Sienna Miller and Dominic West have spoken about their new drama War, revealing that a 20-year friendship helped them play a bitter ex-couple on screen. The pair star as Carla Duval and Morgan Henderson, a celebrity couple locked in a fictional billion-pound divorce, and say the familiarity from working together in 2005 made the tension feel authentic.
“We have a sort of familiarity because we did a play 20 years ago together, and so that had to be there,” West told Metro at a London hotel. “There has to be the sense that they’ve been married, and the rest is just fun. It’s just fun playing two people who are really sticking the knife into each other while smiling.”
Real history on screen
Miller, who plays a world-famous actress in the series, said the production used genuine photos from their past. “They could dig up photos of us from our premiere of our play, so they use real moments from our past,” she said. “It was really nice to look around a room and see those, because of the sense of history that it gives you.”
The actress, who has been in the public eye for almost 30 years, reflected on the impact of that scrutiny. “Some of the residual damage from those experiences exists in me,” she said, though she added that she did not need to draw on her own life to play Carla. “I really wanted to find those differences. So I actually didn’t feel like I needed to draw too much on anything other than feeling quite comfortable in a lot of the scenarios that she finds herself in.”
A stacked cast and a confirmed second season
The cast also includes Phoebe Fox, James McArdle, Pip Torrens, Nina Sosanya, Archie Renaux, Nick Mohammed, Shaheen Jafargholi, Emma Laird and Celia Imrie. West said working with Imrie—who plays a barrister named Budgie—was a highlight. “It was particularly fun being cross-examined by Celia, who’s very particular about how she works, and that made it really funny and fun to do,” he said. “That was also because she was being really nasty to me, but you can’t help but love her, and she’s very flirty.”
War has already been confirmed for a second season. Miller said she hopes viewers feel “satisfied” by the end of the eight episodes. “I want them to feel like they’ve been on a journey and that everything ties up in the way that they hoped it would,” she said. “And complete, not irritated that it didn’t end in the way that you wanted it to. I think it does tick a lot of boxes. It’s funny. It’s propulsive. It’s nasty. So I just hope people really enjoy it.”
West added: “I hope people – I know people – will go, “God, let’s never get divorced.””
War premieres on Friday October 2 on Sky and streaming service NOW.
