Friday. In fact, I have to admit that the production stories that I have read about the movie since it debuted have been far more involving than anything in the Universal Pictures' prequel.

After reading this article, chances are pretty good that we are probably not going to see many -if any- more Russell Crowe/Ridley Scott collaborations in the future. Of course, stars and directors that work together often end to clash every once in a while. David Lean often argued with Alec Guinness when they worked together, but at least the end results were some of the best motion pictures made in the 20th Century. Considering that the five films Crowe and Scott have teamed up on (Gladiator, Body of Lies, A Good Year, American Gangster and Robin Hood) have only yielded one great (Gladiator) and one decent (American Gangster) result, perhaps it is for the best that the two not work on any more projects.

If Crowe can put a cap on his ego and temper, he should have no problem finding projects with other A-list directors. Even if he is a pain in the ass, he's still a pretty damn fine actor. As for Scott, I think he's going to keep churning out films until he's in his 90s. Case in point, Scott already has his next two projects lined up: two prequels to his 1979 sci-fi masterpiece "Alien", a project that an actor such as Crowe would be completely out of place on.