Over the past year especially, there’s been some talk of how Sienna Miller has made a serious career comeback, and she’s finally gotten legitimacy as an actress after her public persona took a major hit with her open affair with the still-married Balthazar Getty. While I think Sienna’s comeback is fine, I also think she’s probably in a more tenuous position than people believe. Sienna filmed a supporting role in Black Mass, the Whitey Bulger bio-pic starring Johnny “Scarfy” Depp. Sienna learned how to do an authentic Boston accent, she filmed extensive scenes last year and… now she’s been cut out of the film completely.
“Black Mass” director Scott Cooper confirmed that actress Sienna Miller has been cut from the film. In an interview this week with the Globe, Cooper said that Miller was “fantastic” opposite Johnny Depp as Whitey Bulger’s girlfriend Catherine Greig, but that when it came time to edit, he had to narrow the scope of the story.
“It came down to narrative choices,” Cooper said.
Miller was spotted shooting scenes for “Black Mass” in Quincy last July. Last November, while on tour to promote her film “American Sniper,” she told the Globe that she had worked with a dialect coach to perfect her Boston accent for the local project. “Up until the day before I flew here, I couldn’t do it and it sounded stupid,” she said. “And I was sort of religiously watching every film ever set in South Boston: ‘Good Will Hunting,’ ‘Gone Baby Gone,’ ‘The Town.’ Catherine had a thick accent, so I hope I do it justice.”
Cooper explained that he decided to focus on Bulger’s life before he left Boston, and that the gangster’s years as a fugitive with Greig were “less dramatic.”
“Black Mass” has its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Friday, and will be released in theaters Sept. 18. Stars of the film will be in town Sept. 15 for a private screening at the Coolidge Corner Theatre.
Of course we could take this at face value, that it was just a narrative choice to focus on Whitey Bulger’s early years and that it has nothing to do with Sienna’s performance. But it does feel like there’s something else there, right? Am I hallucinating that? It feels like Sienna’s performance got wiped clean from the film because something more than “narrative choices.” It should be noted that no one else was cut from the film – Dakota Johnson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Julianne Nicholson, Juno Temple, Peter Sarsgaard, Joel Edgerton, Kevin Bacon and more are still featured in the film.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
It almost sounds personal.
That’s what I was thinking.
It does. The director Cooper appears to be married and we all know how Sienna gets down, so maybe they messed around, he caught feelings that she did not reciprocate and he’s taking her out of the movie as revenge. This is all a completely unsubstantiated guess on my part of course.
Or maybe he wanted to start something with her and she said no so he’s taking her out of the movie as revenge.
@Neah23: True, true. Her past rep could have made him think she’d be willing, but she wasn’t and he can’t deal with the rejection.
Remember though that this isn’t too uncommon. Shailene Woodley got entirely cut out of Spider-Man too. Could be personal, but the motives could be legit as well, especially since Sienna isn’t that good of an actress anyway.
There was a blind a month or so about an actress who said no to a director and that there would be consequences. Maybe it was about Sienna and he couldn’t fire her because of her contract but got back at her by cutting her out of the movie.
Lucky Sienna, she’s now making a movie with Charlie Hunnam, sex god on wheels. love him.
and Rob Patt in Ireland.
I’m not in the biz, but wow. Completely removed?! She was either dreadful or something personal happened behind the scenes, maybe.
She’s been scrubbed from the IMDB page as well.
It could be a variety of reasons…
It could be that her part was not making the storyline or film blend well together so they scrapped it.
But sometimes these things CAN be personal, the thing is no one will ever truly know except the person who decided on the cut!
I think Sienna is a good actress. She is starting to get better roles, she was in Sniper. Sienna should just move on, not even discuss it anymore and go to her next project and work. It doesn’t really help her to discuss it, in that industry.
I remember she was picked for a film with Russell Crowe years ago, I think it was Robin Hood, but during the first run through with Sienna,.. Russell felt he needed a woman who could match his physical level, and someone with a more mature quality , so he had Sienna replaced and requested Cate Blanchette for the role.
