Sienna Miller: Collapse of society a "strangely feasible concept"

Record ID: 110795

  • Title: Sienna Miller: Collapse of society a "strangely feasible concept"
  • Date: 14th March 2016
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT - MARCH 1, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS, SIENNA MILLER, AND ACTOR, LUKE EVANS, SAYING: Miller: "It was chaos and I think that was the way it was designed. So we were all there in caravans, running around looking really mad..." Evans: "Covered in blood." Miller: "You covered in blood, I had to tell my daughter it was
  • Embargoed: 29th March 2016 12:09
  • Keywords: High-Rise Sienna Miller Luke Evans JG Ballard movie
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATIONS
  • City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Film
  • Reuters ID: LVA00648WIHCD
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The collapse of society is a "strangely feasible concept", according to actress Sienna Miller, who said that she could imagine a future of depleted food supplies and job losses as humans become increasingly replaced by "something artificial". The 'American Sniper' star spoke to Reuters while promoting the dystopian science-fiction movie 'High-Rise' with actor Luke Evans in London this month.
    Based on J.G. Ballard's classic 1975 novel, 'High-Rise' focuses on young doctor Robert Laing (played by Tom Hiddleston), who moves in to a new apartment in a high-rise building just outside of London. Within the building, excessive parties, sex and alcohol are catalysts to the breakdown of complex social dynamics - resulting in the disintegration of Laing and the other residents' sanity. The film, directed by Ben Wheatley ('Kill List'), also stars Miller and Evans as Laing's neighbours, Charlotte Melville and Richard Wilder.
    "It's a strangely feasible concept, that's what's most alarming about it," Miller said.
    "I mean (J. G.) Ballard is quite prophetic and always has been, and obviously the timing is slightly off, but I can imagine food supplies running out, there aren't going to be many jobs because there's something artificial that can do almost anything these days. I mean the future could really look like that, and I think humans under pressure with nothing to do."
    Although the film is an alternate vision of life in 1975, Miller said that she could relate to some of its themes, including "that feeling of claustrophobia".
    "The feeling of being caged and trapped, you know, there are relatable themes I think for everyone. It really represents sort of everyone and I think you can see yourself in each... I could see bits of myself in almost all of the characters there, and also it's very thought-provoking in terms of how you think you would react and I think you can't help but watch this film and think, 'what would I do?'. That feeling of claustrophobia, I mean I could relate to that," she said.
    The increasingly chaotic scenes in the film, from rubbish piling up on the lower floors and fighting between the residents, to a man jumping off one of the balconies on to the bonnet of a car, eventually culminate in Laing sitting in his balcony, eating the architect of the building's dog.
    Miller and Evans said that working on set, of which a key location was a brutalist-style leisure centre in Bangor, Northern Ireland, was also "chaos," with actors "covered in blood" and "running around, looking really mad."
    Laughing, Miller said that she had to tell her daughter that Evans was covered in ketchup, while Evans joked that he "drank quite a lot" to fully get in to Wilder's character.
    In the film, Wilder is a failing documentary filmmaker living on one of the building's lower floors, who begins to make a documentary about the building.
    "He thought on a different level, it was all very weird his thought process, so I just drank a bit more than usual," Evans said.
    In 'High-Rise', the architect, Anthony Royal (Jeremy Irons), had set out to create a utopia within the building.
    Miller and Evans said that they have very different visions of what would be an ideal place to live.
    Miller said she'd want to live in "probably something kind of thatched and cosy and close to people that I loved, with a little rose garden and an old wall."
    "My utopia is calm, tranquility away from everything, which sounds a bit like what you want as well," Evans added.
    'High-Rise' will open in UK cinemas on March 18.
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