Helgeland Now One Of Ridley Scott's Merry Men!! He's Revising NOTTINGHAM!!

Merrick here...
Hollywood Reporter says Brian Helgeland (who wrote / directed a Harry fave called PAYBACK…pulled the same duty on A KNIGHT’S TALE, one of my faves…and wrote MAN ON FIRE, a fave of one of my good friends) has been brought in to rework NOTTINGHAM. In case you’ve missed it, this is Ridley Scott’s reinvention of ROBIN HOOD. Strangely enough, just yesterday we received a review of the previous draft of this project, which was written by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris. The review was sent in by a reader named TheScriptReviewer. He enjoyed elements of the script, but clearly indicated some changes needed to be made (citing sloppy storyline and tremendously clichéd dialog). We don’t know what fixes Helgeland will bring to the table, so the following details may now be moot. But, just for kicks, here’s The ScriptReviewer’s spoilery set-up of how NOTTINGHAM’s story begins:

Nottingham is to be released in 09’, this is both stunning and shocking because building up the hype for this movie in advance is going to be tough, but, before I jump into advertisement, lets talk about the script. Nottingham is the basic storyline about Sheriff Robert TORNHAM and ROBIN HOOD. This script explores more of what we haven’t seen before in the Robin Hood tale. The basic plot is the love triangle between Maiden Marion, Hood, and Tornham. This script tries to twist the folklore around by saying Robin Hood is our villain and Torn is our victim. The script starts out extremely well, we meet our hero Tornham in Castle Markup’s - 1191, the castle is under heavy siege. Flame is going throughout the castle, men are interlocked in fierce battle, (There’s a fucking amazing scene with two men fighting one, one gets hit with an axe in the face, too great). The castle is under siege by the GREEKS. We shown to a few battle scenes and finally to under the entire castle. Under the castle our hero awaits with other soldiers. He sits with the others, drinking water and passing it around. Blood stains all of their faces, they’re all ready to die at this moment. Willingly letting God take them to where they desire, this isn’t going to happen. TORNHAM steals the goblet full of water. He places it on the ground. The goblet remains still for seconds until it starts shaking; they’ve set the goblet on the ground to hear the enemy approaching the underground tunnel. The goblet tips over, the top of the tunnel is smashed in - dirt, arrows, men all flying into the tunnel. All fight fiercely, blood sprays everywhere. Torn/Tornham defeats most of the men, they triumph over the Greek invaders. After we’ve finished the battle, were now in a MANOR HOUSE, a celebration is being held. A man and a woman sneak out of the feast and into the forest, they start to kiss passionately when an arrow pierces both there hearts. Were now back to the castle, we see a clear look of it. Almost completely burned to the ground. TORNHAM sits at his desk, his trusted servant THOMAS delivers a letter. In the letter it says that Richard the Lion heart is to leave for the crusades, and to take the new place of Sheriff will be TORNHAM…the beginning. Tornham arrives in England, he’s greeted, cheered upon, and praised for his recent victories in Greece. SIR GUY GISBORNE meets TORHAM at the gate and introduces him to England’s finest castle. This is a good scene: we learn about the history of England, and much more. As we near Gisborne’s exit from the scene, we learn of a new bandit taking refuge in the forest. He goes by the name of ROBIN HOOD

So, again, this material is from Reiff and Voris’s previous draft. It could change a bit now that Helgeland’s on board, but is likely a fair indication of the overall direction Scott & Co. are taking. This whole project trips me out. I’m always curious about, but never entirely comfortable with, this level of revisionism. Also, I’ve heard talk of a television project called NOTTINGHAM, proposed by Tim McCanlies (THE IRON GIANT, SECONDHAND LIONS) and…if memory serves…BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Executive Producer David Eick. Their NOTTINGHAM would’ve painted Robin Hood as a fictitious creation, conjured by a besieged Sheriff as a patsy for the Sheriff’s conspiracy to steal from the King & give to the overburdened, over taxed poor. I’m guessing this project faded into oblivion, as series proposals often do. Still, I find the parallel development here curious.