I have a very vivid memory of first laying eyes on Sienna Miller (at least I thought I did). It was at Butt Numb-a-Thon 6, so that would be 2004, and it was in a film called LAYER CAKE, directed by first-time filmmaker Matthew Vaughn. It also starred Daniel Craig, and it’s probably the film that convinced the powers that be of the James Bond franchise that he was the right man to become 007. Miller has a smallish role in the film, but she radiated both pure sexuality and raw intelligence behind her eyes that I couldn’t wait to see her again. As it turns out, I already had, just a month earlier in ALFIE.
Somehow I didn’t realize that it was the same lovely actress in both parts, which brings me to my next point about what an absolute chameleon Miller has always been. There have been times where I thought she was other actors or I just plain didn’t recognize her. She so often vanishes so completely into her part that she tends not to get credit for what great work she’s done. Take a quick survey of such films as CASANOVA, FACTORY GIRL, STARDUST, THE MYSTERIES OF PITTSBURGH, THE EDGE OF LOVE, or my favorite Sienna Miller performance in INTERVIEW, opposite Steve Buscemi.
In 2014, Miller toned down her model good looks, and gave us two wonderfully straight-forward and authentic performances in FOXCATCHER, as Nancy Schultz, wife of wrestler Dave Schultz (Mark Ruffalo), and in AMERICAN SNIPER (which opens wide this weekend and is directed by Clint Eastwood), as Taya Kyle, wife of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), who logged the most kills as a sniper in U.S. history. And looking ahead, she’s got an impressive lineup of films co-starring with and/or directed by the likes of Cooper (again), Ben Affleck, Ryan Reynolds, Vince Vaughn, Ben Wheatley, Tom Hiddleston, Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch (twice), John Wells, James Gray, and so many more. Sitting down with her in Chicago late last year was exceedingly enjoyable, and we covered a great deal of ground concerning her career and goals as an actor. Please enjoy my talk with Sienna Miller, who was actually out promoting AMERICAN SNIPER, but I got in plenty of FOXCATCHER questions as well…
Capone: As we were coming out of the film yesterday, someone made a joke about how this is a rough year to be married to Sienna Miller in films.
Sienna Miller: [laughs] That’s a pretty funny joke. By the way, I realized that the other day as well. I hadn’t thought about that, playing these two women.
Capone: Without saying anything beyond that. Hopefully next year works out better.
SM: For my co-stars.
Capone: Exactly. I think my favorite moments in AMERICAN SNIPER are the homefront scenes. The battle scenes are wonderfully staged, but we’ve seen that sort of thing before. It’s the interactions at home that we don’t get as much of in big, mainstream, high-profile movies. A lot of times, movies that focus on that get sidelined, and those are just the things I think that we need to see and understand. I love the way that your character basically replaces a mission with a mission for her husband. She gives him that role. Can you just talk about that aspect of the film?
SM: That’s great. Thank you for saying such lovely things. I think the thing that’s interesting about the film is the dilemma that Chris faced in life, and it’s really a human study and a study of a man who felt an overwhelming need to protect, and was also was the most successful person in history at doing that. At the same time, he has a family—a wife and children—and his order of priorities in life are God, country, family. That was his approach. So while he was at home, he knew that people were dying who potentially might not be if he was there, and I think that’s what really what’s unique, like you said, the dichotomy of being split in that way is what’s really interesting about the film. The dilemma that he faced. And from her perspective, trying to raise two children with a husband who has that sense of duty, while he’s away on tours not knowing whether he’ll survive every single day, is a really complex position to be in. I have huge respect and admiration for her.
Capone: She doesn’t understand that right away. I was a little nervous in the beginning, because I thought this was going to be another one of stories where the family is this thing in the background. I thought I’m either going to hate him, because he’s ignoring them, or I’m going to hate her, because she’s annoying him. But there’s a shift in her approach once she tones it back a little and makes it more about the mission at home and at the VA hospital. Talk about your approach to handling the way that she interacted with him.
