To be a convincing Robin Hood an actor needs to be able to do two things: pull off an authentic English accent (we call this the “Kevin Costner Rule”) and show some serious skill with a bow and arrow. Welsh-born Taron Egerton, the latest star to step into the famous shoes of the legendary outlaw, seemingly has the first part down. However, we think he might be even better at the far more difficult part of the role after seeing footage of his intense archery training, which involves him hitting two targets in less than a second. And Egerton was trained by none other than expert archer Lars Andersen.
Andersen set the internet on fire in 2015 when his amazing-yet-controversial highlight video went viral. He attracted attention again last year when he demonstrated how to shoot an arrow around a corner. The archer joined with other experts to work with Egerton on proper historical techniques, speed, firing while in a variety of poses and movements, and how to fire multiple arrows in quick succession. The results are really remarkable.
It seems like a crazy amount of work, but we can understand why Robin Hood director Otto Bathurst wanted the most authentic performance he could get from his star. We’re glad we got this behind-the-scenes look. Since we know what can be done with CGI, we sometimes don’t even consider that what we are seeing is real. Andersen trained other members of the cast as well, and even invented some of the archery tricks in the movie. The below video gets into the nitty gritty of historical archery and the training process.
Will you enjoy the movie more now knowing this performance is so authentic? Tell us why in the comments below.
Featured Image: Lars Andersen
