{"id":34927,"date":"2025-08-31T16:45:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T16:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/34927\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T16:45:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T16:45:08","slug":"amanda-seyfried-on-singing-in-the-testament-of-ann-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/34927\/","title":{"rendered":"Amanda Seyfried on Singing in ‘The Testament of Ann Lee’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe last time Amanda Seyfried<\/a> was at the Venice Film Festival<\/a> to premiere a film was in 2017 for \u201cFirst Reformed,\u201d playing a parishioner in modern day New York. For her latest trip to the Lido, she\u2019s gone back almost 300 years but has been upped to full-blown religious leader.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn \u201cThe Testament of Ann Lee<\/a>,\u201d premiering in Competition on Sep. 1, she plays Ann Lee, the 18th century founder of Christian sect the Shakers. Born in Manchester, England, Lee emigrated in 1776 with a small bunch of followers to the U.S. where, despite going through numerous personal traumas, helped establish a utopian society known for its sexual equality, utilitarian design, frenzied singing and celibacy (the latter ensuring Shaker numbers would eventually dwindle \u2014 just three currently remain).<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom director Mona Fastvold<\/a> \u2014 who co-wrote last year\u2019s Venice-bowing awards darling \u201cThe Brutalist\u201d with her partner Brady Corbet (who co-wrote this) \u2014 the film sees Seyfried sing on screen for the first time since \u201cMamma Mia 2.\u201d But the actress isn\u2019t quite sure it can be categorized as singing. \u201cDe-singing? Anti-singing?\u201d Whatever it was, she admits the notes didn\u2019t come easily, with the sometimes \u201canimal sounds\u201d she was was forced to make having been borne out of Lee\u2019s \u201cgrief and desperation\u201d rather than anything beautiful. To reach the right vocal point, she claims she had to \u201crelease my shit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking to Variety, Seyfried discusses why she\u2019d follow Lee \u2014\u00a0and Fastvold \u2014\u00a0anywhere, selfishly hoping \u201cThe Brutalist\u201d would succeed in Venice to pave the way for this film, how Maxine Peake played a crucial role she doesn\u2019t yet know about and her upcoming comedy with Sydney Sweeney: \u201cI don\u2019t know the last time I laughed that much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\u2018The Testament of Ann Lee\u2019 has been described as a musical, but not actually musical and a biopic, but not really a biopic. How would you describe the film? \t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a celebration. It\u2019s an experience. It\u2019s unlike anything so it is hard to describe for me as somebody who\u2019s not very good at describing things. But it felt very brave, and it felt very scary. But once we were shooting that lifted.<\/p>\n

\t\tHave you already seen it in full?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI watched an early cut. Brady [Corbet] couldn\u2019t figure out how to get the computer to attach to their TV, so we watched the entirety of it on their iPad. Like three idiots.<\/p>\n

\t\tMona said to me she\u2019d warned you about the film, saying you wouldn\u2019t be paid anything, you\u2019re going to work very hard, and it\u2019s going to be a very uncomfortable experience. Was any of that true?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tNot when it\u2019s her. We all make decisions based on art and business, and you\u2019re always walking the tightrope between the two. But we don\u2019t need to be paid for every thing that we do, because at the end of the day, we\u2019re all artists. Most artists want to be challenged and want to do something new and want to be part of something collaborative and avant-garde and all that stuff. But I was like: Are you sure you want me, Mona, are you sure? Surely there are other younger British actresses who could nail the accent. But she said: God no, you can get this made for me! I knew it was going to be hard. But Mona brings the same people around her. So I was like, yeah, I want to be part of the family and drink natural wine on the weekends.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou sing in this but it\u2019s in a very different register to \u2018Les Mis\u2019 and especially \u2018Mamma Mia.\u2019 Did you stretch yourself, vocally?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tSome of it was un-singing. There\u2019s no such thing! De-singing? Anti-singing? A lot of it was animals sounds as opposed to melodic sounds. And it was less about listening to myself. In the studio in Budapest, I was hearing myself, but it was not happy-making \u2014 it was stressful, because I understood that I didn\u2019t have to sound beautiful in a way that is beautiful to me. It was more like a woman on her knees. And it was fucking hard. We did the birthing song \u2018Human Treasures\u2019 so many times because I had to release my shit, my ear, my needs, Amanda\u2019s needs, in order to find the voice that held the passion, the rawness, the grief and the desperation. I realised it takes a long time for me to stop listening to myself when I\u2019m singing. I can\u2019t watch \u2018Les Mis\u2019 without thinking \u2018What the fuck was I doing?\u2019 I was listening to myself the whole time and hated it. Cosette was full of self-loathing because that was Amanda\u2019s self-loathing, which is not the character of Cosette!<\/p>\n