SM: Obviously, my job is to serve the script, and I was in Clint’s hands, and while she’s an incredibly resilient and strong woman, and while their relationship was in a lot of ways very loving and they have great sense of humor, the dilemma is what’s interesting. A lot of it is highly emotional, as it would be, because she had these snippets with her husband, and he wasn’t present. I wanted it to come full circle, and in the end, when he does finally quit the SEALS, which he did and was a very hard thing for him to do when he was physically able to continue and he starts to come back, I feel like they get their relationship back, and you get a sense of them returning to who they both were as people. It’s such a tragedy that he was then murdered.
Capone: And we get a great look at what they were like before he went off, and they clearly connected so well. Did you get a chance to meet Taya and spend time with her?
SM: Yes. I spent a lot of time with her.
Capone: What did you learn from talking to her? What were the things you were most curious about?
SM: We met initially over Skype which was a great form of communication, very useful in this film when she lives in Texas and I live in London. I just initially wanted to get a sense of her mannerisms and her dialect—some of the idiosyncrasies that add up to make a real human being. Then gradually through just talking and feeling her out, the stories came out, but I had to beaer in mind that she’s irrevocably changed as a result of what’s happened very recently. Not only was her husband murdered, but she’s in this terrible trial with Jessie Ventura, and the man who murdered Chris is about to start his trial. She’s really in one of the most heartbreaking and complicated situations I can ever imagine being in. Regardless of that, she still has this wicked sense of humor, this openness and charm, and I just love her.
Chris was involved with making the film before, so everybody had his approval, and actually Clint was the person he wanted to direct it, so it worked out perfectly when Steven Spielberg dropped out. So she was on board. She was very conscious of her husband’s legacy, and of course it’s nerve wracking to have your husband’s life in the hands of Hollywood filmmakers, but I know that she’s seen and loved the film, so I’m glad.
Capone: We alluded to FOXCATCHER before, it seems like two very different experiences. Everyone has been talking about how everyone looks different than they do in real life, but I think you’re the only one that looks so different that I didn’t realize it’s you until the end credits.
SM: [laughs] Yeah, it’s a very physically different role.
Capone: Bennett Miller has many different reputations as a director and a person. I think he’s hilarious, but I also know that he makes for a very intense set, and does a lot of takes sometimes, whereas Clint Eastwood has the reputation of doing just a couple of takes and keeping things fairly relaxed…
SM: Very relaxed set. Could not be more different, the two of them. Bennett, as you guessed— and I agree, he’s hilarious—also has the biggest heart, but he’s super intense. He’s incredibly bright, incredibly focused, and when he was making FOXCATCHER, he was just basically living the story. He was very blinkered and so focused on it that there wasn’t time for... he would come up and give you a hug now and then but there wasn’t time for coddling anyone. He was zoned into the story, and everything else was just surplus, and he just has tunnel vision.
Clint is just cracking jokes, making everyone laugh. His crew has been the same crew for years and years. The new boom operator is the “kid” of the sound people who have done his films forever. It’s a real family, and no one takes it too seriously. That’s not to say that Clint isn’t intensely focused on the story, because he is. But it’s a much more laid-back way of working, and both have that huge benefits.
Capone: I’ve heard a lot about how seriously Bradley Cooper took this role as far as both the physical transformation and just never breaking character. As an actor, what did you learn from watching him do it this way and being this committed to it?
SM: His work ethic is really incredible, and fortunately we both have a strong work ethic and both ultimately wanted to make the best film possible, of course we did. But I was just in such admiration of how he’d physically transformed, and how committed he was to this story. Also, I really met Chris Kyle before I met Bradley, who was wonderful. But he’s just relentless in his dedication, and it was really, hugely admirable.
Capone: For a long time, he was one of those guys that I don’t think people took seriously.
SM: Which is crazy, because he’s a double Oscar nominated.
Capone: It’s one of those situations where you see him in a role, and you think, “Okay, now I know what he’s capable of. Now I know what his limits are.” Then he does the next role, and you’re like, “Okay, clearly those weren’t his limits.”
SM: Try watching AMERICAN SNIPER and then see him as “The Elephant Man” on Broadway. There’s no way it’s the same actor. I think where people maybe get him wrong is that he’s so charming and gregarious, and that kind of serious actor normally is a bit more intense and boring. Somehow, the fact that he manages to have this charisma and this charm and be as good as he is is complicated for people, but he really does have it all.
