Amanda Seyfried is grappling with the state of America.
“Did we ever think this is where we would be as Americans?” she asks, her voice catching. “No. Because America felt like the best place to be.”
It’s a vulnerable moment during a conversation that spans the spectrum — including her towering performance in “The Testament of Ann Lee,” her famous Thanksgiving pie-baking tradition, and the unexpected ways a period film about a 18th-century religious leader speaks to our fractured present.
Between promotional appearances, Seyfried is homesick, missing her kids on her upstate New York farm while contemplating what Ann Lee’s utopian vision means in 2025.
“Thank God we’re talking about Ann Lee so much, because there’s a direct relationship to what she created and what we’re lacking,” Seyfried says. “How about we all don’t have any kind of agendas? How about our agenda is take care of each other? Socialism is a gorgeous idea, and I know it doesn’t work perfectly, or that people understand what the word actually means. For me, it’s taking care of each other. If I have more money, I can spend more money on other people.”
In Mona Fastvold’s richly layered drama, Seyfried plays Ann Lee, the founder of the Shakers, a woman who lost four children and channeled her devastating grief into a religious movement built on communal living and equality. The film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival before being acquired by Searchlight Pictures, is a genre-bending exploration of trauma, faith and the human capacity for survival. It’s also, surprisingly, funny — something Seyfried made sure to emphasize before a screening at the SCAD Film Festival. “I give you permission to laugh,” she told the audience, acknowledging the film’s dark humor and unexpected tonal shifts.
The parallels between Ann Lee’s 18th-century experiment in collective care and our current moment aren’t lost on Seyfried. She recalls the aftermath of 9/11, when she witnessed something that feels increasingly distant. “Everybody dropped everything for each other. People sacrificed their lives without a thought in the world,” she remembers. “And we shouldn’t have to have a meteor or a house-on-fire situation in order to drop everything for each other. That’s just what we are as human beings.”
Her voice rises with frustration and hopes in equal measure: “We all want to be seen, we all want to be loved, we all want to be desired. We all want to win at things. We all love money. We all love our children. That’s right. Both sides, all sides. So, what is the greed? How does the greed help you? How does the defensiveness help you? How do our egos work against us?”
Working with Fastvold and her husband and co-writer, Brady Corbet — fresh off their Oscar nominations for “The Brutalist” — proved transformative. Seyfried had previously collaborated with the couple on “The Crowded Room,” and when Fastvold approached her with the script, the director was convinced she’d found her Ann.
“She understood how I worked,” Seyfried says. “We are very similar in a lot of ways. We love getting as dark as humanly possible and as awkward as humanly possible, and she understands the awkwardness of humanity in a way that a lot of people don’t.”
Amanda Seyfried and ensemble in “The Testament of Ann Lee”
Searchlight Pictures
Perhaps the most demanding aspect was the choreography. Working with Celia Rowlson-Hall, Seyfried spent more than a month “perpetually dancing through grief.” Every movement was rooted in Ann Lee’s spiritual and emotional state. “Every movement was designed to explore and to reflect an emotional state of this character who wants to become closer to God, who feels like she’s the second coming of Christ, who is on her knees in order to survive losing her four children.”
The film’s centerpiece, a sequence set to a hymn called “Hunger and Thirst,” showcases Seyfried at her most raw and visceral. “You become more human for sure when you’re dancing, and you become more human for sure when you’re singing, because your body takes on these physical tasks,” she reflects. “We are liberated because of it.”
The production was grueling, particularly the climactic burning-house sequence, shot in freezing conditions with four cameras rolling at once. Lewis Pullman literally suffered from hypothermia. Yet Seyfried speaks of the experience with something approaching reverence: “After we were done, we all just kind of got up and laughed, even though we were soaked and cold and bloodied. We knew we’d do it for the love of the game, but we also knew that we were all doing it together. And if that ain’t something, why we do it.”