It probably was just narrative choices there is a lot going on in the movie, we don’t need to read to much into it. The role was tiny in the first place.
And spanning 4 decades if the Craig storyline stayed in. That gets really distorted
It’s entirely possible that someone looked at the rough cut of the movie and said that the full narrative of Whitey’s life just didn’t work for a movie. It may have been a huge shift in tone or pace (or just not as interesting) and they decided to shift the focus and edit accordingly. I’ll admit, I wouldn’t be as interested in the ‘on the run’ part myself.
She just got nominated for an Oscar and he cuts her role? Suspicious.
She’s never been nominated for an Oscar.
These cuts do happen. How suspicious it is really depends on how big the role was.
She wasn’t nominated, just the movies she was in.
No she wasn’t nominated but she received wonderful reviews for Sniper.
She is rebuilding her career to be more substantial. She needs to not start talking about being cut from films, she is finally getting some better roles even if small, even if this small role was cut. She should just move on.
It may have been a narrative choice to cut her part…that’s Hollywood sometimes, BUT if I were her, I wouldn’t be discussing further, no one needs to know she was cut. She should just move on to the next job. Being cut happens.
She never been nominated for an Oscar. The best thing she’s ever been nominated for was a Golden Globe (for a TV miniseries) several years ago.
She was nominated for American Sniper???
No, she wasn’t nominated for American Sniper. Bradley Cooper got an Oscar nom, but not Miller. The only nomination she received for American Sniper was a Best Supporting Actress nom from the Denver Film Critics Society. Hardly on par with the Golden Globes, Oscars or SAGs…
She wasn’t nominated but she got wonderful reviews, A Sniper helped her get back in the game for some better roles, even if they are small. She needs to just let this go and go on to the next job. If I were her agent, I would tell her don’t even talk about it.
Just saying.
To be honest, she was dreadful in American Sniper, so I could actually believe that they cut her part because her acting was subpar.
Oops, y’all are right, I don’t know why I thought she was. I guess the nominations blended together for me this year.
She wasn’t nominated but the FILM was nominated which is inclusive of her role but its more the entire production nomination. I think its what the director is saying at face value. She was actually in two BEST FILM nominated films last year. I also don’t believe its because she had an affair with an actor – WHOA, now that’s never happened in hollywood in all the decades of actresses or actors !! Come on ladies, Go read Rita Morena’s novel who had a long affair with Brando. Or ask Daniel Craig how his career is going because he had an affair while married. Or Julia Roberts. Or Kristen Stewart. Dare we bring up Baffleck or Jude Law. Sexual innuendoes are common and haven’t stopped careers from progressing.
She got wonderful reviews in Am Sniper.
That sounds like an incredibly expensive personal statement to make if it’s true. It takes a lot of time and money to film scenes.
I had a small role in a foreign movie about eleven years ago. Originally I was just an extra, but suddenly I had a few lines and was everywhere – in several scenes, with closeups and everything. Fun! Except after several days of shooting, the director started making passes at me. I said no twice, and was then cut completely. Which was an impressive feat, since I had been circling the (small) room in two scenes from different locations, and both scenes were kept! Also, I was in the audience in a scene from a concert, we were not that many people – and he cut every time the camera started sweeping right where I was. Several times! Never underestimate the petulance of an insulted artist.
This isn’t a small foreign film though – it’s a giant Johnny Depp Oscar bait movie. While I absolutely don’t doubt that directors can be petty, it sounds like this could have legitimately been a narrative choice, as the movie would have likely had a huge shift in tone and pace as they focused on Bulger ‘on the run’. It could have also been that she just plain wasn’t good, or that the scenes weren’t good. What’s more likely: that they cut the movie to focus on one time period instead of 40 years, or that they cut the move solely because the director was miffed that Sienna wouldn’t sleep with him?
I had friend who had a small part in a film with Halle Berry years ago, the friends scene got cut in the final cut, but the weird thing was the director asked my friend to party with him after one night of filming , but my friend said to the director she had finals at University_NY(which she did) and simply did not have the time free to go partying, because she had to be up early in the morning and it was already a night shoot as it was. Her scene got cut…but she never knew why..but it may have been personal…or maybe her part just wasn’t needed.
Some smaller roles or parts which are not necessary for the film simply get cut or sometimes it can be personal. End of.
That sounds like she ticked someone off royally. If they could eliminate her character like that, why write it in the first place? Or was it really that tiny?
Yes it does sound suspicious particularly as he’s commented publicly on it in an almost pre emptive way. Her performance is either that bad or something else, something more gossipy. Could be a fling gone bad- wouldn’t be the first time.
Sienna’s always had an attitude problem/massive ego. She’s well known for pulling the ‘dont you know who i am’.
I do think it was nothing more than her role just didn’t mesh with the final format of the story, rather than a more salacious reason. That didn’t stop a small, vindictive part of my soul from doing a dance of joy when I heard she’d been cut out of the film though. At some point her karma deficit had to catch up to her.
I find her to be pretty, but so entirely vanilla and forgettable-if not annoying-in every role I’ve ever seen. And I will forever side-eye her for dissing Pittsburgh when she made “Factory Girl” years ago (and for her affair with Getty-that was really badly handled on both their parts). So, I’m completely okay with her not having a career.
I agree with you. I also think that “vanilla” aspect of her translates to her roles. She just doesn’t do much for me
I loved Factory girl.
Yeah, I don’t know about that “narrative choice”…Catherine Grieg was his main girlfriend from the 70s on and was the one who was hiding in California with him for 15 years or so when he was on the FBI’s most wanted list. That’s a pretty big character for the director to decide didn’t fit into the narrative arc of his life story…
^This. Even if the narrative changed, wouldn’t the director want some sort of epilogue that would have recounted those fifteen years? Excluding Grieg seems odd to me, too.
Not really… do you expect an epilogue from every movie?
He had other women in the 70s and 80s and Cathy wasn’t even his first choice to run away with
But it’s also a matter of timing and running time.
With amazing performances by other actors and a ton of great footage sometimes the real movie is discovered in the editing process. Sometimes you have to leave stuff on the cutting room floor to make the story more cohesive. My guess is it isn’t personal to Sienna specifically but more that there are more compelling male-driven story arcs they did not want to cut. Not unheard of
I t may really just be a narrative choice in the end.
Dakota Johnson’s character and Sienns’s character were at different periods of Bulger’s life, more than 20 years apart. The scenes Cumberbatch shot were in the 70s, the Lindsay era of Bulger’s life. It sounds like they’re focusing on the 70s and 80s and Bulger’s rise to power, not the Cathy-era when Bulger went into hiding because a President finally decided to take down the gangster instead of trying to use the gangster to take down his politician brother
Yikes… that happened to her in Foxcatcher too. She is talented, but she must not be pulling something off.
I hated that movie!!
so did I. It was torture to sit through.
Oh my gosh, I just watched it for the first time a few days ago. I love oscar bait movies, but I hated Foxcatcher. I can’t believe how acclaimed it was. I felt like every scene dragged on way too long. Should’ve been about two hours shorter. Just the Mark Ruffalo scenes.
She had scenes in Foxcatcher. She may have her screentime reduced, but she still appeared in the movie.
I just don’t find her to be that good of an actress. Maybe she’s getting cut out/reduced screen time because the directors are finding her performances lacking once they’re putting the movie together and seeing that she can’t keep up with these high-powered ensembles.
She isn’t talented though, thats the thing. This kind of thing has happened to legitimately talented people like rachel weitz and Jessica Chastain so its not always a reflection on talent mind you.
She hastalent..
I think her it girl and tabloid romps didn’t do her any favors and she’s trying to rebuild her career or image, that’s all.
Nothing wrong with being vanilla. imo
Wow. Sienna is a far more interesting and better actress than Dakota Johnson. Sounds sketchy to me.
no she isn’t. she’s quite forgettable.
Dakota Johnson is forgettable too
She is a much better actress than Dakota. imo
Does this happen often? I don’t mean small parts that would appear in 5 minutes of the movie but bigger parts with actors/actresses of Miller’s … “name”? They either shot a 5-hour-movie that needed to be seriously cut down or something is off.
I don’t know if it happens often, but Terrance Malick is one director famous for cutting actors with substantial roles completely out of his movies. He cut a bunch of actors out of The Thin Read Line.
I don’t think that Miller had a big part in the movie. Dakota has a bigger part.
It seems so wasteful to cut the stuff after it was shot. Wouldn’t it make more sense to cut that section of the script before it was even shot, if it truly was a “narrative” choice?
You’d think it was pretty obvious, right? But then again, it could have been that it’s something that worked better on the page, or perhaps as they started filming the 70s and 80s stuff just popped better, or even that it was a matter of running time. Look at X Men’s last movie – they did a massive, expensive sequence where they had to break into the Sentinel controlled X Men Academy, and the entire scene ended up being cut (and including Anna Paquin’s whole part). Sometimes this stuff happens.
Well, most “girlfriend” parts in movies are disposable, so I am not surprised. Maybe she didn’t put out?
Cool. Looking forward to see the movie and Johnny “Legend” Depp’s Oscar-worthy looking performance.
Is that sarcasm?
I can’t speak for Jasmine, but crazy as it may seem and hard as it maybe to find there are some of us on this site that actually like him. I know the general consensus around these parts makes it seem like that can’t be possible, but there are some of us that are his fans.
Why would that be sarcasm? Depp is a certified legend and his performance is highly anticipated and looks incredible.
I nearly had to leave the cinema during thr preview for the film because it was painful to sit through. Depp is a joke of an actor these days…. he should just retire! He can’t play any non-campy hammed up over the top roles anymore… so sad.
I love Johnny Depp, hope he gets another Oscar nomination if this film is Oscar worthy.
Johnny Depp is one of the most talented actors in the business, regardless.
These things happen sometimes, especially with actors who have small parts.
It might not be anything personal since roles can be cut from films and there has not been any rumours of difficulties. But who knows.
Somehow, it feels personal to me. I might be wrong, of course. Also, now that we’re questioning Sienna’s acting abilities (and I have no dog in that race since I’ve never seen her in anything), I’d like to also question Johnny’s acting abilities. I think he is so overrated, even back in the day. I’ve never seen a performance of his that was great. Maybe people are conflating his pretty boy looks and performance. I didn’t like him in Charley and the Chocolate Factory or Edward Scissorhands. He was okay in Chocolat, but playing a dreamy, adorable stud is probably entirely in his acting range. In What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? the performance that really grabbed me was Leonardo DiCaprio’s. I’ve never seen his pirate movies. He loves to play the weird and outrageous characters and maybe those choices mask his true acting ability (which is probably average at best). He has been very fortunate and must have very good people working for him. That is all.
It’s cool you don’t like him. That’s your right and your business. Hell, I don’t get Jennifer Lawrence or Bradley Cooper hype either. I personally like him as an actor and think he has talent which he has unfortunately been squandering of late and hope that Black Mass will be a return to form.
That’s all just your opinion. I don’t think you’ve seen enough movies with him. How can people conflate his pretty boy looks with his performances when he hides them most of the time? Weird and outrageous characters are not exactly easy to play. He is not masking his amazing acting abilities by playing roles that require a lot of emotion and depth behind the surface. He is incredible in Benny and Joon, Ed Wood, Dead Man, Donnie Brasco, Blow, Finding Neverland, Sweeney Todd, The Libertine, Secret Window, and of course the Pirates movies which you should check out. All of these hard performances required a lot of great talent.
Donny Brasco was very good, if you don’t like camp acting. But the acting talent changes. Look at Tom Cruise. He was incredible in Born on the 4th of July, very good in the Firm or first Mission Impossible, Few good Men, etc. , but now he lost all his talent. He doesn’t act anymore.
He was good in Finding Neverland thou accent was a bit dodgy and in Leaving Las Vegas. He deliberately sought out particular roles to get away from the teen hear throb.
He can act but lets face it he’s not really at the level of say Eddie Redmayne or Michael Keaton who do have Oscar level talent.
For sure,Depp never was as bad as Eddie in Jupiter Ascending
Well, it’s funny how he doesn’t have the “Oscar level talent” that Keaton has yet he got 3 Best Actor nominations before Keaton got his very first nod this year.
Oh, and playing obvious Oscar-baity roles does not make Redmayne better than Depp.
I don’t think it’s suspicious at all. The director decided to cut down the scope of the film and not include his later life. It happens sometimes, especially when there’s enough to footage for a much longer movie.
I read comments from people who seemed to watch a test screening with her part still there and they already commented at the moment that her part could be cut down from the film. It looks like it was really notorious that the part with her and Bulger running to live as fugitives was a change of tone.
And several months ago there were other test screening, without her part in there already, and the comments said this movie is better than “The Departed” and only 2 hours of running time.
To cut her off was a win win for the production. They did the movie shorter and it looks like more exciting
Hope Johnny makes a well-received movie and gets nominated for something. He looks like himself in the Dior ad, with Don Juan de Marco hair and charm and intensity. He has buried his bracelets there too!! Maybe his midlife crisis is over? If not, getting professional recognition might help.. Sienna is in my head someone not that bright and pretty selfish, but at the same time heartbreakingly easy to lose your head and heart to. So she could have broken someone’s heart, and he is out for revenge. But. If she and Johnny had an amazing chemistry, she wouldn’t be cut, so I guess they hadn’t. She could be cut out from the movie without it hurting the quality of the story.
Black Mass could resurrect Johnny’s career but he has to follow it up with another good film. A good film followed by another Mortdecai type film won’t help.
I think there are people, like me, who always loved Johnny, no matter how many turkeys he turned out. His box office appeal for me was more based on the genre of the movie than his previous successes/flops. I just skip what I don’t like, but still just as willing to go and see his next work. What was a crisis for me, were not his Mortdechai &co movies, but his awful scarves, bracelets, drunken presenting, his obvious trying to reproduce his Cry-baby vibe in photos with Amber. It was pathetic and ruined it for me. I want him to be less self-conscious pathetic midlife crisis case and more about acting again. Then I won’t care if after an Oscar he does another Tim Burton circus.
Glad I am not the only who liked Depp in the Dior commercial. I loved the whole concept of that video.
I thought it was the most embarrassingly cheesy advertisement I have ever seen….right up there with the horrible Brad Pitt Chanel fiasco. I mean burying jewelry! Johhny looked like Johnny in real life, a man desperately fighting old age by trying to look like a young rebel. It didn’t work for him.
She can’t act her way out of a paper bag
I wonder what that would look like.
I tend to believe him. I think Sienna is a very good actress and don’t believe she would turn in a bad performance. I don’t believe it would be personal, as ultimately the director cares most about the integrity of the story, not some vendetta and scratching a performance out for spite if it was necessary to the film he was making.
Many girlfriend parts are disposable, like said on here already. In editing, they went a certain way. I believe him, that it was a matter of paring down the story in a way that made the film work.
I have zero interest in this movie and I really don’t think it will do well – but – I wonder if she was better than Johnny in their scenes and he wanted her cut?
You’re joking, right?
She had her day in the sun with Layercake, now it’s time to go away.
Glad she’s not going to stink up the screen in Black Mass.
I find it hard to believe that not having the hang of the accent till the last minute and being cut from the movie weren’t related. Maybe they did a test screening in Boston and everyone trashed her lilt. As I’m sure everyone learned from the stunt baby in American Sniper, a cheesy element like that can derail all the positive coverage.