Miller's Tale
Total Film|September 2019

Having spent the past few years quietly impressing in supporting roles, Sienna Miller is back in a full-strength leading role in poignant drama American Woman. She tells Total Film about being front and centre again, shying away from blockbusters, and why those ‘wife-at-home’ roles were important.

Matt Maytum
Miller's Tale

It’s a grower, not a shower,” says Sienna Miller with a grin, referring to her upcoming film, American Woman. That cheeky assessment is fair though, both in terms of the expectation-defying, decade-spanning plot that gets its claws into you slowly, and the film’s own journey. The independent drama was shot two years ago and has toured the festival circuit (Total Film first saw it at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018).

It’s July 2019 when we meet Miller at The Electric members’ bar in Notting Hill. Hunkered down on a sofa, she’s softly spoken but candid, and clearly still enthused about her experience on American Woman. After a string of impactful but screentime-light supporting roles in a slew of heavyweight films (Foxcatcher, American Sniper, High-Rise, The Lost City Of Z), she’s in almost every frame of American Woman, shouldering a demanding leading role. “I think I have been looking for [this type of role] my entire career,” she says. “They’re kind of few and far between.”

In the film, which is directed by Jake (son of Ridley) Scott, Miller plays Debra, a working-class single mother, who’s also a grandmother at 31 years of age. Deb’s scratching out an existence in a small Pennsylvania town, and her somewhat irresponsible life choices draw disapproval from her mother (Amy Madigan) and sister (Christina Hendricks). Everything changes when Deb’s daughter disappears. The film follows Deb for the next 11 years but doesn’t tread the path you might expect: this isn’t a standard missing-person thriller.

This story is from the September 2019 edition of Total Film.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the September 2019 edition of Total Film.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM TOTAL FILMView All
Dune: Part Two – Desert Power
Total Film

Dune: Part Two – Desert Power

Like a colossal sandworm racing towards the rhythmic beat of a thumper, Dune: Part Two is almost upon us. And this time, it's war. Total Film returns to Arrakis with writer/director Denis Villeneuve and his (inter) stellar cast to spill the spice on the sci-fi event of the year.

time-read
10+ mins  |
February 2024
Here Be Dragons
Total Film

Here Be Dragons

DAMSEL – Millie Bobby Brown fights fire with fire in the bedtime story that’s finally being told the right way.

time-read
4 mins  |
February 2024
Back to School
Total Film

Back to School

MONSTER – Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest takes us into a child’s viewpoint once again...

time-read
2 mins  |
February 2024
JESSIE BUCKLEY
Total Film

JESSIE BUCKLEY

Catapulting to fame over the last five years, instinctive Irish actor Jessie Buckley has wowed in films (Wild Rose, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Men) and TV (Chernobyl, Fargo S4). She was Oscar-nominated for The Lost Daughter, won a Laurence Olivier award for Cabaret and now she's spewing wild profanities at Olivia Colman in hilarious period comedy Wicked Little Letters.....

time-read
10+ mins  |
February 2024
Marty me
Total Film

Marty me

Thelma Schoonmaker has edited every Martin Scorsese movie since 1980's Raging Bull. The three-time Oscar winner tells Total Film all about their legendary relationship, and why movies like Good Fellas, The Departed and Killers of the Flower Moon are a cut above...

time-read
7 mins  |
February 2024
FRISKY BUSINESS
Total Film

FRISKY BUSINESS

Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan star as queer friends being chased by dumb male criminals in Drive-Away Dolls, a road movie/ romantic comedy/crime caper by husband-and-wife team Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke. Total Film hitches a ride with the directors and stars to talk dark laughs, dim crims and dildos…

time-read
9 mins  |
February 2024
JACK MY LIFE IN PICTURES BLACK
Total Film

JACK MY LIFE IN PICTURES BLACK

Over the years he's made us laugh as rockers, animated critters and videogame avatars. As he prepares to go full Dragon Warrior again in the fourth Kung Fu Panda movie, JACK BLACK riffs on some of his biggest hits with Total Film

time-read
8 mins  |
February 2024
DOG DAYS
Total Film

DOG DAYS

Pablo Berger's animated silent’ movie brings the noise.

time-read
2 mins  |
February 2024
BEHIND PARADISE
Total Film

BEHIND PARADISE

RED ISLAND A coming-of-age-tale that creatively explores France’s colonial past.

time-read
2 mins  |
February 2024
THE SIXTH SENSE
Total Film

THE SIXTH SENSE

MADAME WEB Dakota Johnson brings wit and grit to Sony’s clairvoyant-superhero-origin-story thriller.

time-read
2 mins  |
February 2024