He’s played a sexy entrepreneur, a deceptive murderer, and a war hero among other roles. Now Jamie Dornan is in final talks to play a swordsman named Will Scarlett who is ‘a fine-dressing but short-fused expert.’

The new Robin Hood film will be directed by Otto Bathurst (Peaky Blinders) with a script by Joby Harold. Taron Egerton (Testament of Youth) plays the title role and Jamie Foxx will play Little John.

The film is set in Sherwood Forest and ‘follows the titular hero as he returns from the Crusades and forms a band of outlaws to fight corruption.’

In the books, Dornan’s character Scarlett is the half-brother of Robin Hood (Christian Slater played the character in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, which starred Kevin Costner and Alan Rickman). In this new adaptation, which will be the first Robin Hood film since the 2010 film with Russell Crowe as the lead, Scarlett is married to Maid Marian, Robin Hood’s love interest.

Maid Marian will be played by Eve Hewson (This Must Be the Place, The Knick) so Dornan isn’t the only Irish actor attached.

Last night, Dornan was on the red carpet in Dublin for his latest film The Siege of Jadotville, which is out in cinemas now.

Production for Robin Hood: Origins is due to start in January in Budapest.

 

Via Variety