Hugh Jackman’s Robin Hood Is Built on Myths

what The – In A24’s new trailer for “The Death of Robin Hood,” Hugh Jackman’s narration calls Robin Hood’s legend “lies.” Writer-director Michael Sarnoski explains why there may never have been a single real Robin Hood, how the story grew from centuries of oral romance,

The trailer opens with Hugh Jackman’s grizzly voice cutting through the familiar pitch of Robin Hood: “People speak of Robin Hood, tell his stories, they’re all lies.” Then the screen answers with violent, murderous imagery—nothing like the merry bandit who steals from the rich to give to the poor.

That contrast is the point. The tagline—“He was no hero”—promises a version of Robin Hood that dismantles the legend at its center. But the question that hangs over the new A24 film “The Death of Robin Hood” is bigger than style: what of this is revision, and what is real history?

Writer-director Michael Sarnoski offered a clear answer about the name itself on this week’s episode of the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “[Robin Hood] is probably an amalgamation of a few different people,” he said. “There isn’t really a real Robin Hood. he kind of became a bit of a folk thing. like. people would [say]. ‘Oh. that guy’s a real Robin Hood.’ There were probably a few outlaws named Robin. that was a common name back then. and that just turned into the Robin Hood that we know over time.”.

Sarnoski’s framing draws a straight line from folklore to the film’s tone. The first written accounts of Robin Hood. he said. arrived two to three centuries after the 13th century—when Robin Hood is supposedly said to have lived. Those accounts. Sarnoski explained. were based on oral stories that got passed down and likely romanticized as they traveled through time.

Against that fog, his movie tries to anchor itself in specifics. Sarnoski said his film is grounded in a real time—1274 AD—and a real place, the Celtic fringe, with principal photography taking place in Northern Ireland. He also did extensive research into what life was like during that period.

He returned to the brutality of the era to explain why the legend. as it’s usually delivered. feels like a disguise. “Day-to-day survival was hard, and fighting back then was brutal,” Sarnoski said. He described watching a series of lectures on English history. and the professor’s quote that stuck: “We think of medieval battles as knights in shining armor riding around on horses. but most of the time it was just peasants beating each other to death with shovels.”.

That historical lens reshapes the question of what a bandit like Robin Hood would look like in a world already steeped in extreme violence. Sarnoski said even the early Robin Hood material carries a darker undertow than the bedtime-friendly version most people grew up with. “The sorts of things that Robin would have done. even the sorts of things that he does in the original ballads. are pretty morbid and horrifying. ” he said. “They’re

played for fun. but he’s going around chopping off people’s heads. wearing them on his shoulders. and pretending to be them. These are not the activities of a nice guy necessarily. There is a lot of morbidity and violence even in the early Robin Hood legends. so it wasn’t that much of a stretch to be like. ‘Well. if those are based on actual actions in any way. he probably did some iffy stuff.’ Maybe

that turned into these kind of folk stories. but he definitely murdered some folks.”.

Sarnoski didn’t come to the story as a blank slate. Like most people, he grew up with the lighthearted Robin Hood tales. As a kid, he repeatedly watched the 1971 Disney animated “Robin Hood” with his father. After his father passed away. a neighbor—later described by Sarnoski as a mentor figure—gave him a book from the 1940s containing the canonical stories from centuries of lore. including “The Death of Robin Hood.”.

Reading it didn’t fit the image he carried in his head. “It didn’t compute,” Sarnoski said about the book. “It was something I needed to figure out. like. ‘Wait a minute. these iconic folkloric figures can die?’ That became this fascination for me for a long time. and then that turned into this script.”.

Sarnoski said he stayed largely true to the original imagery and setting for Robin Hood’s death. but he couldn’t accept the way the lead-up was handled. The circumstances leading to Robin Hood’s death “never felt true” to him. and the roles of the prioress (Jodie Comer) and Robin Hood (Jackman) would need reinvention.

In the original ballads. Sarnoski said. the prioress was portrayed as “this evil nun. ” while Robin was cast as “kind of the goodly hero. ” making everything feel “a little black and white. and simple.” To push beyond that. he looked for inspiration in researching Hildegard von Bingen—a polymath nun who was a theologian. musician. and healer. He said. “I turned the prioress sort of into this leader of almost a commune. she runs this priory where orphans and lepers and people would go. and she’s there to help them.”.

In Sarnoski’s film, that reinvention gives the story its main emotional engine. When the prioress takes in and heals a half-dead Robin Hood. the conflict becomes whether the prince of thieves—struggling with his murderous past—can find salvation. and whether his healer will uncover who he was before she introduced him to a new way of life.

The result is a Robin Hood story that leans into the violence the legend carries in its earliest roots, while still asking modern questions: if the “real” Robin Hood is more folk amalgam than person, what does it mean to chase him anyway?

“The Death of Robin Hood” is now playing in theaters.

To hear Sarnoski’s full interview, subscribe to the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.

The Death of Robin Hood Hugh Jackman Michael Sarnoski A24 Filmmaker Toolkit Jodie Comer Robin Hood history Hildegard von Bingen 1274 AD Northern Ireland Celtic fringe medieval violence