“I was so relieved to be in charge of a story for once”
[theq&a] Sienna Miller talks about landing the role of a lifetime in missing-child drama american Woman
When Empire sits down to speak with sienna Miller in a small room at the electric Cinema, one of London’s oldest, we find the actor in a nostalgic mood for ramshackle fleapits. “i used to like the Coronet because you could smoke fags there,” she admits. “it would be disgusting now, but felt very ’50s at the time.” the London-raised actress has been earning rave reviews for her new drama American Woman, in which she plays Deb, a working-class Midwestern mother whose teenage daughter suddenly disappears. now back on home turf, Miller reveals the hard work that went into this rare starring role.
How do you begin to approach a character as complex as Deb? i spent a lot of time thinking the unthinkable — what it would be like to lose a child. But that’s not what defines Deb. it’s the worst thing imaginable to experience as a parent, but the film is more about what keeps her going. i loved that bravery: being unlikeable and not caring. it was about falling over and getting back up again. i wanted to begin the film as someone that you might not respect who then goes on to earn that respect, which is quite a rare thing for a woman to be able to do in a film. Men get to do it all the time.
How did you find the Midwestern accent? i can’t do it anymore! it was a lot of hard work. it sounded to me like it’s southern, but it’s really not. i had a dialect coach who would send me phonetic scripts and i had tapes of people from that region talking that i’d walk around listening to. i don’t find accents too difficult, but you have to get to the point where you forget that you’re doing one.
Well, it’s a chatty role.
Yes, she doesn’t shut up. ever.
What were your initial conversations with Jake Scott, the director about? And did those conversations change over the course of the shoot? i mean, we both cried in the first meeting. he’s a total love, and completely invested in it as a story from an emotional perspective, which made me have real confidence in him.
What spurred the tears? i think just trying to talk about this woman. how she manages things and how she gets things wrong. i think Jake and i probably both saw a little bit of us [in her]. there’s something about that resilience — being misunderstood and getting things wrong and stumbling and getting back up. her courage was moving. Also, i was very daunted by the idea of putting myself in the mindset of somebody who’s lost a daughter, because i’m a mother of a daughter. [Jake’s] a parent. it was very moving, talking about that.
Did you speak to any women who have undergone similar situations for the film? there was a woman called Vicki Kelly. the film is dedicated to her son, tommy. she was really the key person for us in terms of reference. and was so generous and available for late-night calls before certain scenes. she was my port of call, and she loved the film when she saw it. then, on the internet, there are a million press conferences with parents who are in that raw early stage of not knowing what’s happened. there’s the Madeleine Mccann documentary. there’s tons of stuff available. it was really depressing to sit in.
Did you feel any pressure around taking on a such a challenging, meaty role? i didn’t find it challenging. i was so relieved to be in charge of a story for once. to not have to be making the most of small moments that might add up to being something memorable. it’s ultimately a little bit harder work. Obviously, it’s a collaboration and there are incredible other people, but you know the story really is from Deb’s perspective. i’ve never had this experience, in my entire career, really. i loved it because i could map it out in a way that made sense to me. i felt capable of doing that at this point.
american woman is in cinemas from 11 october