The latest from Sherwood Forest is that there is a God.

Back in September we reported that Russell Crowe was set to play both Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham in Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood. Think Lindsay Lohan in Parent Trap with facial hair and a few hundred extra pounds.

However, according to an update on the IMDB Russell Crowe is sticking to one role. He is donning a pair of spanx and is playing Robin Hood. The Sheriff of Nottingham is rumoured to be played by Matthew Macfadyen of Pride and Prejudice remake fame.

If recent physical appearance is anything to go by its hard not to imagine Crowe playing anything other than Friar Tuck. However, a man of his craft, the latest promo picture shows him slimmed down sporting a hair-do that would make Maximus proud.

Cate Blanchett has taken over from Sienna Miller, and been cast as Maid Marion. The mere presence of Blanchett in the line up makes the film all the more appealing.

Also with a nearly 20-year age difference between Miller and Crowe, no amount of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor would have condoned such sugardaddy casting.

The actors attached to the project all appear to be pretty awesome, it’s comforting to have in this kind of genre a leading man who can actually act. If you’re not a fan of Crowe, just be grateful it’s not Clive Owen (see, utter relief). Even if Scott at the helm doesn’t get your arrows soaring the writers alone make the project worth a look.

One such writer is Brian Helgeland, who wrote the screenplays for Man on Fire, Mystic River, LA Confidential, Payback and Assassins. OK, Assassins is no Mystic River, but you know you love that movie. If none of those films appeal enough to make you go and watch the film, maybe you don’t deserve to. No, seriously, if that isn’t your bag of chips, the other writers involved co-wrote Kung Fu Panda. Now, you definitely know you love that movie.

As a die hard and quote-addicted fan of Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, this latest man-(not quite)-in-tight adventure should be a welcome addition to the franchise. Despite the teething problems the stellar cast and crew may just pull off the film of 2011. One has to admit, the thought of Crowe donning a scowl and pivoting once again with a sword in hand, is an appealing one.

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[story by Gemma Addy]

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First Nottingham was going to star Russell Crowe as a good Sheriff of Nottingham who had to battle the evil Robin Hood, then it wasn’t going to be made at all, but now it’s back on – and it’s got completely weird. Apparently in the new Nottingham, Russell Crowe is going to play the Sheriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood.

Not in a good way, either. In Nottingham, Russell Crowe’s character will be both the Sheriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood – news which will be profoundly disappointing to all of us hoping that Nottingham would feature a Double Impact-style scene where two identical Russell Crowes have a kung-fu fight with telephones in the woods in 12th Century England.

Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott have something of a mutual profession mancrush on each other. They’ve previously teamed up on Gladiator, A Good Year, American Gangster, Body Of Lies – in fact, we’re mostly convinced that if Russell Crowe was more than 15 years old when Alien was made, it would have been about Russell Crowe bursting out of Russell Crowe’s chest and then getting fired out of a spaceship by a grappling hook fired by Russell Crowe.

Anyway, the next movie that Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott are teaming up on will be Nottingham, their revisionist take on the legend of Robin Hood. Nottingham was to stray from the traditional Robin Hood tale in several ways – there’d be no tights, no Bryan Adams songs and Nottingham wouldn’t be 30 minutes from Dover on horseback. But most importantly, Nottingham would be a detective movie about Russell Crowe playing a hard-bitten Sheriff of Nottingham on the trail of the evil criminal Robin Hood.

That’s the way it was supposed to be, at least. But not too long ago, Nottingham was shelved – the blame being laid on the writers strike, the possibility of an actors strike and the seasonal ugliness of forests. However, now Nottingham is back on with one small difference.

In the new version of Nottingham, the Sheriff Of Nottingham is Robin Hood, and Russell Crowe gets to play everybody, even Friar Tuck and Maid Marion. Probably. MTV reports:

The news comes straight from the helmer himself, with Scott revealing “He’s playing both!” exclusively to MTV News. While Scott held additional details close to his chest — saying they would take too long to describe — he did exclaim that Crowe’s dual roles would be “a good old clever adjustment of characters. One becomes the other. It changes.”

What could this all mean? Does the Sheriff of Nottingham take to robbing people as a way of collecting taxes for the king? Is there going to a Tyler Durden-style schizophrenic reveal near the end of the movie? Or is it going to be the Double Impact thing? Oh, let it be the Double Impact thing, Ridley. There’s a tenner in it for you if you make it the Double Impact thing.

But however Russell Crowe will play the Sheriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood, let’s just all be grateful that Nottingham is actually getting made. It’s been too long since a decent Robin Hood movie has been made – plus we hear that Jay-Z has already recorded another American Gangster-style album inspired by the movie, and we wouldn’t want the world to be deprived of surefire would-be hits like H To The Izzood, Wenches Wenches Wenches and I Got 99 Problems (And Scurvy Accounts For 97 Of Them), would we.

