One of the more interesting movies to come out of last fall’s Toronto International Film Festival, The Last of Robin Hood now has its trailer available online. In the film Kevin Kline plays legendary actor Errol Flynn during the waning days of his career when he had a love affair with underage aspiring actress Beverly Aadland, played by Dakota Fanning. Susan Sarandon plays Beverly’s fame-obsessed mother, who encouraged the controversial relationship for the benefit of her daughter’s career. The film is co-written and co-directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, whose previous collaboration, the 2006 indie hit Quinceañera, put them on the map.
This isn’t the first time Kline has played a well-known celebrity from a bygone era, as earlier in his career he played Douglas Fairbanks in the Charlie Chaplin biopic Chaplin, and later played musician Cole Porter in another biopic, De-Lovely. In the trailer Kline looks to be having lots of fun playing the infamous ladies man Flynn. The expression “in like Flynn” of course not only referred to the actor’s swooping entrances playing the legendary Robin Hood on film, but of his prowess with the ladies off camera. For Fanning it looks to be another impressive, challenging performance as she transitions from child star to full blown adult actress. She was recently seen in the environmental thriller Night Moves, alongside Jesse Eisenberg and Peter Sarsgaard, and will next be seen in the coming-of-age drama Very Good Girls, where she co-stars with Elisabeth Olsen.
Though reviews for The Last of Robin Hood out of Toronto were somewhat middling, the subject matter and star power should appeal to older audiences looking for more serious-minded stories during the glut of summer popcorn movies. In keeping with that idea of counter-programming, indie distributor Samuel Goldwyn will release The Last of Robin Hood in theaters on August 29th.
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