Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights to Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland’s “The Last of Robin Hood,” which stars Kevin Kline as Errol Flynn, the company announced Wednesday.
The stylish biopic follows Flynn’s final years and his May-December romance with young starlet Beverly Aadland (Dakota Fanning), as well as her mother’s (Susan Sarandon) role in encouraging the relationship.
“Robin Hood,” which hails from Lifetime Films, also features Bryan Batt, Max Casella, Jason Davis, Matt Kane, Patrick St. Esprit, Ric Reitz and Justina Machado.
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A Lifetime Films presentation in association with Killer Films and Big Indie Pictures, “The Last of Robin Hood” was produced by Declan Baldwin, Maggie Malina, Pamela Koffler and Christine Vachon. Executive producers include Todd Haynes, Rob Sharenow, Tanya Lopez, Molly Thompson, Colleen McCormick and Lisa Hamilton Daly.
Flynn was a swashbuckling Hollywood star and notorious ladies man who flouted convention all his life, never more brazenly than in his last years when, swimming in vodka and unwilling to face his mortality, he undertook a liaison with an aspiring actress Aadland. The two had a high-flying affair that spanned the globe and was enabled by the girl’s fame-obsessed mother, Florence. It all came crashing to an end in October 1959, when events forced the relationship into the open, sparking an avalanche of publicity castigating Beverly and her mother — which only fed Florence’s need to stay in the spotlight.
“‘The Last of Robin Hood’ captures a very unique aspect of Hollywood and celebrity. The film takes place in 1959, but it might as well be 2014. You have an aging superstar struggling to maintain his fame, a starlet chasing her big break, a manipulative “stage” mother, and the public’s timeless curiosity, almost obsession with, “celebrity.” The non-stop, sensational tabloid coverage of Errol Flynn’s life and relationship mirrors exactly the kind of coverage this story would receive in Hollywood 55 years later,” said Peter Goldwyn, senior VP of Samuel Goldwyn Films.
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“‘The Last of Robin Hood’ is full of powerful performances by some of the finest actors of our time. We are proud to partner with Samuel Goldwyn Films on its release this fall so that the film’s scandalous, complex and surprisingly moving story of Errol Flynn and Beverly Aadland can be seen by all,” added Rob Sharenow, executive VP and general manager of Lifetime.
“We are truly excited to be releasing ‘The Last of Robin Hood’ with Goldwyn. A film about Hollywood’s golden years needs a classic Hollywood distributor,” co-directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland said in a joint statement.
The deal was negotiated by Ian Puente, VP and general counsel of Samuel Goldwyn Films and by Molly Thompson of Lifetime Films/A+E Studios, as well as John Sloss of Cinetic Media on behalf of the filmmakers.