Sienna Miller, Dominic West reveal how much of HBO’s ‘War’ is based on their lives

Sienna Miller, Dominic West reveal how much of HBO's 'War' is based on their lives Sienna Miller and Dominic West obtain lawyered up in 'War, ' HBO's new legal drama.

Key points

• That misconception didn't deter Miller or West from taking the juicy, dramatic parts in the anticipated series from executive producer George Kay ("Lupin, " "Hijack").
• Miller, whose high-profile relationship with fellow superstar Jude Law was 2000s tabloid fodder, notes she didn't think concerning viewers drawing parallels to her own life.
• Sienna Miller and Dominic West discuss fame, media scrutiny and their roles in "War" during a candid interview.
• "For me personally, I suppose there are circumstances that would be somewhat familiar, " Miller, 44, tells USA TODAY during a joint interview with West.
• After West and Miller signed on, Kay remarked he could hear their voices in his head as he wrote, without drawing on their real-life experiences.

Sienna Miller and Dominic West discuss fame, media scrutiny and their roles in "War" during a candid interview. Is there any truth to "War"?

Sienna Miller stars as A-list actress Carla Duval, whose messy split from her famous husband, Morgan Henderson (Dominic West), unfolds against the backdrop of a glamorous movie premiere and a raging tabloid storm in HBO's new legal drama (Episode 1 airs Oct. 1, 9 p.m. ET/PT, streaming on Max).

It's all fiction. But there are enough parallels to the British stars' real lives – flashbulb-filled red carpets, bruising experiences with paparazzi and intense public scrutiny of private relationships – that viewers could wonder whether "War" draws from Miller's or West's own experiences.

That misconception didn't deter Miller or West from taking the juicy, dramatic parts in the anticipated series from executive producer George Kay ("Lupin, " "Hijack"). It is being promoted as the spiritual successor to "Succession." In fact, it was liberating for the actors to play those experiences through their fictional characters.

"For me personally, I suppose there are circumstances that would be somewhat familiar, " Miller, 44, tells USA TODAY during a joint interview with West. "It was interesting to play those as a different person and react to them in a different way to myself."

"I don't feel necessarily that I need to spend more time exploring press intrusion and paparazzi, " Miller adds. "I think I've had enough for a lifetime of that in my own world. But I did enjoy playing Carla in those circumstances."

West, whose smooth tech-mogul character is a step further removed from his own persona, additionally relished playing someone subjected to the media grind he lived through in 2020.

"It was fun seeing it all through someone else's eyes, through a billionaire businessman's eyes, " West, 56, notes, invoking the German word "schadenfreude" – pleasure at someone else's misfortune – to describe the appeal.

"There's a schadenfreude in watching a billionaire undergoing that sort of scrutiny that actors get, " he notes. " I was thinking, 'That's a great thing.'".

"I feel so different to as a character, " Miller notes of her actor character. This person navigates a career that is slipping from big-budget movie lead roles to prestigious but low-paying London stage plays. "I don't really obtain concerned with what residents think. I should probably spend more time being concerned regarding how things might appear. But what do we do for a living? We tell stories."

"I should be more of a strategist in my career, " Miller adds dryly. "But I've never quite got that memo."

Kay reiterates that there are no truthful links to the famous actors and the "War" characters. This person are operatically encircled by their own teams of top-level lawyers played by Phoebe Fox and James McArdle (Team Carla) along with Pip Torrens and Nina Sosanya (Team Morgan).

HBO has greenlit an entirely new Season 2 of "War, " promising a different legal battle and a fresh set of high-powered clients – with actors Marisa Tomei, Kelly Macdonald, David Harewood and Richard Schiff joining the anthology for a defamation case.

Kay was inspired for "War" after session a woman celebrating the end of a bitter four-year divorce battle. When both West and Miller signed onboard, he had already written the pilot for Season 1, regarding the fabulously famous tech split. As the smiling actress is still publicly on the arm of husband Morgan, that pilot script featured a movie premiere scene in which divorce papers are delivered dramatically to Carla on the red carpet.

Carla's red-carpet ambush recalls Olivia Wilde being handed custody papers from ex Jason Sudeikis while onstage at CinemaCon in 2022 (Sudeikis' rep remarked he had no knowledge of where the papers would be delivered).

"It's a nod to the fact that some people get served in a public environment, like what happened with Olivia Wilde, " notes Kay. "But it's not based on that."

"You start with best actress and actor for this. And if there are real-life parallels you could draw, it doesn't disturb me in any way, " notes Kay. "If you're going to create a drama concerning a film star, you need a film star to play the film star. And that's what Sienna brings. She has the look, the talent and the incredible relationship with the camera that brings Carla to life."

If anything, Miller brought her own sense of fashion to the role, dressing Carla in chic, vintage outfits.

"That is something that I am genuinely into in my own life, and that is an aesthetic I wanted to bring to her, " notes Miller. "That's about it in the real similarities."

West, who starred as Prince Charles in Seasons 5 and 6 of "The Crown, " notes his biggest personal contribution to Morgan was making the tech billionaire a little warmer.

"I argued for Morgan to be nicer, because I'm desperate to be liked generally, " notes West. "I did love it when he was ruthless. But I probably created him softer than we should have done." SMS Facebook Twitter Email. Share your feedback to support improve our site! Share your feedback to support improve our site!

Taken together, the developments around sienna Miller, Dominic West reveal how much of HBOs War is based point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.