Remember when Jude Law made headlines for cheating on fiancee Sienna Miller with his kids’ nanny? Well, so does the New York-born actress — and the experience ended up informing her “cathartic” performance as a wronged woman in Netflix’s “Anatomy of a Scandal.”
“It was familiar terrain, because I’ve experienced some of the things that she experienced. And the feelings were familiar,” London-raised Miller, 40, told Elle UK of playing a woman whose husband, a Member of Parliament, is accused of raping his former mistress.
Her character’s “way of dealing with what’s thrown at her is the absolute antithesis of what my way is,” continued Miller. “And so, in a kind of twisted, tourism sense, I just wanted to see how it would feel to react differently. I know that sounds weird, because you’d think it would be deeply unpleasant to sit in that space.”
While filming one particularly emotional scene, Miller recalled that she tried to “remember and put myself back in that position,” adding with a laugh, “I really must need help, if this is what I enjoy doing!”
Miller noted though that there’s a “cathartic” aspect “about spending time in an ugly space that’s familiar. And maybe reclaiming it? I don’t know what the psychology of it is. But there is something where maybe you can substitute a memory with something else.”
A “deeply ashamed and upset” Law — who acted alongside Miller in the 2004 remake of the 1966 film, “Alfie” — in 2005 released a statement expressing his “sincere regret” for having cheated on Miller with Daisy Wright while filming “All the Kings Men.”
“There is no defense for my actions which I sincerely regret and I ask that you respect our privacy at this very difficult time,” the 49-year-old “The Nest” star, said at the time.
After going their separate ways in 2006, the couple rekindled their spark in fall 2009 while each was living in New York — but not before Miller and Balthazar Getty shared their own affair while the “Brothers and Sisters” star was married. Miller and Law split again in early 2011.
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