James Goldman's romantic screenplay about the final adventures of the middle aged Robin Hood and Maid Marian, coupled with the prospect of working with Sean Connery, finally lured Hepburn back to the movies after an eight year hiatus. Such a poetic idea, to find out what happened to Robin and Marian, Audrey explained, Everything I had been offered before then was too kinky, too violent or too young. I had been playing ingénues since the early fifties and I thought it would be wonderful to play somebody of my own age in something romantic and lovely.
According to biographer Barry Paris, when Audrey arrived in Spain for the frenetic 36 day shoot in the forests of Pamplona, she was upset to find that the script had been heavily revised from the early draft that had originally sold her on the project (see lot 493 in the online Hepburn auction) and quarrelled with director Richard Lester over cutting further dialogue, telling Time magazine I was the one who had to defend the romance in the picture. Although Lester claimed there was very little dialogue cut, Audrey's working script attests to the fact that portions of their romantic lines were indeed cut during filming.
Audrey's comeback was met with enchanted delight, drawing a standing ovation from over 6000 fans at Radio City Music Hall during the premiere in New York. Time magazine declared The moment she appears on screen is startling... we are reminded of how long it has been since an actress has so beguiled us and captured our imagination.