Is Andrew Garfield’s The Uprising a Robin Hood Movie?

The film’s UK distributor even released a statement denying The Uprising is a Robin Hood movie (via Metro): “Marketing materials posted by other countries that may appear in the UK online and on social media referencing Robin Hood are not issued or approved by us.”

The Uprising had been understood to be about the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, which was led by historical figures Wat Tyler (played by Shogun’s Cosmo Jarvis) and John Ball (played by Jamie Bell). Garfield’s character Ploughman was thought to represent the Everyman peasant pushed by misfortune into taking up arms against the crown.

The Uprising’s original US production notes – made available in advance to stateside press for the film’s junket – did not reveal any ties to Robin Hood. Garfield’s character was referred to as merely Ploughman. The original plot synopsis read:

“Andrew Garfield stars as the legendary leader of a ferocious rebellion against the tyranny of King Richard II. As war burns across England, he forms an army of the people to face the King’s might in a fight for justice and survival.”

But the latest production notes, released to US press late last week, contained this updated synopsis: “Andrew Garfield stars as the leader of a ferocious rebellion against the tyranny of King Richard II. Set against the true events of the Uprising that helped inspire the legend of Robin Hood, he forms an army of the people to face the King’s might in a fight for justice.”

These same updated US production notes later state: “The 14th century English poem ‘Piers Plowman’ — a simple farmer’s dream about his hopes and fears — was the inspiration for the character of the Ploughman and helped the filmmaker [Paul Greengrass] settle on his approach. (Notably, the same poem gave birth to the legend of ‘Robin Hoode,’ the ultimate British outlaw myth about a common man attempting to right great injustice and coming under threat from the authorities for his actions to serve the citizenry.)”

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