Jen Yamato is a Deadline contributor.
Dakota Fanning has been cast as Kevin Kline‘s teenage girlfriend in the true Hollywood pic The Last Of Robin Hood, which chronicles the final years of Errol Flynn‘s life with Kline portraying the swashbuckling screen icon. Quinceanera helmers Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland scripted and will direct. Fanning will play teenage actress Beverly Aadland, who was 17-years-old and by Flynn’s side when he died at age 50 in 1959. Susan Sarandon is also attached as Florence Aadland, who wrote the 1961 book The Big Love accusing Flynn of starting a sexual relationship with her daughter when Beverly was 15, an allegation Beverly Aadland later confirmed to People.
The Aadland-Flynn romance is rife with salacious old Hollywood twists and turns: Flynn, who had been cleared of statutory rape charges in 1942 and was married to actress Patrice Wymore until his death, courted Aadland after meeting her on the Warner Bros. lot in 1957. Flynn cast his 33-years-younger flame in 1959′s Cuban Rebel Girls (she had earned bit credits in South Pacific and Marjorie Morningstar) and reportedly lobbied for himself and Aadland to star in Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita. Christine Vachon and Pam Koffler will produce The Last Of Robin Hood for Killer Films along with Declan Baldwin of Big Indie Films and Maggie Malina, with an eye for filming to begin in February.
Fanning is repped by WME and recently jumped ship from Talent One Management to Echo Lake with sister Elle. The 18-year-old Fanning just premiered Very Good Girls at Sundance opposite Elizabeth Olsen and will star in the title role in Richard Laxton’s Effie in May.
Kline most recently appeared in Sony Pictures Classics’ Darling Companion and hits theaters next December in CBS Film’s Last Vegas. Sarandon follows a very busy 2012 (Cloud Atlas, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, That’s My Boy, The Company You Keep, Arbitrage, Robot & Frank) and has another busy year ahead starting with Summit’s action pic Snitch and Lionsgate’s ensemble rom-com The Big Wedding.


Not wanting to be distasteful, but let’s be honest here, folks Beverly was not by Flynn’s “side” when he died–actually several accounts have ole Flynn dying in the saddle so Beverly would be in a slightly different location. Regardless, Flynn has always been a tragic Hollywood figure and I’m sure Kline will nail the role. I just pray it’s better than “Hitchcock.” Love the title.
Flynn died in Vancouver, Canada of a massive heart attack whilst at the home of Dr. George Gould as he was in the final stages of selling his beloved yacht, Zaca.
Aadland accompanied Flynn as his “secretary/companion”.
Kline is absolutely superb casting as Flynn. I know Sarandon will do a good job.
Dakota is an OK actress but physically the casting is wrong. Aadland was voluptuos and looked older than her years. Something that her mother took advantage of and was how she managed to get employed and caught the attention of Flynn.
I’m pretty sure Susan Sarandon wasn’t in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, unless you count sequences from The Rocky Horror Picture Show playing in the background.