Now, thanks to Brad Pitt suddenly leaving State Of Play and Russell Crowe taking his place, production has been slightly delayed – and that delay has meant that Edward Norton has been forced to drop out as well. But, undeterred, the State Of Play team have laboured on and quickly signed up Ben Affleck to fill his shoes. And don't forget that State Of Play still hasn't started filming yet, so by the time it hits cinemas we can expect State Of Play's all-star line-up to include two Baldwin brothers, the girl from The Craft who wasn't Neve Campbell or the pretty one, a Chinese Highland Shrew and your Mum.

The now legitimately troubled movie adaptation of State Of Play seems to be working on some sort of confusing karmic points system at the moment. For example, first Brad Pitt left State Of Play in a fug of controversy, and he was eventually replaced with Russell Crowe, who is a much better actor, but a little bit funny-looking.

That left State Of Play – also slated to star Edward Norton and Helen Mirren – in a state of unbalance, since it was heavy on the funny-looking good actors but light on the wooden eye candy. However, Edward Norton has just stepped in to save the day because he's left State Of Play too, and been replaced with Ben Affleck. Thus, a wooden piece of eye candy has replaced the funny-looking good actor and, coupled with Crowe's funny-looking good actor replacing Pitt's wooden eye candy, State Of Play balance has been restored.

Let's just hope that Helen Mirren isn't about to leave State Of Play as well, because the way things are going she'll probably be replaced by Jessica Simpson, and that'll fuck everything up.

But back to Edward Norton. Why has he left State Of Play? Well, pleasingly it's for something a little more rational than not being allowed to make his character travel everywhere on a golden horse fully nude except for a giant Viking helmet – which is why we think Brad Pitt left. The Hollywood Reporter reports:

Russell Crowe was quickly recruited to replace Pitt in the film written by "Lions for Lambs" scribe Matthew Michael Carnahan. With Crowe on board, the film's production start date was moved from November to January. Because of the change in start date, Norton, who also is set to produce and star in the indie comedy "Leaves of Grass," found himself with a schedule conflict. So he asked Universal if he could be replaced so that he could fulfil his commitment to the Tim Blake Nelson-directed "Leaves."

That would normally heap trouble on an already-struggling State Of Play, but not this time. As we've said, Ben Affleck has quickly stepped in to fill Norton's role as a hard-ball politician caught up in a murder conspiracy. And since Ben Affleck's turn in last year's Hollywoodland won him awards, the State Of Play producers can at least be reassured that it's still in safe hands.

Plus the new State Of Play scene where the politician struts through his office counting how many women give him the glad-eye on his handheld clicker that he got free with some chavvy deodorant is going to just be wicked nang.

Read more:

'State' subs Affleck for Norton role – Hollywood Reporter

Although, to be be fair, that isn't because State Of Play is a world-class movie in the making; it's because Brad Pitt stropped off production recently, right before it was due to start filming. But now, with Universal planning to sue Brad Pitt for the walk-out, State Of Play needs a new leading man, and fast. Step forward Russell Crowe, who Universal has been desperately wooing all weekend. Of course, Russell Crowe is a notoriously safe pair of hands, and won't demand constant script changes like Brad Pitt reportedly did, apart from requesting that his character performs a 25-minute multi-stanza poem about the fickle nature of material success right in the middle of things.

And that 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts performs the State Of Play title music.

And that the whole thing gets called Russell Crowe's State Of Play and is set in prehistoric times, and that Edward Norton's character is replaced by an otter in a baseball cap.

So the fall-out to Brad Pitt leaving State Of Play has begun. To recap, Brad Pitt left State Of Play because he kept clashing with director Kevin McDonald over the quality of the script, something that couldn't be changed because of the continuing writers' strike. We're assuming that the changes Brad Pitt wanted included scenes of Brad Pitt riding along a deserted beach topless on a motorbike at sunset with the unmistakable sound of Whitesnake in the background, but we can't be sure of that, so don't quote us.

Anyway, by walking out of State Of Play, Brad Pitt has caused a right royal mess behind the scenes. Filming of State Of Play is ready to go, and if it doesn't get moving soon, then its star-flecked cast of Edward Norton, Helen Mirren and Rachel McAdams will be forced to abandon it too and the whole thing could go under.

So while Universal edges closer towards suing Brad Pitt – who, let's not forget, also walked out of production of The Fountain and constantly fought with the director of The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford – it's also busy trying to get Russell Crowe to jump into Brad Pitt's vacant spot.

Thanks to American Gangster being that rare occurrence – a recent Russell Crowe film that people want to watch – Russell Crowe is back in demand as an actor again. In March he begins filming Nottingham, the Ridley Scott-directed story of Robin Hood with the Sheriff Of Nottingham as the goodie, so if he agrees to fill in on State Of Play, filming will have to kick into gear pretty sharpish.

But this is all just speculation, because Russell Crowe hasn't agreed to be in State Of Play just yet. If negotiations fall through then Universal might also approach Johnny Depp or Tom Hanks, although these two actors are less desirable because they don't especially want the State Of Play lead to either assume an offputtingly unrealistic cockney accent or a mullety haircut that looks like it's made of plastic eels. So at this rate expect Brad Pitt's State Of Play role to be filled by man with the parrot from the Admiral Car Insurance adverts.

Read more:

Universal Seeks Crowe For Play – Variety