“I found it particularly interesting to be in the belly of the beast,” reveals Sienna Miller about her role in Showtime’s limited series “The Loudest Voice.” It chronicles the rise of Fox News and the fall from grace of its chairman, the late Roger Ailes, after sexual misconduct scandals ended his career. She adds, “It felt interesting. I didn’t dwell on it too much but I did find it funny.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Miller above.
The limited series is adapted from the bestseller “The Loudest Voice in the Room” by Gabriel Sherman, who interviewed hundreds of witnesses to the ongoing sexual harassment scandals plaguing the right-wing media juggernaut founded by the influential Murdoch family. It is told through the prism of the rise and fall of Ailes (Russell Crowe), who resigned amid the scandal of multiple allegations of sexual abuse at the network.
Miller plays Ailes’ wife Elizabeth, who is convincingly transformed with the help of painstaking prosthetic makeup and hair to play the devoted, long suffering wife of the disgraced executive. “She was so far away from me in every single way,” Miller says when asked what attracted her to the role. “Politically she couldn’t be further away from where I stand. But I think that’s the challenge,” she explains. “What is it like to sit in that space? what is it like to imagine the other side? What is it like to be the woman married to that man? I got to transform in all sorts of ways.”
“The Loudest Voice” reveals the deep-seeded misogyny and sexual misconduct perpetrated by powerful men pulling the strings at an influential news network. It couldn’t be more relevant in the age of the #MeToo movement. But it is also a fascinating and disturbing look behind the scenes at the rise of the right-wing media in the U.S. and the power and impact it has had on American politics, culture and society. “On every level I felt like it was a story I wanted to tell, that needed to be told,” Miller admits. “What is the inception of Fox News? What is the effect? There’s no way there’s Donald Trump without Fox.”
“I was intrigued by how persuasive it is,” she says about watching the network when preparing to play the wife of its former chairman. “When you sit with it long enough, they have so much conviction that it is compelling. You can understand that there’s a real method to it and examining what goes into those decisions, these little manipulations that have an enormous ripple effect. What’s scary about it is how powerful it actually is. I understand its effect but I am very wary of it.”
Miller admits that she found it amusing to be playing a role that is so connected to the Murdoch family and their media empire. Back in 2011 the actress successfully sued Murdoch’s News of the World in the U.K. after it admitted to hacking the phones of several public figures. “In a kind of meta way I found it very interesting to be in a room with Rupert Murdoch,” Miller recalls about recreating scenes in News Corp boardrooms opposite actors playing prominent Murdoch figures, like Simon McBurney who plays the media mogul himself. “I found it funny and interesting, like I said to be in the belly of that beast,” she smiles.
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