‘The aim was to give the Kevin Costner brand a good kick’: director John Irvin on his anti-Thatcher Robin Hood | Video

Tthirty-five years ago, two films about the legend of Robin Hood – thief from the rich, giver to the poor – met and dueled in the cinema; we all know who won, Kevin Costner’s big-budget blockbuster, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. But what about the other? It was called Robin Hood, directed by John Irvin and starring Patrick Bergin in the title along with Pre-Pulp Fiction. Uma Thurman like the Virgin Marian.

Irvin, now 85, said: “It was a stand-alone film with the goal of giving Kevin Costner’s version a good shot if we could,” says Irvin, now 85.

Strange, this Robin Hood It would have been if not for Costner’s heavily Americanized version, which was released two months after Irvin’s 1991 film.

Before he was elected chairman of 20th Century Fox in 1989, American movie mogul Joe Roth was developing a Robin Hood movie. Unable to bring the project with him to Fox, it was picked up by Warner Bros. and became Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. So Roth quickly turned on a rival film, Irvin was written in the director’s seat, the latter found interest in directing Alec Guinness in the famous Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy service.

Irvin said: “I didn’t get involved in these problems, I just kept my head down.

The three-month shooting began in October 1990 and the main filming took place at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire – a Victorian castle built in the middle ages – as well as the nearby salt mines, and the green surroundings of Gwynedd in North Wales. Irvin admitted: “The production was difficult, it was cold and wet, it was winter, so Robin Hood couldn’t be in Merry England.” All the trees were empty, so no one could hide and hide from the people.

“It’s very interesting, we found in Cheshire, near the castle, all the salt mines.” I thought it was perfect because it was hidden. I was trying to give an honest Robin Hood in the middle ages. At the time of the film, there was a survey tax (protest) in England. I tried, without being too on the nose, to match Thatcher’s England.

The film saw Bergin’s Forest man challenge Norman rule in 12th-century England, overseen by Bond villain Jeroen Krabbé and Jürgen Prochnow – the latter also competing with Robin Hood for the affections of Thurman’s Maid Marian. Irvin’s take on the legend saw Irish actor Bergin break into his own in a year where he played Julia Robert’s sarcastic husband in the thriller Sleeping with the Enemy.

It’s surprising that Bergin ended up making Robin Hood at all, as he battled a colon infection during shooting. “He was so sick that we often had to use double the amount of medication,” Irvin said.

“I thought Patrick Bergin did a great job,” he added. “I’m surprised he didn’t go out and be as strong as Liam Neeson. I thought he really was. I saw him in Los Angeles about three years ago and he never talked about acting. He was very interested in his band (Patrick Bergin and the Spirit Merchants).

At just 20 years old, Uma Thurman was famous for her role in the drama Dangerous Liaisons. Irvin says she was originally considered for a role in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, so he quickly cast her as his leading lady. Irvin said: “I thought she was perfect, but at the time she was just married to Gary Oldman, who was always hiding, but he was not seen and she was hiding.

Robin Hood was released in cinemas around the world, but in the US it debuted as a three-hour TV movie in May 1991. It was warmly received by critics, but it was quickly shot out of the water by Kevin Costner’s picture, which was released a month later. Costner’s movie only took in $400m at the worldwide box office and became a summer blockbuster.

“I remember about a year later I was talking to the head of Warner Bros., he said: ‘Okay, you have a comment, but we’ve got an audience.’

Irvin added: “I feel that the story of Robin Hood seems to have entered the mind of our country.