\t\tBut did you enjoy singing again on screen?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI did. I love singing. And I love the way it makes me feel when I\u2019m acting. After the first week in the studio working on the two main songs before we started shooting, it felt great because I understood exactly what it was and what Mona wanted. But I do remember Mona just laying on the floor with me and my dog [Seyfried\u2019s nearly 16-year-old Australian Shepherd, Finn] in the studio in Budapest while I was singing and trying to get closer to Ann Lee\u2019s grief!<\/p>\n

\t\tThere\u2019s a sense of ambiguity over whether Ann Lee was divinely inspired or an opportunistic cult leader. Did you find yourself using the same muscles as you did playing Elizabeth Holmes?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tNo, not all all and that\u2019s the thing \u2014 I would follow someone like Ann anywhere. Just like I would Mona. I didn\u2019t feel it that way at all, because I felt there was nothing gained from it except community. She wasn\u2019t trying to get rich by signing people up to Shaker classes. I think she had full conviction and believed that anyone who needed to be saved or wanted to join the community was absolutely welcome. It felt really clean. Like a utopia. There\u2019s a big difference between [Lee and Holmes]. They\u2019re both leaders, for sure, but the intention is everything. Ann\u2019s intention never wavered. What a cool fucking woman!<\/p>\n

\t\tHow did you find doing Ann\u2019s Mancunian accent?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIncredibly difficult. I had so many nightmares about people being like: What the fuck is she saying? My job is to keep you completely committed to the story. And my fear was that it wasn\u2019t gonna work. Which is why I kept saying to Mona, don\u2019t you want to get an English person?<\/p>\n

\t\tDid you have any Mancunian inspirations to try and get the right tone?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tMaxine Peake. She was my beacon. I just love knowing about where she grew up \u2014 she\u2019s very culturally in the know and very passionate about where\u2019s from, which is Bolton. And the internet had her on a silver platter for me.<\/p>\n

\t\tDoes Maxine know of her crucial role in this film?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tNo! She doesn\u2019t know that she is Ann Lee.<\/p>\n

\t\tMona said she had a quick two-day break from the \u2018Ann Lee\u2019 production in Budapest to fly to Venice for the world premiere of \u2018The Brutalist\u2019 with Brady.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, and Brady stayed and got the Silver Lion, we kept thinking: they\u2019re paving the way for us! They\u2019re two different animals \u2014 you\u2019ve can\u2019t compare \u2018The Brutalist\u2019 and \u2018Ann Lee,\u2019 but they\u2019re both extraordinary and you hope that Venice sees that. We did think that it was a really good sign for us \u2014 is that selfish? But no, it was good. But it was exhausting for them.<\/p>\n

\t\tI love how they\u2019ve turned into this powerhouse indie filmmaking couple but have no interest in making anything other than their own films. It\u2019s quite inspiring.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tAbsolutely, there\u2019s no point in life if when you\u2019re working you\u2019re not doing what you want. And they\u2019re always going to be celebrating independent film. As soon as a studio comes in for them, it\u2019s not fun anymore. Studios are great for certain things \u2014 having the money to make something is great. But they\u2019ve found ways to make these movies with really good artists who are willing to do it for barely a bean, and that\u2019s a testament to the people who they are, the leaders that they are, the artists that they are. They keep bringing people back in. It\u2019s very difficult to make an independent movie, but they\u2019ve they figured it out.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhere do you go after \u2018Ann Lee\u2019? What have you got coming up next?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI want to do comedy so bad. So I have \u2018The Housemaid\u2019 coming out. I have this huge tentpole movie coming out on Christmas Day, with Sydney Sweeney, and also Ann Lee. I don\u2019t know how to explain The Housemaid but we watched it the other night and I haven\u2019t had that much fun in a theater \u2014 I\u2019m don\u2019t know the last time I laughed that much. And it was my own movie! I had such a ball making it and playing this wacky nutso character that none has gotten to really see me do. It\u2019s like a party that movie. Honestly, I love it so much that I might actually creep out after Christmas dinner and go see it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last time Amanda Seyfried was at the Venice Film Festival to premiere a film was in 2017…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268],"tags":[27118,434,18,117,19,17,27119,27120,11492],"class_list":{"0":"post-34927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-amanda-seyfried","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-mona-fastvold","15":"tag-the-testament-of-ann-lee","16":"tag-venice-film-festival"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}