Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Sienna Miller is apologizing for Juuling.
She pulls the vape out of her bag and laughs as she raises it to her lips.
I do this everywhere.
Its cucumber, she says.
Its almost extinct, so Im buying it up.
She takes an elegant, discreet pull.
At least Im not smoking anymore.
Its one of many playful references Miller makes to her life in the mid-aughts during our conversation.
I did feel judged by people.
Like, Silly little girl, you asked for it, she says.
I felt paranoid and scared the entire time.
At a certain point, my life was completely unmanageable.
I had some of that fire in me, says Miller, laughing.
It doesnt normally happen in a film.
This feels like a different kind of redemption.
There was something so interesting to me about her earning respect through her resilience and bravery.
It was so tragic, so rich.
I really wanted to do it.
So I drove to meet [director] Jake [Scott], and I was really scrambling.
He said by the time Id sat down, hed cast me because I was absolute chaos.
I had the chaos down.
I was stressed about it, but it was physicality, ultimately.
How does she move?
In the beginning, she never stopped moving, a whirling dervish hopping around.
Jake gave me complete freedom, so I was sitting on counters, whacking people over the head.
Then she emerges at the end with a real stillness.
We werent shooting in order, so I prepped for about a year.
How did you keep track of where she was in each scene?I cant explain it.
I meditated so much that it was just really in me.
Without sounding like a wanker [groans],its impossible to talk about acting.
Because I do think its noble, in my mind.
And I love it, its what I do.
But yeah, if I wanted to cry, it was there.
If I had to laugh, it was right there.
I could switch gears.
Normally, its like, sitting in a corner with Sigur Ros and really traumatizing myself.
But I did a lot of work.
If youre that prepared, its like a play, which Ive done a lot of.
Its very solo, solipsistic work.
I love the sort of lightly trashy early-aughts outfits you wear in this.
Deb came to life in that wardrobe.
Those T-shirt dresses and push-up bras.
I really wanted a thong sticking out of my low-slung jeans.
You dont really see it, but its there.
I still have it.
Everyone in the early naughties was, like, thong out.
Yeah, I definitely did that back then.
Ive only recently banned them from my wardrobe.Theyre so uncomfortable.
My daughter is like, Why is your bum out?
Im like, Thats a very good question.
I have no idea.
[Some light spoilers forAmerican Womanfollow.]
The ending absolutely devastated me, when she leaves her family behind and drives away.
Can we talk about why that happens?A lot of people have said that!
Why would she leave?
I wish we had the budget; we were going to do a sort of road trip.
But you kind of get it in that moment, in the car.
Her relationship with her sister Cath [played by Christina Hendricks] is so sacred.
But she has to move away from where the tragedy happened and begin her new life.
I imagine shes now in a crystal shop and shes a lesbian.[Laughs.]
There was an Andy [Warhol] in that.
There were scenes I wasnt in.
This is the first time Ive been in every single scene of a film.
I really liked it.
Id spent so much time trying to make the most of things that werent quite there.
Im 37 years old.
Im ready to do that.
I wont do that anymore.Foxcatcherchanged a lot of things for me, though.
I had more to do but not quite enough.
But I was in an incredible successful and well-loved film.
So yes, Id do that again.
Lets talk aboutThe Loudest Voice.
Tell me about the face situation.
You look … extremely different.[Laughs.
]A lot of prosthetics.
I flap it at people.
But yeah, [Beth and I] look very different.
And I wanted to do that.
To look at yourself and not see yourself was really liberating.
Certainly in film, I often dont wear makeup or look glamorous.
I dont look like myself inFoxcatcherorAmerican Sniper;nobody recognizes me from those movies.
And in this, the crew never met me, only Beth.
Id start four hours before everyone got there.
On the last day, meeting these people Id worked with for five months, was so funny.
But the prosthetics did make me brave, without self-consciousness because I was masked.
Oh God, yeah.
I was a woman in Hollywood![Laughs.
How grateful I was just to be in the room.
If I walked into a room with seven men, or actors, Id feel inferior.
And I still struggle with it.
Does it feel like its gotten any better?Definitely.
Whatever this moment is, its significant for sure.
I got paid for the first time to act, which was a great feeling.
What do you mean?I got paid, not equal, but close to what the man got.
Versus 90 percent less, which is the majority.
Youd be shocked at the difference.
So I understand why these men felt really great for a long time.
Because I do now!
This is a high-class problem; I get paid well.
But the disparity is alarming.
Now theres more transparency.
I can ask the questions, I can say no.
I wouldnt tolerate anything that was covert or nasty.
Id just tap into the army of vocal women behind every one of us.
You were one of the first actresses to really speak out about paparazzi aggression, privacy, misogyny.
I couldnt function in that world.
It was impossible to live a life and tolerate that.
So I sued them and got this law changed, a harassment law against paparazzi.
If Im in London, where Im going tonight, I can expect privacy.
When pushed, I will fight back.
I just made that connection Murdoch features heavily inThe Loudest Voice.Another reason I wanted to do it!
I wanted to be in the room with the belly of the beast.
Its sort of a great fuck-you to Rupert, starring in this.Your words.[Laughs.]
There wasnt social media, not that I engage with that now.
These grassroots uprisings couldnt spread.
I felt very alone.
I felt very vilified.
And it definitely perpetuated toxic behavior.
Youre in a toxic spiral.
I had to get out of it because it was dangerous.
The narrative around you was so pervasive.Yeah, it was.
I became famous before I had a film out; that was where it started.
Do you feel youve fully gotten out of it now?I do, completely.
It was a battle against what I was famous for.
Is it because of your boyfriends?
Because you wear nice clothes people like?
That became much louder than the work I was doing, work that was good.
But I didnt help.[Laughs.]
I didnt mediate my behavior.
I grew up going to school in the 90s, watching people behaving appallingly.
I was like,Oh, thats what you do.
When you become well known, you go out, you have fun.
Kurt Cobain and the like.
During my research, I found an article about you from 2014, bya male writer.
Did that sort of thing frustrate you at the time?At the time, no.
In hindsight, it bothers me.
But its another thing you just accept.
Its the way things were.
The latent sexism … the message is so clear.
It made me angry.
I got an apology that was a centimeter long.
Its out there; no apology will take it away.
And it listed people Id never slept with in the opening.
It makes you go totally weak.
It takes any power you have.
I was dreadful in the play, and I blame them.
Not my fault![Laughs.
I dont know if there was one moment.
Maybe the year I didFoxcatcherandAmerican Sniper serious work in serious films.
People like a comeback; that was a moment.
But I dont pay attention.
And I have my life, which feels very small and sweet and not frenzied.
I dont think people are that interested in me, which is great.
How does that feel to hear?Like Im in love with Amy!
Obviously, thats about the nicest thing you could ever have somebody say about you.
There was also a littlecampaignto get you as Captain Marvel before Brie Larson was cast.
Did you ever audition?Are you kidding?!
Who are these lovely people?
I literally dont know about this.
There was a campaign for me?
Yes!Four people?
[Laughs] I would have loved to do that.
