Black Mass has been hailed as a major return to form for Johnny Depp – the trailer scared the shit out of the internet when it landed a few months ago, and his name has already been mentioned as a possible Oscar contender.
Unfortunately, one person who won’t be getting a piece of that action is British actress Sienna Miller, whose entire part was cut from the film just weeks ahead of its cinematic release.
The film tells the story of real-life gangster Whitey Bulger, and Miller played the part of Catherine Grieg, who was one of Bulger’s girlfriends, and was arrested alongside him in California in 2011, on charges of harbouring a fugitive.
Miller worked wicked hard to perfect the notoriously-difficult-to-nail Boston accent for the film, hiring a dialect coach to fine-tune it. A few months back, she told The Boston Globe:
“Up until the day before I flew here, I couldn’t do it and it sounded stupid. And I was sort of religiously watching every film ever set in South Boston: Good Will Hunting, Gone Baby Gone, The Town. Catherine had a thick accent, so I hope I do it justice.”
Director Scott Cooper said that Miller was “fantastic” in the role, but that the decision to cut her came down to “narrative choices.”
Co-stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson, Joel Edgerton, Juno Temple, Corey Stoll, Kevin Bacon, Adam Scott, Peter Sarsgaard and Jesse Plemons had better hope they don’t piss any editors off in the next few weeks.
Black Mass is out Thursday September 17 in Australia.
Photo: Tony Barson via Getty Images
