Eyes on Hollywood, Sienna Miller shuns fame

01/02/2007 19:42

By Christine Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - After being hounded by tabloids about her private life, especially her relationship with ex-fiance Jude Law, Sienna Miller wants the focus to be on her acting and burgeoning career.

The New York-born 25-year-old English actress has her biggest role yet in the film biography "Factory Girl", which is being released in the United States this week.

She plays the title role -- pop artist Andy Warhol’s short-term muse Edie Sedgwick, who grabbed attention in the 1960s displaying an outlandish fashion style while hanging off the arm of a celebrity.

"It would be nice if the focus was on something other than my personal life," the blond-haired, blue-eyed Miller, wearing a sweater over a floral baby-doll dress, black tights and boots, told Reuters.

"Everything else that is created and hyperbolized is not my doing, it’s the circumstances, it is the way my life turned out, but I wouldn’t change one bit of my life."

Media attention on Miller soared after Law, who she appeared with in the 2004 film "Alfie", publicly admitted to an affair with his children’s nanny. She said that hype "is not really a reflection of me or who I am".

In the past 12 months she’s turned her attention to working on five movies, including "Factory Girl". The film .....continued below

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exposes Sedgwick’s short-lived fame derived from an intense friendship with Warhol that blossomed in The Factory, his New York art studio.

Unlike Sedgwick, who died of a drug overdose at 28, Miller intends to have a long career in Hollywood -- "I would like to be doing this when I am 50 and 60" -- and unlike Warhol, she said she is not fascinated with fame.

"It has never been about achieving fame. I think that is something that gets put upon me," she said, adding that she was uncomfortable with the attention.

"Factory Girl" follows Sedgwick’s falling out with Warhol after meeting a fictional musician based on Bob Dylan. The film’s director, George Hickenlooper, acknowledged that Dylan objected to film’s portrayal of the character.

Hickenlooper also said the film had trouble getting financed, in part due to Miller’s unknown acting skill. She had made only three previous films.

"We were all passionate about having Sienna but she is not Meryl Streep," Hickenlooper said at a news conference.

Early reviews say the film lacks structure but Miller has been positively received.

Miller, who is known for her ’60s-inspired Bohemian fashion sense, said some people, including Sedgwick’s brother, saw a natural "free-spiritedness" similar to Sedgwick’s edgy glamour. In the film Sedgwick is shown suffering from drug addiction and sexual abuse as a child.

"I certainly didn’t abuse myself, I am far too grounded for that ... no heroin, no," Miller said of preparation for the role. "It was very difficult to feel what she felt. I have never been sexually abused and I have never had a problem with drugs."

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