Cate Blanchett had a hint of the green-eyed monster in her eyes when she turned up to work alongside Russell Crowe on the set of their action blockbuster Robin Hood.
Cast to play Maid Marion to Crowe's English folklore hero, Blanchett couldn't help but want to swap her character's demure long dresses for her co-star's bow and arrow.
Instead, the Oscar winner had to settle on creating a feistier version of Marion than had been portrayed in the past by actresses including Olivia de Havilland and Audrey Hepburn.
"To be honest, Olivia de Havilland was a great beauty but I always wanted to be Robin Hood rather than Maid Marion, but the part was taken," Blanchett confided to hundreds of reporters at a packed press conference after the movie kicked off the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday.
But despite her longing to play Robin, the Aussie actress had no chance of convincing her compatriot Crowe or director Sir Ridley Scott that there should be a cast change.
"I was put back in my box," Blanchett laughed. Blanchett cut a glamorous figure in the Cannes sunshine as she teamed up with Crowe to front the world's press before Robin Hood's premiere on the opening night of the 12-day movie marathon on the French Riviera.
Dressed in an ice pick Armani cocktail dress and cap-sleeved jacket for the press conference, Blanchett's outfit was a far cry from the rather grimy frocks she sports in the movie.
"I used a lot of mud (in the film)," she said. "I usually came down to the set relatively clean and Ridley would pick something off the ground and smear it on me. It's a fetish or something, I'm not quite sure."
Another wardrobe secret she revealed was that the hefty looking chain mail she donned for a key beachfront battle between French invaders and English soldiers led by Robin Hood near the movie's finale wasn't all that it appeared.
"The chain mail was plastic," Blanchett said with a grin, sparking laughs from reporters. And what did she think of Crowe having swapped Robin Hood's famous green tights for leather trousers?
"They're pretty fetching," she said with a cheeky smile.
Blanchett happy to work with Crowe, Scott
While she might have had a spot of role-envy, Blanchett was thrilled to work with Crowe and Scott and be able to have her three sons join her for the shoot in England and Wales during the northern summer of 2009.
"I think it was probably one of the greatest summers of my two eldest sons' lives," she said before Crowe chimed in to remind her about the other perks of the job.
"Oh yes, and I got to kiss Russell," she laughed. "Sorry, I practised that line and I forgot to say it." Hundreds of reporters watched a special screening of the film before its official premiere on Wednesday night at the landmark Palais des Festivals in the heart of Cannes.
But the huge auditorium wasn't full and the movie, which tells the story of how Robin Hood became a legendary outlaw after meeting Maid Marion, received a fairly muted reaction from the journalists and critics who watched it.
Several critics had already seen it at special advance screenings around the world and many broke embargoes designed to keep their reviews, which were somewhat lukewarm, under wraps until the movie's debut at the festival.
During repeated questions about the film's historical accuracy, Crowe insisted the movie, which spans the years from the death of England's King Richard I in 1199 to the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215, was not meant to be a history lesson.
He said he and Scott, who have worked together on four other movies including Gladiator, deliberately took an "arrogant perspective", with Blanchett quickly reminding the assembled reporters: "And hell, we're Australians".
"We took the perspective that whatever you think you know about Robin Hood is a previously understandable mistake," Crowe said.
"What you have to do is you have to do enough to pique people's curiosity and that's what Gladiator did.
"There was just enough accurate history in there that felt real ... and it encouraged people to go and follow their own curiosity and ask questions for themselves. "I believe that Robin Hood will do the same.
"The main shift that we made .... is that King Richard the Lion Heart, rides in most Robin Hoods and saves the day, but we kill him in the first scene.
"You can pretend or say that we're standing under a banner saying 'historical accuracy' but we're not."
Robin Hood 'still relevant'
Crowe believes that there is a little bit of Robin Hood in everyone and that the story of the famous character who robbed from the rich to give to the poor still has plenty of relevance in today's world.
"The funny thing about Robin Hood is, I think, strangely there's an element of Robin Hood lying in the heart of all of us in that if our world was to go completely pear shaped we would hope somebody would stand up and try and redress the balance," he said.
"People have been asking me would Robin Hood's aim be political, would he aim at certain figures and try and bring them down?
"Would his aim be economic? Would he be looking at Wall Street and the huge sums of money that people have been patting themselves on the back with and the sub-prime mortgage collapse and all that?
"Or would he be looking at what you guys do for a living and realise that the true wealth lies in the dissemination of information?
"My theory would be if Robin Hood was alive today he would be looking at the monopolisation of media as the greatest enemy."
Leaving aside theories about who the outlaw would take on in today's world, Crowe hinted there could be a return to the medieval days of Sherwood Forest for another instalment of Robin Hood's adventures if the film is a box office success.
"If I had the opportunity to redress what happens next with Ridley and with Cate, then great let's do it," Crowe said.
And as for Blanchett's chances of starring in a sequel - be it as Maid Marion or as the hero she is desperate to play - the actress was coy. "I haven't been asked yet," she said.