Capone: Have you already made another film together?
SM: Yeah, we wrapped it [it’s an as-yet-untitled film directed by John Wells]. The two of us are the main two characters. Straight after SNIPER, we went on and did that. We had such a good experience working on AMERICAN SNIPER that he orchestrated it that I went on and did the next one with him.
Capone: He seems to like to do that.
SM: He does. When it works, it works. I would love to do 100 more films with him. We get on so well.
Capone: There aren’t enough pairings anymore. They used to be commonplace in the Golden Age of Hollywood.
SM: Absolutely, all the time. Bogart-Bacall. Hepburn-Tracy
Capone: Exactly. The first film I have a clear memory seeing you in is LAYER CAKE. How important is it for you to not repeat yourself from role to role? Have you ever turned down something because it might have been too similar to something you’d done already?
SM: Good question, but I’ve never really been that strategic. I never particularly had a strong plan. Recently, my main goal in whatever capacity or however large the size of the role was to really work with a great director, and by being in those environments, hopefully that by osmosis, I would inhale some of that talent. I just want a sense of being in those great films, and I feel like with FOXCATCHER and now SNIPER, I really had an opportunity to be around some of the greatest. I think if I read something and I respond to it, then it’s the right thing. I don’t strategize. I do know that I don’t care about the size of the role. I just want to work with these great people, so there’s not much ego involved in my decisions. I love the process of making films, so to be with the greatest makes sense.
Capone: It’s funny that you mention the size of the role, because in FOXCATCHER, it’s not a huge role. As a result, I thought one of two things. Either it was just what you said, that you just wanted to be in the room with that director, or there’s a lot more of you that got cut out, because I know he cut a ton.
SM: His first cut was four hours and very watchable, he says. It was never a huge role at all. It’s not her story. I suppose there were different films. There was a Mark Ruffalo and Channing film, and there was a Channing and Steve film, and both of those stories were interesting, but that ended up being where his attention went. But I think he made two films, really. The only thing that was hard was…I did the real 9-1-1 call at the end. We shot the whole phone call; I had to learn the real call, which was heartbreaking. And it was too brutal to hear the gunshot sounds, and to hear the call, it was just too much.
Capone: In the first edit?
SM: Yeah, in the edit. So now there’s no sound there. But that was a hard thing to not to have in there, because that was four days of sobbing and snotting all over the snow. But I understand. They were like, “If we can hand out Prozac at the end…” It was too much. Maybe we’ll get to see it on the DVD extras.
Capone: I want him to cut it back into the film. I want to see it in context.
SM: You want more?
Capone: Oh, yeah. From him, always.
SM: Isn’t he great?
Capone: When we were done with the Q&A a few weeks ago, I just turned to him and said, “You’re so funny, you don’t even know how funny you are.” The way he stressed over the silliest questions from an audience member. He literally at one point threw his hands up because he couldn’t come up with an answer.
SM: And the pauses.
Capone: Hey, he’s thinking about it. He’s actually contemplating the answers. I think my favorite performance that you’ve ever given was in INTERVIEW [2007], which is a film that very few people saw.
SM: No, it’s my favorite too.
Capone: I love that movie, especially in the job that I have. And I know that the scenario in that story is an extreme, but I learned a lot, because the man who wrote it…and I’m just now realizing he wasn’t even alive when it got made.
SM: He’d been murdered too.
Capone: I’m sensing a trend. But something made him write that, some experience made him write that, as exaggerated as it might be. And as a result, I find myself always trying to put myself in the mindset of the person I’m talking to. “How annoying would this question be? How intrusive would this question be?” I think I read somewhere you said yes to being in that film almost too fast.
