Sienna Miller is used to playing a gentle, doe-eyed love interest - but she sure is toughening up.

The 26-year-old began shooting her new Hollywood film GI Joe in Los Angeles yesterday, in which she plays the villainous Baroness - a femme fatale skilled in espionage.

She filmed a funeral scene yesterday, where she was seen carrying a folded American flag and spent the breaks between takes texting on her mobile.

The actress is rumoured to have gained 5lbs and has started an intensive fitness training in preparation for the role.

She has said: “I’ve started taking boxing lessons, and I’ve also had to learn how to fire guns with live ammunition.

“I’m a baddie, running around kicking everyone while wearing tight, thigh-high boots.

“I’m getting muscles everywhere.”

Sienna was the first star to sign up for the film, and she has since been joined by up and coming star Channing Tatum as well as Dennis Quaid.

Military action hero GI Joe started life as a Second World War comic strip and went on to become a popular series of toys in the US.

The film is set at the Brussels-based GIJOE - an acronym for the Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity - where a band of special operatives battle to defeat Cobra, an evil organsation headed by a Scottish arms dealer. It is expected to be released in August next year.

Next up, Sienna is scheduled to star alongside Sean Bean in the romantic comedy A Woman of No Importance.

Source

Sienna Miller will no longer have to rely on chauffeurs and taxis to travel, because she has finally passed her driving test. She was handed her drivers license after taking the test twice, and has reportedly splashed on a $60,000 sports car to celebrate.

She says, “On my first test, they asked me to reverse into a bay of cones. I put my foot down, reversed at high velocity and completely flattened the cones. I did the girlie thing and burst into tears, but the instructor was having none of it. He told me to get out of the car and apply for another test.”

And the 26-year-old was so determined to pass, she signed up for a week’s worth of intensive lessons and took the test again. “I passed on the second attempt a few weeks ago. I’ll be in LA for the next few months filming the movie GI Joe and it’s like a ghost town if you can’t drive.”

WENN

Atonement, starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, has won the best film award at this year’s Orange British Academy Film Awards.

The movie, adapetd from Ian McEwan’s novel, was nominated for 14 awards, but only went home with two, Best Film and Best Production Design.

James McAvoy lost out on the best actor award to Daniel Day-Lewis’s towering performance in There Will Be Blood, and Keira Knightley was beaten by Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose.

The Best British Film category was won by Shane Meadows’s 1980’s drama This Is England, beating off strong competition from The Bourne Ultimatum and Control.

The full list of winners:

Best Film - Atonement

Best British Film - This Is England

Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)

Best Actress - Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose)

Best Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men)

Best Supporting Actress - Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)

David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction - Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men)

Best Original Screenplay - Juno (Diablo Cody)

Best Adapted Screenplay - The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (Ronald Harwood)

Film Not in the English Language - The Lives of Others

Best Animated Film - Ratatouille

The Carl Foreman Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Matt Greenhalgh (writer of Control)

Orange Rising Star Award - Shia LaBeouf

Music - La Vie En Rose

Cinematography - No Country For Old Men

Editing - The Bourne Ultimatum

Production Design - Atonement

Costume Design - La Vie En Rose

Sound - The Bourne Ultimatum

Special Visual Effects - The Golden Compass

Make Up & Hair - La Vie En Rose

Short Animation - The Pearce Sisters

Short Film - Dog Altogether

Red Carpet: Amanda Peet and husband, James McAvoy and wife,  Javier Bardem,  Jessica Biel, Kate Hudson, Keira Knightley, Kevin Spacey, Rosamund Pike, Samantha Morton, Sienna Miller and boyfriend Rhys Ifans and Viggo Mortensen.

Backstage: Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Daniel Day Lewis, Daniel Radcliffe, Emily Blunt, Eva Green, Harvey Keitel, Hugh Laurie, Ian McKellen, Javier Bardem, Marion Cotillard, Orlando Bloom, Paul Dano, Rosamund Pike, Thandie Newton and Tilda Swinton.

Apparently, Rhys Ifans has gotten fed up with the low-profile relationship that he has with Sienna Miller. He has issued an ultimatum to the Factory Girl star, “marry me, or it’s over” during a recent trip to New York.

He wants them to go public with their engagement, but for Sienna, the ring remains in the box. Sources say that Rhys is fed up with all of the secrecy surrounding their relationship and wants to make it a permanent thing.

“He has asked Sienna to marry him and it’s the last time he will ask. He wants everyone to know they are officially an item.”

Reportedly, Sienna has yet to make a decision and Rhys can’t understand why. Is she holding out for a better offer?

He’s no Jude Law, that’s for sure.

WENN

Splash

It’s turning out to be quite the holiday season for Sienna Miller, as the actress recently celebrated her 26th birthday by reportedly getting engaged to Welsh boyfriend Rhys Ifans.

The couple, who were spotted over the weekend leaving the Wolseley Restaurant after having lunch in Mayfair, “officially got engaged on Sienna’s birthday after spending Christmas together in Wales.”

Before the birthday proposal, a source told Britain’s Sun newspaper of Rhys’ plan: “He’s collected 10 presents for Sienna of varying shapes, sizes and prices. They are all part of a plan for a romantic night in with a mountain of presents.”

The insider added: “He is keeping tight-lipped on a proposal but hinted to he has had a Welsh designer craft a special ring for her, which can only mean one thing.”