Hugh Jackman shows off his long grey hair and prosthetic beard for his bloody reimagining of Robin Hood

Hugh Jackman has transformed into a bloodthirsty Robin Hood for his new movie, which arrives in UK cinemas next week.

The Hollywood star, 57, leads A24's The Death of Robin Hood – a shock reimagining of the English folklore legend in his final years which transforms the heroic outlaw into a bloodthirsty vigilante. 

Michael Sarnoski directs the Medieval drama, in which a gravely wounded Robin Hood is rescued by a compassionate nun (Jodie Comer) and a group of orphans as he reflects on his horrifying sins.

New photos from the film show Hugh sporting a long grey wig and a prosthetic beard in the grimly lit scenes shot in Northern Ireland. 

Hugh told CinemaBlend that his new look provided some challenges on set, especially whilst shooting the intense battle scenes.

'I had to have a fake beard. And in that scene in the mud, there were a couple of takes where I put my head up. The beard's gone, "Oh, somewhere in there."

'By the end, it was, literally, like, gaffer tape just underneath and you couldn't see anything, it was completely just muddy, just trying to keep this thing on. And there was one bit attached,' the actor recalled.

The star explained how his longtime hair and makeup team pitched the unusual look to him on the set of the movie Song Sung Blue.

Hugh said: 'Sean Flanagan, I have to give him props. He's my hair guy. He has worked with me on a lot of films.

'Pamela Westmore, who does make-up, the two of them, we were sitting in the trailer at Song Sung Blue, and both of them, they looked at me and I said, "What's going on?"'

'And they said, "We've come up with what we think could be a cool look." And I looked at I went, "Wow." It's pretty much what you saw. And I sent it immediately to Michael, and he was like, "Perfect." And that was it. And then they had to work out how to do it. And that wig held up really, really well.'

Sarnoski has admitted The Death of Robin Hood will be 'challenging' for viewers but it's important to 'give them something that's different'.

The writer-and-director's film features a much darker take on the outlaw and while he knows it won't be to everyone's taste, he wanted to show a different side to the archer because people complain when they are just offered new versions of the same story.

He told The Times newspaper: '[But] then you try and give them something that's different and they're like, "Why can't we have our classic Robin Hood again?" You can't worry about that sort of reaction.

'I knew this would be challenging for people but I think if we only give people the versions of characters that they're used to, we're just not going to grow very much.'

The first hour of the film is said to be very bleak and bloody, and the director insisted it was important to 'go really far' in order to send a message to the audience.

He explained: 'Because when people watch, they are so used to assuming that Robin was a hero and a good guy. I think we had to go really far with it to let the audience know, hey, we're not kidding around here.'

'We're saying, "This is a brutal guy. This isn't a misunderstood hero who has just had a hard lot in life."'

The film-maker doesn't believe his film shows a 'crazy interpretation' of the legend.

He said: 'I think in a lot of ways, like, this isn't some crazy interpretation of Robin. It's just like, OK, what if some of these violent things actually happened? What if he handled that like a lot of humans do, which is that he is haunted in some ways?

'Then we get to a fairly accurate portrayal of the death of Robin Hood scene, which is one of the oldest stories.'

'I feel like in a lot of ways this is an interpretation of Robin that has just as much accuracy as a dancing fox does.'

The Death of Robin Hood is scheduled to be released in UK cinemas on September 2.