SM: I didn’t read the script. I was so excited that Steve Buscemi called me on the phone and said, “I’m directing something, and it’s the two of us in a two hander.” I was 23, I think, and if it was good enough for him, it was certainly good enough for me. And then I read it, and it was such a great character, and such a great part. It’s funny that you say that, but I think that was one of my favorite things that I ever did. We shot the film in nine nights. We were doing 30 pages of dialogue a night. We really shot it like a play with three hand-held cameras. No marks, complete freedom. I remember in the middle of a scene, I just decided to run and like dive onto the sofa, and that was literally just in the mood. I felt like doing it. And one camera was there and captured it. There was complete freedom. I sometimes talk to him about how we should put it on as a play. I’d love to do that.
Capone: It’d be so easy to do. You mentioned before that you have this goal now to work with some great directors, and you have got such a huge line-up for next year. I don’t remember who all the directors are, not to mention like the film you’re making with Ben Affleck [LIVE BY NIGHT, based on the Dennis Lehane novel] right after. Speaking of people who are in town right now…
SM: Is he doing BATMAN V. SUPERMAN?
Capone: I think they’re still here. They were here last week shooting. I don’t know if they made it through the weekend or not. So that’s 2016. But still, I count five films that you’ve already shot for 2015. Are there one or two that you’re particularly excited about seeing?
SM: Ben Wheatley, who directed a film that I did called HIGH-RISE.
Capone: Love Ben Wheatley.
SM: I think he’s one of the most exciting directors, certainly in England. I think it’s big shoes to fill, but I do feel he’s got a touch of Kubrick. But we made this film that’s so dark and dystopian and weird, and I think it could be pretty extraordinary. And then to work with James Gray [THE LOST CITY OF Z], who I’ve always admired. And then obviously to be in a Ben Affleck movie playing such a great role. I’m super excited about all of it.
Capone: I was on a jury at a film festival when Ben Wheatley’s DOWN TERRACE made its premiere, and we gave it the top prize. He’s really great.
SM: What a cool man. I think he’s pretty extraordinary.
Capone: The one you’re doing with Bradley Cooper is a John Wells film. What is that one about?
SM: Bradley is the head chef, and I’m sort of the chef de partie. He’s a chef that has struggled with addiction.
Capone: Oh, this is the Steven Knight script. Yeah, okay. I do know this one. It’s the chef movie that used to be called CHEF but isn’t any more.
SM: Yeah, it’s been around for awhile. It’s called ADAM JONES, I think. It’s about a chef coming back from ruin to try and win a third Michelin star, and assembling a brigade of chefs to achieve that, and then maybe realizing that happiness doesn’t lie in that stuff.
Capone: And then you’ve done the film about Whitey Bulger too.
SM: BLACK MASS, with Johnny Depp. Again, that’s a small role. I got asked by [writer-director] Scott Cooper if I want to come and act opposite Johnny Depp and sound like I’m from South Boston, and age from 28 to 57. And of course, for me, knowing the kind of person I am, I said yes in a heartbeat.
Capone: The film you’re making with Ben Affleck is a period film, right? A prohibition era piece?
SM: Yeah. Boston, prohibition era.
Capone: You don’t too many period films.
SM: I know. By the way, that’s all I want to do. I want full corsets, crowns.
Capone: You have friends that do period films.
SM: I know. Thankfully the James Gray movie and Ben’s are period. I would love people to use their imagination and not see me as completely contemporary.
Capone: When you contemplating taking a role, does fear play a part in the decision-making process? Do you ever say, “I’m not sure I can do that, therefore I have to try.”
SM: I think I go through that self-doubt in almost anything. There are definitely projects that I read and I understand very quickly, and I respond very instinctually, and that tends to be how I work. When I first read a script, in my head, if it’s something I respond to no matter where I go and the journey of discovering it, I tend to come back to that initial reading of it. I get really terrified all the time. I don’t sleep for a bit before I start shooting, and I think that’s a sign to me that I’m doing the right thing, because it terrifies me that I’m chasing something in it, and I find it really fulfilling when you crack something. But I think the fear is a really strong driving force in the creativity. I’d be worried if it didn't frighten me.
Capone: I’ve often heard that the scariest part is not saying yes to something; it’s what happens right after that.
SM: Yeah, yeah. Well, the getting of the job is really the peak, and then it’s like, “Oh god, here we go.”
Capone: Sienna, thank you so much. It was really great to meet you.
