Robin Dunne meets Robin Hood in 'Beyond Sherwood Forest'

Considering fan adoration of Dunne, he might be off on that assessment. Tight or not, "Beyond Sherwood Forest," which airs at 8 p.m. Nov. 28 on Syfy, afforded Dunne the chance to step out of his "Sanctuary" role as brainy Dr. Will Zimmerman into that of an action hero.

This is no regular tale of Robin Hood (See my review). The hero not only steals from the rich, saves Maid Marian (Durance) and fights the man who would be Sheriff of Nottingham (Sands). He has to deal with a fire-breathing dragon and other supernatural beings.

And of course, he does it all with his trusty bow and arrows.

"It's actually very hard to shoot a bow and arrow," Dunne said, confessing that he wasn't very good at it early in the shoot. "There was this kind of uncomfortable moment where all these crew members were standing around watching me trying ... When you misfire a bow and arrow it's actually quite embarrassing because it just kind of falls not even a foot in front of you ...

"But thankfully I didn't shoot anybody."

Dunne told more tales from the "Sherwood Forest" shoot, plus offered up a few hints about what's coming on "Sanctuary."

So Robin Dunne is playing Robin Hood? That makes sense.
It was a blast to do the movie and also, it was only one name to remember, which just makes everything that much easier.

Were you named after Robin Hood?
I wasn't, but that would make for a good story. I don't know if I have the correct details on this, but I think I may be the only actor named Robin to have played Robin Hood. Hey, that's something.

Did you have fun shooting the movie?
It was totally fun. It's a character I've always wanted to play and I've always had a fascination with [so] I jumped at it. And also, being able to work with Peter DeLuise, whom I worked with on "Sanctuary," it was really something that felt like a very safe environment ...

It was challenging because ... any time you're playing [an iconic] character that people feel like they already know it's different than playing a new character. It's difficult, particularly with the accent and all the swordplay and the archery. It was a challenge but it was very nice to be working up in Vancouver again with many of the same crew members from "Sanctuary," and obviously Peter.

And it was such an amazing cast to be part of--Erica Durance and Richard DeKlerk and, of course, Julian Sands. It was a lot of fun despite the fact that we were literally rolling around in the muck for a few weeks. They didn't have to do much in terms of decorating to make it look like the medieval times because it literally was muck and dirt and gunge.

Is your Twitter avatar where you are shooting the bow from the film?
I think that picture is from the very first day of production ... It was getting to the point where everybody's sitting around going, "God, this guy's playing Robin Hood and he can't fire a bow and arrow. I think we've really messed up here." Then they started lighting them on fire and wanting me to fire four or five in a row in quick succession. It was kind like, "OK, I gotta get into this."

Thankfully I managed to do it. But I did come out of that movie having a whole new respect for people who do archery because it really is, there is quite an art to it.

You probably came out with a sore arm too?
And a sore arm, and your fingers are almost like a guitar player's. Your fingers are all blistered.

So you didn't get to train with someone?
We did a little bit, but as these things happen and the pace we all move at it's like, "Hey, yeah, do this; do that." Next thing you know you blink and you're on set.

Those are dangerous things, man. I guess in this day and age we don't really think of a bow and arrow as being really that dangerous, they're are so many other things that are dangerous. But they really are. We had a lot of safety people on set because, wow, when you pull that thing back and you fire it, it really goes.

I mean look, I got through it. I'm not going to be joining the Olympic archery team any time soon but thankfully I managed to make it look OK.

And you fought with swords too. Had you done that before?
Thankfully I got to work with Julian, who is quite adept at that stuff and really great. He kind of helped me get through it. We have that whole scene where we're up on that ledge in the pouring rain. What a treat it was to work with him. He's just such a good guy. I was a little nervous to be doing the character, particularly with the accent, when I'm working next to a guy who is actually English.

