An Actress is Born: Sienna Miller's Meaty Role as Edie Sedgwick in Factory Girl

In Esquire magazine, Sienna Miller described her recent venture as Edie Sedgwick in the biopic Factory Girl as her first "proper fucking role." And so it would seem if we consider her resume. She was a self-destructive sex pot in Alfie, a free-spirited sex pot in Layer Cake, and then a female renegade in Casanova. While these adjectives still describe her recent role as the infamous Edie, the Weinstein Co.'s Factory Girl offered Ms. Miller more range than any of her recent films. If the tabloids loved Miller for her style and adulterous ex-fiancé, the media can now lavish her with their accolades instead of pity or scorn.

Miller and Guy Pearce, who plays Andy Warhol, deliver impeccable portrayals of the muse and the manipulative pop artist respectively. Both actors capture the nuances, mannerisms, and speech patterns of the artists they imitate. This kind of performance by Pearce, however, is not shocking. He was phenomenal as the desert drag queen in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and as the short-term amnesiac Leonard in Memento. In Factory Girl, Pearce captures Warhol's apathetic behavior and dead pan wit ... not to mention his corpse-like complexion. But for Miller this is the film that has made her an actress.

Sienna Miller as Edie Sedgwick in "Factory Girl"

Credit: Patti Perret/Weinstein Company and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Copyright: Weinstein Company and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer