FILM INTERVIEW: SIENNA MILLER & CHANNING TATUM

Talking To G.I. Joe & The Baroness From New Action Flick 'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra'

 

Emmanuel Itier: Can you talk about what it was like having dark hair? Did people treat you differently? Was it fun?

 

Sienna Miller: Everyone on the set knew that it was not naturally my hair, so…

 

EI: I mean in general, when walking around…

 

SM: It’s a wig. It felt really appropriate for the character, and also she was a bit of a villain in the comic book series, so we were definitely kind of matching her look, but it was fun. It was definitely fun.

 

EI: You get different reactions from people, being dark…?

 

SM: I was also top-to-toe clad in leather with MP3 rifles strapped to my thighs, so I did get some funny looks, but it was a wig, so I’d take it off every night.

 

EI: We just heard that the men were lining up when you had the girls’ fighting scene…

 

Channing Tatum: I think everybody showed up that day, right.

 

EI: And they expected some mud and oil, but it didn’t happen?

 

SM: Yes, fighting anyone — I’ve never done an action movie.

 

EI: You never had a gun in your hand?

 

SM: No.

 

EI: What’s it like?

 

SM: I’m normally the one sobbing in the corner in the films I do. The fight was really fun, and I loved Rachel [Nichols] — we got on great. She’s a lot taller and I’m supposed to win the fight, so it was trying to reach her…but I had high heels and so we would be slightly more matched evenly.

 

EI: This is your first big blockbuster…

 

SM: I think I got to a point where I just wanted to make a film that was really entertaining, and I put myself through quite a lot to get the roles that I’d done, and it gets emotionally exhausting after a while. I think I just wanted to have fun.

 

EI: Can you talk about getting fit and the specifics of the action, how much training you did?

 

SM: We did six weeks of fight training, Rachel and I, and then learned mixed martial arts, and then I always do that with the guys who actually trained people for The Matrix, so they’re really fantastic at what they do, learning different kinds of kicks — roundhouse kicks, and just generally getting to a higher level of fitness than I was at, and then actually learning the choreographed fight, which you have to be pretty exact on.

 

EI: How much fun is it actually shooting? Getting that good, does it make you feel powerful?

 

SM: When it goes well and when you’re making every move, and you’re making the noises, it feels amazing. It’s a really satisfying thing. And then if you do something wrong and you accidentally punch someone in the face, then that doesn’t feel so amazing. But also we had to learn how to fire all different types of guns – rifles…

 

EI: On the other hand, it was shot mostly in Downey [California], right?

 

SM: Downey and Prague. Prague for five weeks and Downey for five months. Prague was great. To finish in Prague was really fun.

 

EI: That’s almost a home-run for you; you’re both Europeans on set, right?

 

SM: It was quite a diverse group, actually.

 

EI: Is England still definitely home? Would you move here? How do you feel about England?

 

SM: No, I still live in London. I really love it here. I have a great time when I’m here, but I miss a good pub when I’m away. That’s a joke.

 

EI: What is it that you love about England?

 

SM: I was brought up there, and my dog is there, my cottage is there, my garden’s there that needs pruning… My family is there and it’s home. I’m definitely an English girl, but at the same time, I really love being able to travel and feel very at home here now as well, because I have great friends who are here, and in all the places I spend time — in New York, LA and London, I have people that I really look forward to seeing. So I’m pretty comfortable in the little triangle that I’m in.

 

EI: In London, can you really go for a pub and sit down…?

 

SM: Yeah, in London now is easier because I sued all the paparazzi in one. So in London now I’m like {whistling}. I was the first person to win against the paparazzi, so now it’s illegal for them to stay outside my house.

 

EI: Does it feel quite liberating?

 

SM: It’s night and day. I absolutely have a life now. I can walk around, I can take my niece out to the park and not have 20 men calling me names in front of my little niece… Don’t get me started.

 

EI: You didn’t want to go in this film because it’s a war film — is that true?

 

CT: Yeah, at the beginning.

 

EI: Did you know a bit about your character?

 

CT: For sure. I’d just done Stop Loss, which was a war film, and by the end of it, it turned out to be an anti-war film, and I didn’t really like that about it, so I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to jump into another one, especially a fantastical one, and then, when I read the script, it’s just nothing like a war film. It’s not a war film at all — there are lasers being shot and all these crazy gadgets…

 

EI: What do you mean “a war film”?

 

CT: I would still do it if it was the right one; I just didn’t want to do a fantasy one in time of war. I just didn’t really like that idea at all. But, as far as Duke goes, he is like the ultimate soldier. I grew up with the whole action figure of him, and I ran around playing Duke and playing Snake Eyes — I really wanted to be Snake Eyes. That’s my secret. But it’s an origin story, though — it’s before he gets inducted to the Joes and then probably fights his way up as the second one to be the leader. This is like an origin story of where the Baroness comes from as well.

 

EI: Can you tell us about your character quickly?

 

SM: She’s a villain, she’s vengeful, and she’s got her reasons. As Channing was saying, this is kind of the prequel, so you understand what made her become the way she is.

 

EI: You grew up with acting or the theater in your blood. Was it something you always wanted to do when you were little?

 

SM: My mum ran this school. I’d always wanted to be an actor since I was very young.

 

EI: Were you in school plays and stuff?

 

SM: I was, but I never got the good roles; they’d sort of invent one for me. I remember, in Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat, I was Potiphar’s helper, so I sat on the stage with a big leaf fanning Potiphar’s face and being wasted. No, I’m kind of being funny again, but it probably won’t translate…

 

EI: So now, can you sometimes not hardly believe it? I know you’ve done lots of films now, but is it still thrilling and exciting?

 

SM: It’s very exciting. I’m doing a play on Broadway next, and I’m very lucky to make a living out of doing what I love.

 

EI: Can you say something about your charity work?

 

SM: I’ve just been in Congo with the International Medical Corps, which is an amazing NGO who provide free medical care for internally displaced people. There is kind of a war going on within Congo and many fringe guerilla groups, and it’s a nightmare what’s happening, so a lot of people have left their homes and have fled into these camps that are set up where they can get medical attention and food and nutrition for the starving babies and some of the rape victims. A woman is raped every eight minutes there, and two out of every three women has been raped in the Congo, and it’s an epidemic and a method of war, and they really need help.

 

EI: Was it life-changing?

 

SM: Yes, it was. It was an extraordinary experience. I’m inspired to do something about it, definitely, to try to raise money and awareness as much as possible.

 

EI: This film is shot, from what I understand, ten years into the future. Is that right?

 

CT: Yeah, I’m actually not sure exactly what the year is. It’s done maybe a little bit in the future; I’m not exactly sure how many years, but I think that’s what Stephen [Sommers, director] said — it was somewhere around there.

 

 

EI: What do you hope to do ten years into the future?

 

CT: Anything that we do in this movie, I would love to do, other than bring down the Eiffel Tower — that’s what I don’t want to do.

 

EI: And you, Sienna? Ten years into the future?

 

SM: Just the same — working.

 

CT: Acting, yeah.

 

SM: Acting, I’d love to be…probably a mum; I’d love to have kids.

 

EI: Sienna, what is your favorite bad-ass female actor or role model in history?

 

SM: Ooh, that’s a good question, and a really hard one. Cat Woman. I actually love Cat Woman.

 

CT: Who is the girl in that caveman-type movie where she’s running — she’s beautiful… Raquel Welch. She’s not really tough, but when she’s running — hot and amazingly beautiful.

 

SM: I just think Cat Woman…the idea of being half-cat, half-woman — it’s a great kind of villain-esque persona.

 

EI: Why is it that villain-esque women are always so sexy?

 

SM: I think it’s just the age-old thing of a femme fatale. I don’t think it’s just the villain-esque women that they make sexy in films; I think, in these kinds of films, they want to make people look…

 

CT: Every guy secretly dreams of being thrown around a little bit… I get beat down…

 

SM: But you can’t hit a woman.

 

CT: Oh no, I’m hitting you.

 

EI: Sienna, you look completely stunning, obviously, in the film. Obviously, in the UK, you’re a huge sex symbol. Do you feel confident all the time? Do you ever have insecurities, and if so, what?

 

SM: I don’t know anyone, no matter what they do, who doesn’t have insecurities and feel self conscious, and I think that’s part of being a woman… I embrace my insecurity, but I definitely feel insecure at times.

 

EI: So when you get up in the morning, you don’t always feel fabulous and glamorous?

 

SM: Most mornings I don’t feel fabulous and glamorous when I wake up in the morning. I’d love to meet a woman that does, though. I don’t think I have ever met one.

 

CT: But you look amazing when you wake up in the morning.

 

SM: If you’re on holiday and you’ve got a bit of a tan, it’s easy just to roll out of bed, but living in the climate that we live in in England, in the depths of winter, it’s hard to wake up feeling anything except just cave-like.

 

 

SM: Yes. I think my perspective is pretty good. I realize there are more important things than waking up and feeling like I look good, so I just try and focus on those things as much as possible and not on me.

 

EI: Did you have any input regarding the outfits you wore in this film?

 

SM: Well, she [Ellen Mirojnick] is an amazing costume designer, but she wanted my opinion and I think she was very open to all of us about what we felt comfortable wearing, and she wanted to create the character with you — that’s the kind of wardrobe designer she is.

 

EI: What about the glasses?

 

SM: The glasses are something that’s for the diehard G.I. Joe fans. The Baroness always had glasses on, so it was essential that I kept those glasses on.

 

EI: Can you describe your look in the film?

 

SM: It’s kind of top-to-toe leather. I think that’ll bring the audience fairly well.

 

CT: Agreed. I’d go.

 

EI: And you had to wear one of those super uncomfortable suits?

 

CT: Oh man, super uncomfortable. That’s exactly what they should be called in the movie, because…they look great on screen, but it’s like wearing an extra thick wetsuit that you can’t really move in, and then they tack on all this…

 

SM: Mine was very uncomfortable too. I couldn’t move in it.

 

 

CT: But she had to be in it more than we did, though.

 

SM: They all had chairs around the monitor, and I had this kind of Hannibal Lecter-esque ironing board that I was wheeled around on because I couldn’t sit down, so that was quite amusing.

 

EI: Is a period movie even more uncomfortable, with a corset and all that?

 

SM: This was corseted and leather, and sweating in leather. I’ve done a period film — I filmed Casanova in Venice with a corset and we wanted to be authentic, so they were strapping me, and in Venice, on location, there isn’t air conditioning and you can’t have a fan because of the wig, so that was pretty hard too. But it’s worth it when you see the result, because a corset does pull you in where you want to be pulled in.

 

EI: But does it do anything to you as the character when you’re in costume?

 

SM: With the Baroness, yeah. As you can tell, I don’t have a very good posture. It definitely holds you up, and I wanted Baroness to be quite poised, so it definitely contributes to the performance.

 

EI: Sienna, can you say something about what you do to relax, have fun — the things that you enjoy doing with friends?

 

SM: I love cooking and I’ve got a cottage in the country, and I’m planting a vegetable patch and a garden, so I’ve just become green-fingered recently, and I want my place to be kind of self-sufficient, so that’s what I’ve been working on. That’s been really relaxing, and I love having the balance of that in the life that we lead because it can get a little crazy. Just hanging out with friends and my family and…normal things. I don’t skydive or anything.

 

EI: What do you cook? What’s your favorite recipe?

 

SM: Probably a good old organic roast.

 

EI: What are some new things you have learned?

 

SM: I don’t have a fashion policy. I mean, think we just wanted to design clothes that were really well-made and well-tailored and affordable, not particularly expensive, and I think there’s something for everyone. We’ve got 70-year-old clients and customers, and my mum loves it. It’s hard to think about this summer because we’re designing spring/summer ’10 now – I’m there — and that’s an amazing jumpsuit that I really am looking forward to.

 

EI: Who designed your outfit now?

 

SM: Top Shop.

 

Paramount Pictures' 'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra' is in theaters August 7, 2009.