Did it also help that Robert Lawrenson was in it, who plays Declan McRae on "Sanctuary"?
We didn't work together [in the film] but when we met up again on "Sanctuary" we said it was too bad we missed each other. Robert is just such a great guy to work with and he just fit into the whole environment there on "Sanctuary." As you may know, we have a thing on set where we're always joking around and laughing. There's a lot of off-color humor going around and Robert just definitely fit right in there. We had a lot of fun with him this year as the head of the London sanctuary.

But he's your dad in "Sherwood Forest"?
Yeah, yeah. It's funny how the incestuous world of television works, you know?

Did you enjoy working with Erica Durance?
She's just so lovely and fun to work with. The only problem working with Erica is that we were just having so much fun that there were a lot of scenes that we just couldn't get through without giggling and laughing. That's always a great way to work. She's serious. When she comes to set she really brings the goods. But she's also a lot of fun to be around. It was a blast. It was a lot of fun.

Usually Robin Hood has to save Maid Marian, but that isn't the case here. Like Erica's Lois on "Smallville," Marian takes care of herself.
She's totally cool and able to take care of herself. I would not worry about Erica for one second. It's just too bad she's so unattractive. But other than that ... Of course I'm kidding.

Did you like having the beard?
The beard drove me absolutely crazy. I've got kind of a pudgy baby face so I just felt I looked ridiculous with the beard. There were a lot of people who liked it, or at least, God bless them, told me that they liked it. But I felt so strange and itchy with the beard. I could barely deal with it and I think the second--the second--we wrapped, I looked at Peter and said, "No more reshoots? You don't need me for any reshoots?" He said no and I went to the trailer and shaved.

You have to do some wall-climbing in this too.
Yeah I did as much as I could. My thing is I try to push and do as many of the stunts as possible. We have great stunt guys up in Vancouver and I've developed a relationship with them. They know that they are going to let me do as much as possible and when I look over at Rob Hayter and say, "Can I do this?" If he says no, I know that I really can't. But they will let me do as much as possible because it just helps the production when it's not a stunt guy. If it's actually me they can use as much of the shot as possible.

Was it strange telling this iconic story with the supernatural twist to it?
That's the great thing about working in the genre and being on this network is that we get to do those kinds of stories. Yes, you're right, when you think Robin Hood you don't think typically that it would be a sci-fi fare, but why not? Why not take an iconic character out of history and literature and put him on his ear and actually add that element. I think that one of the interesting things about being an actor in this genre because the scope of the genre is so wide and it really encompasses it a lot.

How is it working with Peter, a former actor now directing?
Peter's such a great guy and we've developed such a great rapport ... He's a guy who really has a great breadth of experience that he brings to the director's chair. It really puts you, the actor, in a very comfortable place to try stuff, because you know he's looking at things with a different set of eyes almost. He's looking at you performance not only from a directing point of view, but also from the knowledge that he has from being an actor before.

What else have you been up to since Season 2 of "Sanctuary" wrapped?
I'm a writer as well so I have some writing projects on the go, but I've also just been trying to catch up. We shoot 13 episodes on "Sanctuary" and it isn't necessarily a lot. Other shows shoot more, but we work at such a break-neck pace and we have such a tight, small group of people doing this that it really takes quite some time to recover from doing all these things--water tanks and dancing and post-apocalyptic stuff and mullets and all kinds of crazy stuff.

We're cruising into the holiday season so I'm just going to try relax and gear up for hopefully, potentially another season. When I finish a season of "Sanctuary" I feel like I've run a sort of Ironman decathlon. I just need to decompress for like six months before Damian starts calling me again and giving me story ideas.

Do you have time to talk about upcoming "Sanctuary" episodes?
Yeah man. Listen, "Sanctuary" is going to get crazy in the next couple of weeks ... We're getting into the second half of the season and we're just getting started.

Sorry folks! I teased you. I'll have more from Dunne on "Sanctuary" next week when the episode "Next Tuesday" airs. Says Dunne: "It's one of those episodes where we get a really close look at the relationship between Magnus and Will ... Sometimes if you really care about somebody, you have to tell them what you think even if it's not necessarily what they want to hear." Watch for more next week.