Sienna Miller: Made to Play Marian

-- StuntDouble from AfterEllen.com

 

Yesterday Sienna Miller confirmed that she is to take on the role of Maid Marian in yet another remake of the classic tale, Robin Hood. "It's happening," Miller said. "I just found out. It's the most exciting news in the world." Miller will star opposite Russel Crowe, who will play a sympathetic Sheriff of Nottingham. (I'm not sure what to think about that since Alan Rickman's tyrannical Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves is my favorite ever movie villain: "Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans, no more merciful beheadings, and call off Christmas!") But Miller told the BBC that working with Crowe is "as good as it gets," so we'll see.

Over the years Maid Marian has been played by some classy ladies, and even a cartoon fox. (Foxette?) Here's a non-exhaustive look at some of the women who have graced Sherwood Forest.

 

Olivia de Havilland, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Maid Marian: Why, you speak treason!
Robin Hood: Fluently.

 

Havilland was a genteel sort of Marian, a bit of a capricious swooner. But what a pretty face! And those earnest, brown eyes? I'd probably rob from the rich for her.

 

Monica Evans, Robin Hood (1973)

Clucky: Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Maid Marian: Or forgetful.

 

Evans's Maid Marian is one my favorites because I love this movie so much. Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally, Golly, what a day.

 

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves (1991)

Marian: There is a price on your head.
Robin of Locksley: How much?
Marian: One hundred gold pieces.
Robin of Locksley: Is that all? I shall have to annoy the good Sheriff more. Soon it will be a thousand.
Marian: For a thousand, I would turn you in myself.

 

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is a kick ass Maid Marian, and not just because she goes toe to toe with Severus Snape and lives to tell about it. At one point in the movie she asks Robin for a favor, and when he asks what, she says, "Take a bath." Heh.

 

Amy Yasbeck, Robin Hood, Men in Tights (1993)

Robin Hood: Oh, my darling, I'm ready for that kiss now.
Maid Marian: But first, I must warn you: It could only be a kiss, for I am a virgin and could never... go all the way.
Robin Hood: But...
Maid Marian: Unless I were married. Or if a man pledged his endless love to me.
Robin Hood: Yes...
Maid Marian: Or if I knew that he desperately cared for me. Or if he were really cute.

 

The plotline around Yasabeck's Maid Marian involves a chastity belt with missing key. It is classic Mel Brooks, which is to say: hilarious.

What do you think of Sienna Miller in Sherwood Forest? And who's your very favorite Maid Marian?

 

Comments

[Zafera]

You forgot Lucy Griffiths from the new BBC produced Robin Hood series.

[Jeff]

Vixen.