Writer-producer Pen Densham deliberately avoided an Errol Flynn-style devil-may-care hero, instead envisioning Robin as a rich young man transformed into a socially conscious rebel by his imprisonment in Jerusalem during the Crusades.

The production was rushed to beat competing Robin Hood projects, racing against a rival 1991 20th Century Fox film and a planned TriStar Pictures version that was never made, forcing a September 3, 1990 filming deadline.

Kevin Costner initially rejected the script but agreed to star once he learned Kevin Reynolds, who had directed him before, would helm the film.

Comedian John Cleese was originally proposed for King Richard, but Sean Connery was cast instead at the urging of Costner and Densham, who feared a comedic star's cameo would undercut the drama and kept his appearance a surprise for audiences.

Sean Connery agreed to drop his usual $1 million fee to a $250,000 donation to a hospital in his native Scotland for his one day of work on the film.

Robin Wright was originally lined up to play Maid Marian but dropped out after discovering she was pregnant, leading to Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio's quick casting while she was already in London filming a BBC production of Uncle Vanya.

Alan Rickman later revealed he secretly hired his scriptwriter friends Ruby Wax and Peter Barnes to punch up his dialogue because he felt the original script was terrible, and director Kevin Reynolds agreed to incorporate their new lines.

On the first day of filming, sudden weather changes diverted jet traffic from Heathrow Airport, causing planes to roar directly over the Burnham Beeches filming location.

Nottingham and its castle were actually portrayed using the medieval walls and towers of the Cité de Carcassonne in France, while other scenes were shot across various English locations including Wardour Castle, Hulne Priory, Aysgarth Falls, Hardraw Force, the Sycamore Gap tree on Hadrian's Wall, and the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs.

Kevin Reynolds walked off the project weeks before its theatrical debut, furious that the studio kept demanding heavy re-edits to boost Costner's screen presence and reduce Alan Rickman's scene-stealing performance, and locked his editor out of the cutting room; Reynolds did not attend the premiere screening.

A continuity error exists in the 2003 extended cut: after a scene shows the Sheriff's scribe having his tongue removed and forced to communicate by chalkboard, a later scene retained from the theatrical cut still shows him speaking normally.

The film grossed $390.5 million worldwide, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 1991 behind Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and it had the second-best opening weekend to date for a non-sequel.

The Los Angeles Times mocked the film's geography, noting that Robin's depicted afternoon walk from the White Cliffs to Nottingham via Hadrian's Wall would actually cover about 560 miles.

The film's theme song, Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You," was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song and won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media.