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Below: the actress
plays Nina Fawcett,
wife of famed explorer
Percy Fawcett, in
new biopic The
Lost City of Z.Sienna and her
daughter Marlowe,
five, are forging a new
life in New York (right).Today, Miller still shares her world with
Sturridge for the sake of Marlowe. Calling him
“my best friend in the entire world”, they regu-
larly stay over at each other’s houses to ensure
a stable home-life for their daughter. I ask if
Marlowe has any interest in acting. “She’s show-
ing signs, regrettably,” Miller says, half-joking.
“You’ve got to admit, Mum gets to dress up in fun-
ny clothes and play with people all day. That’s got
to look like quite a lot of fun.”
She’s aware that actor-parents
often say they’d “do everything to
dissuade” their kids from a life of
auditions and rejection, but she
doesn’t agree. “I haven’t had that
bad of an experience doing this job.
I quite love it. I don’t know how
conducive it is to a simple, easy
life. But I’ve always been drawn to
a bit of struggle, and therefore it’s a
good output for me in that sense.”
That’s Miller in a nutshell.
What advice would she give her younger self?
“Erm ... how long have you got?” Miller quips,
laughing uncontrollably. “There was no telling
me what to do!” Not even work hard for your
dreams? She looks down at her feet then looks up,
catching my eye. “I’m more rounded. I can’t really
look back and regret things. Life is experience.”
Another pause. “I’ve had experiences.”Working with the film’s esteemed writer-
director James Gray (The Yards) is yet another
milestone in her career. Filmmakers all talk to
each other, she says, and word travels. “The more
allies you have with power, the more successful
you’re likely to become.” Two months ago, she took
a meeting with Spielberg, the first time they’d met
since she was 11. Did she mention the autograph?
“I didn’t bring it up!” Miller says shyly. “I thought,
‘If I work with him, I’ll tell him.’”
Things couldn’t be more different from her
early years, when she burst onto the scene in
2004’s Alfie opposite Jude Law. She quickly
became more famous for being his girlfriend
than an actress of note. Then, her personal life
became a soap opera after she split from Law
when he cheated on her with his children’s nanny.
The pair reunited for a few months in 2009,
but constant pursuit by the tabloids left her dam-
aged goods in Hollywood.
“To a certain degree, the level of scrutiny was
really unhelpful. I’d go up for things with great
people and they’d say, ‘It was the
best audition but there’s so much
noise around you.’” Even a Gold-
en Globe nomination for playing
Hitchcock starlet Tippi Hedren in
The Girl didn’t quell the hysteria.
At the time, the scandals
seemed relentless: a rumoured
fling with her Layer Cake co-star
Daniel Craig during her time with
Law was followed by an affair with
actor Balthazar Getty, a married
father-of-four. “I was really well-known for the
wrong reasons,” she sighs. “It was very much out
of my control and it managed to take over every-
thing.” Rather than retreat, she came out fighting,
filing lawsuits and taking media outlets to court
for harrassment. “I basically sued everyone for
a decade!” she laughs.
Gossip about Miller’s private life has not dis-
sipated. She’s been snapped with Bennett Miller,
who directed her in wrestling drama Foxcatcher.
There were even “predictable and silly” rumours
about Brad Pitt (whose company Plan B produced
The Lost City of Z).“I can’t really
look back and
regret things.
Life is
experience.
I’ve had
experiences”The Lost City of Z premieres at the Melbourne
International Film Festival (August 3-20) and in
limited cinemas nationally on August 24.ART + COMMERCE/RAVEN & SNOW; MEGA AGENCY AUSTRALIAINTERVIEW