Hugh Jackman delighted to have Irish damp in his bones

Hugh Jackman has told RTÉ Entertainment that his experience making The Death of Robin Hood in Antrim, Down, and Tipperary was "a gift" and something he will never forget.

Backed by Northern Ireland Screen, The Death of Robin Hood is a dark retelling of the outlaw legend that sees the aged Robin (Jackman) trying to come to terms with what he has done while a prioress (Jodie Comer) shows him the path to a better life.

Among the many stunning locations in the film from writer-director Michael Sarnoski (Pig, A Quiet Place: Day One) are Silent Valley Reservoir and Tollymore Forest Park in Co Down, Murlough Bay and White Park Bay, Co Antrim, and the Rock of Cashel, Co Tipperary.

"I still have Irish mud on my body. Somewhere," Jackman told RTÉ Entertainment.

"I knew as I was shooting that this was a gift that I would... Hopefully I'll get it back, but I may never get back, so I made the most of every moment.

"Our last day of shooting at the Rock of Cashel was something I'll never forget. It was, like, 16 degrees and sunny that day... It was incredible."

Jackman's only other trip across the Irish Sea was when he brought his The Man. The Music. The Show. tour to Dublin's 3Arena in May 2019.

"I had this weird rule from drama school days when I did Brian Friel's Translations and we learned all about the history," he recounted. "And, of course, for every Australian, Ireland, it feels like a brother."

"So, I had this weird rule of, 'I'm not going to Ireland unless it's a minimum three weeks because there's no way you can understand it'. Like Australia - you can't go to Australia for a weekend and understand it," Jackman explained.

"I turned down a couple of 'We're going for the weekend', and I was like, 'Nope!' And so, as soon as I got this movie, I was like, 'Yeah'."

The Australian star described the crew on The Death of Robin Hood as "just incredible" - a sentiment shared by writer-director Sarnoski.

"It was brutal, it was beautiful, it was cold," the American filmmaker said of the time on set.

"We shot February/March [2025] for 30 days. It was freezing cold. But the harder it was, the more exciting it was to be like, 'Oh, we're capturing this. We're on top of this mountain'.

"We had to lay down roads so that we could get to these places. The harder it was, the more exciting it was. I never minded that - but I also wasn't the one getting my face stuck in the mud, so...

"When the crew is wearing shorts and lugging stuff up a mountain and just being like, 'This is great!', you're like, 'I can't complain'. It was lovely."

All told, Sarnoski spent a year living in the North while making The Death of Robin Hood, as he also edited the film at Yellow Moon Post-Production in Holywood, Co Down.

He is keen to come back and make another film, while his leading man said he daydreamed about a permanent move.

"Every town I went to, I was like, 'I want to live here'," Jackman smiled.

The Death of Robin Hood is in cinemas now.

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