Sienna Miller Cast as Maid Marian in Ridley Scott's 'Nottingham'

Slowly but surely, Ridley Scott's Nottingham is inching towards a theater near you. Whereas Steven Spielberg made both War of the Worlds and Munich in the same calendar year - that's absurd, by the way - Scott has been taking his time with his Robin Hood update, which will be told from the perspective of the Sheriff of Nottingham (Russell Crowe).

And while I haven't seen a report of who's playing Robin Hood (I guess there has to be one, right?), we now know who Maid Marian will be:  "It's happening. I just found out. It's the most exciting news in the world," gushed Sienna Miller to the BBC. "It's ridiculous. But there's this looming actor's strike, so it's not 100% sure that it's going to be made, but it's looking pretty certain."

This casting continues a sort of career rebirth for Miller, a beautiful yet troublesome actress who nonetheless gave a great performance in Factory Girl, which was otherwise not terribly substantial. But her public image has betrayed her ability a bit, and I think we have to give credit to G.I. Joe - the summer 2009 flick in which she'll play the Baroness - as well as the indie flick, Interview, which confirmed the talent Factory Girl alleged.

This movie's going to be a huge deal, I suspect. Ridley and Crowe have worked together very well over the years, American Gangster made a hell of a lot of money, and this should have more action. In fact, producer Brian Grazer has already dubbed it a Gladiator version of Robin Hood.

The casting's good so far, the idea is great, so if it can avoid the actor's strike and be completed on time, 2009 should be a big year for the resurgent Sienna Miller.

I thought this was weird, though: When he heard the news that Sienna was cast in Nottingham, Jude Law slept with his babysitter. I don't get that guy...