ShareThisBy CHICO HARLAN
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Possibly famous and recently infamous actress Sienna Miller found out this weekend that neither distinction could work as a functional form of ID.
Late Saturday night, bar employees said, Miller, 24, appeared at the entrance of Folino's Young's Tavern without identification. Some five minutes later _ after ducking into the bar, eluding a bouncer who refused to let her inside _ Miller, in town for the filming of "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh," was spotted inside and escorted back to the sidewalk. There, tavern owner Penny Folino and bouncer Dan Kovacs said, a disgusted Miller proclaimed her identity to all who would listen.
"Sienna ripped off her hat and said, 'I am Sienna Miller. I am a famous actress!' " Folino said. "That's what she did. She was basically throwing a temper tantrum."
A spokeswoman from Miller's publicity office, who was in contact with the actress Tuesday, denied the incident occurred. Film publicist Emma Cooper was aware of the allegation, but said, "I heard it never took place." Shooting for the movie continued here, but Miller did not appear on the set and could not be reached for comment.
Miller has now generated two spasms of Pittsburgh-related gossip before completing one Pittsburgh-related movie.
Though already known for both her acting career and her tabloid-covered relationship with actor Jude Law, Miller's popularity within the region plummeted recently because of her comments in a Rolling Stone interview. Speaking to the magazine in mid-September, she referred to Pittsburgh by dropping its first letter and substituting "Sh."
According to Folino and others at the bar, Miller arrived at Folino's on the same day that she appeared in a photograph on the front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, her arm on the shoulder of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. That evening, she wore jeans and came alongside her parents.
"But I said, honey, you need ID to drink here to be a patron," said Kovacs, the bouncer.
Five minutes later, he said, he noticed both Miller and her parents inside the bar, seated at a table. Cocktail waitress Katie Jenkins had already taken Miller's order: a vodka and tonic, Jenkins said.
Kovacs suspected Miller had sneaked in through a side entrance.
So he walked to her table and asked again for ID. She didn't have it. He escorted her to the exit.
Miller, denied her vodka and tonic, stewed outside the bar for 30 minutes, Folino's employees said. Though her parents were invited back to the bar for drinks, the actress refused to return to her hotel room, where she'd left her license, Kovacs said."She was going crazy out there, stomping her feet, walking up and down the street," he said.
Said Folino: "There was no reason for her to act like she did. No ID, no entry _ I'm sorry, we can't bend the rules for anybody."
(Chico Harlan can be reached at aharlan(at)post-gazette.com.)
