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Hugh Jackman tackled “the hardest thing I’ve ever done” while filming The Death of Robin Hood
The film reimagines Robin Hood as a flawed, human character as he grapples with his criminal past
Jackman stars alongside Jodie Comer and Bill Skarsgård in the action film, directed by Michael Sarnoski
Hugh Jackman is reflecting on the challenges of filming The Death of Robin Hood.
The Greatest Showman actor, 57, stars alongside Jodie Comer in the action film, directed by Michael Sarnoski (Pig). The movie finds the mythic folk hero in a much darker place, “grappling with his past after a life of crime and murder” as he staggers away from a battle he didn’t expect to survive.
In the film, Jackman’s brooding Robin Hood engages in an intense and unsettling fight sequence while drenched in mud. The scene featured Jackman opposite his costar Elijah Ungvary, whom Jackman told PEOPLE in a recent interview he got to know “really well” while filming the difficult battle.
Hugh Jackman and Bill Skarsgård in The Death of Robin Hood.Credit: Aidan Monaghan/A24
“If you’d seen another film, we could have looked like lovers,” Jackman jokes. “And Michael said, ‘I love it.’ There is a weird intimacy to hand-to-hand combat and the brutality of it.”
In one especially long take of a fight scene, Jackman and his costar found themselves in increasingly close positions. In one instance, Jackman lands a particularly devastating blow, and for a time afterward, his character just lays his head on his opponent’s chest.
The emotional complexity of the scene, coupled with the cold, nighttime setting and the immense volume of mud — “I am still getting mud out of places, a year later,” he says — earned it a spot on the list of one of the most difficult scenes Jackman has ever filmed, he says.
“That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Jackman reiterated.
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The Death of Robin Hood, which features Jackman in a striking new look of long gray tresses and a gray beard, also stars Bill Skarsgård.
Jackman previously told Entertainment Weekly that he appreciated how the film built Robin Hood to feel like a real, flawed individual.
Hugh Jackman in The Death Of Robin HoodCredit: Aidan Monaghan/A24
“What I love so much about Mike’s vision of Robin Hood is that the script delivered power, and it examines how power can be used for good or bad,” he said. “Robin Hood is a real man in our story. With all the scars, the pain, the regret and, yes, the love.”
“Mike’s story has weight to it,” he added. “For me, it’s beautiful and human.”
The Death of Robin Hood is in theaters now.
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