Hugh Jackman knew he had to accept the titular role when he read the script for director Michael Sarnoski’s new film The Death of Robin Hood, because it reduced him to tears.
Hugh Jackman sobbed after reading the script for his new movie The Death of Robin Hood for the first time.
The 57-year-old actor plays an older version of the English folk hero who is living in self-imposed exile as he struggles to come to terms with the deeds he committed as an outlaw, only for his past and his own mortality to catch up with him.
Jackman cried when he read director Michael Sarnoski’s script and, after watching Sarnoski’s first feature film, Pig – which stars Nicolas Cage as a truffle forager who must track down his stolen truffle-sniffing pig – he called his agent to accept the role of Robin.
Speaking after a screening of the film at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly in London on Tuesday night (01.09.26), Jackman said: “I read the script, I just thought it was so beautiful.
“When I read the last part of the script I cried, which is a very, very rare thing for me.
“Then I think my agent said, ‘I think Michael is shooting his second movie right now.’ I thought, ‘I better just check out his first movie,’ although the script was great. I was 20 minutes into watching Pig when I rang my agent and said, ‘I’m in.’ There’s a lyricism and there’s a confidence in every frame. There’s a vision, the vision is coherent all the way through. Michael is one of the great voices in film right now.”
Jackman was also eager to appear in The Death of Robin Hood – which was inspired by the 17th century English ballad Robin Hood’s Death – because he and his son, 24-year-old Oscar, share a passion for 13th century English history, while he has been fascinated by the seemingly heroic outlaw since he was a boy.
He added: “I was fascinated by this. It’s something that I share with my son, we’re both really interested in this era as well as the Robin Hood mythology which is something I have loved since I was a boy. I knew a little bit about the ballad. I just sort of started reading about it; Robin Hood, was he real? Was he fictitious? Where does the mythology come from? What fascinated me was how the myth of Robin Hood changed depending on the political background of the time.
“So, the Robin Hood we know of now, robbing from the rich to give to the poor, really only started around the 1500s when things were starting to change politically, prior to that he was just a murderous bad guy. He was a cautionary tale. I was fascinated at how it changed.”
Jackman was joined at the special screening – which was attended by BANG Showbiz – by his co-star Jodie Comer, who plays prioress and healer Sister Brigid, and Sarnoski.
In some scenes, Sister Brigid treats a sick Robin with bloodletting, releasing blood from his body in a bid to cure him of his ailments.
Hugh, with a smile, reminded the audience that bloodletting – which was a widespread medical practice during the Middle Ages and the 1600s – does not have any benefits. In fact, it has the opposite effect on patients.
He said: “To be clear, bloodletting does not work! There’s no science behind it, you just lose a lot of blood and you do die.”
Why did Hugh Jackman cry after reading script for new film The Death of Robin Hood?
