Jack Reynor, Taron Egerton and more up for lead in Robin Hood: Origins

Lionsgate's ROBIN HOOD: ORIGINS is actively trying to become the first new film featuring the outlaw legend to hit theaters as they look at a group of actors to take on the bow and arrow as the titular character. Deadline reports that Otto Bathurst's film is looking at KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE's Taron Egerton, Boardwalk Empire's Jack Huston, TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION's Jack Reynor, THE MAZE RUNNER's Dylan O'Brien, and X-MEN: APOCALYPSE's Nicholas Hoult.

Of the actors, Reynor has a slight edge as he has already recorded an audition tape for the part. The other actors, especially Huston and Hoult, have full slates of projects and may find it harder to fit another big production into their schedules. But, Egerton is still an intriguing choice after his breakout role in KINGSMAN. If that film gets the sequel many have been theorizing, this could be Reynor's job to lose.

ROBIN HOOD: ORIGINS comes from screenwriter Joby Harold who also wrote Guy Ritchie's KNIGHTS OF THE ROUNDTABLE: KING ARTHUR. The film comes with the same buzzwords as a lot of reboots including "revisionist" and "dark" with comparisons made to THE DARK KNIGHT.

Here, Robin Hood returns from fighting in The Crusades and finds that Sherwood Forest is rife with corruption and evil. He forms a band of outlaws and they take matters into their own hands.

Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way is producing ROBIN HOOD: ORIGINS and sounds like it is further along than Disney, Fox, Sony or Warner Brothers projects. Expect to hear more soon as the film is aiming to begin production in early 2016.