Robin Hood has been a lot of things over the centuries: noble thief, romantic outlaw, swashbuckling folk hero, animated fox, Kevin Costner with an accent that wanders wherever it pleases. But in Michael Sarnoski’s hands, the myth becomes something darker, sadder, and more spiritually eviscerated. His new film, “The Death of Robin Hood,” is less interested in the legend as a heroic brand than in the man who might be trapped beneath its curse.
Written and directed by Sarnoski, “The Death of Robin Hood” stars Hugh Jackman as an aging, haunted Robin Hood, a man grappling with a life of violence after a battle leaves him gravely injured. In the care of a mysterious Prioress played by Jodie Comer, he’s offered something that might look like salvation, if he can survive long enough to accept it. The film also stars Bill Skarsgård, Murray Bartlett, and Noah Jupe, and arrives in theaters June 19 via A24.
Sarnoski joined The Playlist’s The Discourse podcast to talk about stripping away centuries of heroic varnish, finding the emotional soul of Robin Hood, reuniting with cinematographer Pat Scola, and writing the upcoming “Death Stranding” movie. And early in the conversation, he acknowledged a thread that has become increasingly clear across his work, from “Pig” to “A Quiet Place: Day One” to “The Death of Robin Hood”: these are stories about people who, in some way, already feel dead before the movie begins.
