Sienna Miller at the premiere of 'American Woman' at ArcLight Hollywood on in Hollywood, California.
In the excellent American Woman, Sienna Miller is at the top of her game.
With a resume that boasts roles in such acclaimed movies as American Sniper, Foxcatcher, and Layer Cake, it’s as if playing Debra, a woman raising her young grandson after her daughter goes missing has been her career eureka moment.
“It was a fully realized script. Aside from plays that I’ve done, I’ve never read anything that was as complete as this and that had as much of a journey,” Miller explained to me over a cup of tea at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills. “Even though the character is the same person, what was most exciting about reading this script was that I was beginning as one woman and ending as another because of what happens to her over 11 years.”
“I’ve supported men through many films where there is that kind of arc, but it was a first for me. I think it was the best role I’ve ever been given.”
She added: “I grew up with a mother and a sister. That was my dynamic. There’s something very familiar in that which I think probably resonated with me. If you scratch at the surface of any family, I think it’s very recognizable. There’s something about American Woman that feels authentic to the familial experience.”
“It’s also the kind of triumph of humanity that you see. There’s real hope in this. This woman gets knocked down hundreds of times, and she gets back up. It’s astounding. Also, the fact that Brad Ingelsby, a man, wrote it, it’s a compassionate piece of work, and he really does understand women.”
The small budget movie is directed by Jake Scott, another man that Miller felt a personal connection with that even she was surprised by.
“I think it’s hard to define or articulate what makes people connect. There is an essence to his character and mine that was compatible, and this shared sensibility,” she explained. “It’s weird because we’re sort of the same person. We see the world in very much the same way. He’s very emotional, very intuitive, sensitive, he’s funny, and he’s English, which was comforting.”
American Woman is another weighty project for Miller who has made a career, whether on screen or the stage in plays such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, out of dramatic work. However, two areas have pretty much eluded her to date – comedy and comic book movies.
“People don’t think I’m funny because I just do drama. I mean, I love heavy acting and heavy roles, but my character in American Woman is quite funny, and maybe people will see that and think. You get typecast,” she lamented. “People have really small imaginations. Do you know what I have to do? I have to host SNL and smash that and then it’ll change. That would be amazing.”
“I read Downsizing, and it made me laugh a lot. It was an amusing concept. That’s the funniest script that I’ve read that I wanted and had meetings about. Comedy doesn’t come my way, but I’m going to do it.”
Aside from the Oscar-winning American Sniper, which grossed $547.43 million at the worldwide box office, her other most financially successful film to date has been G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra – mauled by critics, it grossed $302.5 million globally, unadjusted for inflation, and spawned a sequel.
“I’m sorry,” she said as soon as I mentioned I had seen not only the first movie but also the companion piece. “You saw both of them? Wait, there was a second one? Well, they didn’t bring me back.”
The response was by no means snooty about the genre, but more of an admission of her shortcomings in the movie which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
“There are roles in those kinds of things that would be fun and things that I think my kid would like. I just haven’t been offered that yet. I would be open to it. I know what I can do now, and I know what I can’t do,” she mused. “I shouldn’t have played a villain in a comic book because I’m just not that villainous or tall or strong. I am internally, of course, but I couldn’t fire a gun without blinking. I’m not a particularly physically threatening presence. The whole thing was a bit of a disaster from start to finish.”
“I would I think there are roles I’d love to love to do, and I’m so excited to see Joker with Joaquin Phoenix. I would love to do something like that. I’d want to go darker or play an interesting character. I’d do Marvel as well... because I need to make some money. I’m sure they pay quite nicely.”
With a career that spans almost two decades, Miller’s been asked previously why she hasn’t followed in the footsteps of a number of her peers and moved into the business side of the industry, setting up a production company and producing or directing.
“Maybe I’m lazy?” she replied candidly. “I don't know. For me, it’s sort of gendered, it’s weird. It takes real confidence to feel capable of doing something like that, and I do feel like I’m on the precipice of it. I’m reading books to start optioning, and I love the idea of producing and directing, but I think something about being English and something about being a woman that makes me... I’m daunted by it. The older I get and the more I’ve worked and watched certain producers on certain sets and I think maybe I could do that.”
She added: “I think people’s attitude towards me has probably changed, which is relieving. It’s a hard question to answer because I feel like my intention has remained the same, which is to play characters and disappear into things, but I feel more confident. I feel less needing of approval. I feel braver than I used to.”
What changed that?
“Maturity, probably, or growing up and reclaiming my life in some way,” Miller explained. “I was so exposed in my 20s. I felt like I was doing good work, and I’m proud of it, but it was a battle against a perception that was being manufactured and who I felt that I was. That’s all died down, and I feel, in myself, like an actor.”
“I’m proud of the films that I’ve made, and I’m proud of how hard I work. A lot of it is self-respect, and a lot of it is based on gender too. I feel, however trite this may sound, this moment and this movie have really shifted things, and it’s genuinely empowering.”
American Woman hits theaters on Friday, June 14, 2019.
