Amanda Seyfried on devotion, obsession and making The Testament of Ann Lee

Not many actors ask about audience aftercare, but Amanda Seyfried did during an interview in a London hotel room about her new film The Testament of Ann Lee, asking whether I had watched it with someone to process it. Seated beside her, director Mona Fastvold looked delighted as the two discussed the film and its effect.

The Testament of Ann Lee is a heady, 18th-century musical biopic about the illiterate daughter of a Mancunian blacksmith who joined the Shaking Quakers; Seyfried gives what the piece describes as a “fearless, fever-pitch” performance as Lee. Fastvold and her partner Brady Corbet co-wrote the screenplay; composer Daniel Blumberg adapted real Shaker hymns for the score.

The film is operatic and sometimes absurd, the makers say, and demanded intense preparation from Seyfried — live singing, demanding choreography by Celia Rowlson-Hall, and a Manchester accent — much of it shot on location in Hungary with cast and crew bringing their children to set.

The film premiered at Venice, and its reception appears divided: the piece says it can be “intoxicating once you submit, but not everyone will.” Awards chatter has been mixed — an anonymous Academy voter quoted by Variety called Seyfried “astounding” but said they did not like the movie — and the article notes controversy around some of Seyfried’s public remarks that may have affected awards talk.

Key Topics

Culture, Amanda Seyfried, Mona Fastvold, Ann Lee, Shaking Quakers, Daniel Blumberg