As Oscar season continues — she’s earned recent nominations from the Critics Choice Awards and Golden Globes — Seyfried remains grounded, planning to spend the holidays baking her signature pies (pecan, pumpkin, apple and, this year, cherry). But there’s little question that “The Testament of Ann Lee” marks a career peak, a performance that pushes her into new territory while speaking unexpectedly to our fractured moment.
On this episode of the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, Seyfried talks about juggling family life with awards season, the film’s visceral exploration of trauma and grief, and what she hopes comes next — including the long-awaited “Mamma Mia 3.”
Also on this episode, Elle Fanning, one of the stars of the Norwegian drama “Sentimental Value” as she discusses working on her next project with her sister, Dakota. Listen below!
Stacy Martin, Scott Handy, Viola Prettejohn, Lewis Pullman, Amanda Seyfried, Matthew Beard and Thomasin McKenzie in “The Testament of Ann Lee”
Searchlight Pictures
Read excerpts from her interview below, which has been edited and condensed for clarity.
The script for “The Testament of Ann Lee” is complex. What was your first reaction when you read it?
When Mona brought me the script, I read it and I didn’t feel like I was smart enough to understand it. There were all these hymns that were written in that were kind of bookmarks for what we were going to end up putting in, because Daniel Blumberg had been working on this script with her for many years before we made it, and he’s the composer.
They had to really work together to figure out how the music was going to flow in and out of the dialogue and the movement, because there are so many layers in this movie, so many physical offerings. It was really hard to picture when I read it, but her passion and her understanding of what she wanted to say and her clarity of storytelling were all I really needed, because I knew that it was all going to come out in some form.
The more we talked about it, and the more I prepared, and the more I danced, and the more I worked on the Manchester accent, and the more I kind of lived in this idea of who this woman was, I just trusted her. It’s hard not to. She’s also very brave — that magical, mythical fairy that you don’t think exists is embodied by this Nordic woman.
How did the choreography in this film compare to something like “Mamma Mia?”
It’s very similar for me, in that it’s all very challenging. The faster the movements are, the faster the rhythm of the song, the harder it is, and the muscle memory is really important. To get muscle memory, you have to just repeat, repeat, repeat, and that’s sometimes very frustrating, very boring at times.
I don’t move naturally in these ways at all. I would prefer ballet, honestly, which is maybe crazy to say, but I do. When you’re hearing ABBA, you want to move. Here, we’re hearing this music — this incredibly melodic, very abstract-at-times music that was kind of designed through the Shaker hymns. You feel like it lends itself to a certain type of movement as well, and more primal movement, for sure.
Celia Rowlson-Hall, who did the choreography, the way she moves is otherworldly. The thing about the movement in Ann Lee is that every movement was designed to explore and to reflect an emotional state of this character who wants to become closer to God, who feels like she’s the second coming of Christ, who is on her knees in order to survive losing her four children.
Celia and I both live upstate, so we met at this little, beautiful acting class/dance studio and just spent hours and hours and hours — weeks, probably over a month and a half — of just perpetual dancing through grief. You become more human for sure when you’re dancing, and you become more human for sure when you’re singing, because your body takes on these physical tasks. It’s melody and movement, and we are nothing without that.
Do you believe Ann Lee was truly a prophet, or was something else happening to her?
I’m not a religious person. No, I see it as that she didn’t eat and she was hallucinating — she was dying, and she hallucinated seeing Adam and Eve and seeing the devil. With that journey that she went on, she discovered new meaning, whatever that is.
Some people do ayahuasca, some people just do therapy. There are all these ways of accessing parts of your brain that are so shut off just because we are human and we need to keep walking. It’s fascinating to me how most people who have this feverish passion and devotion are on some kind of drug.
It’s whatever we need to do to survive. And she didn’t just do that. She thrived, and she created a world or utopia for the greater good of her community. Her intentions were so pure, and she did so much with her grief. I believe that people will tell themselves what they need to tell themselves, or go and try to find parts of themselves that help them feel alive. We’re constantly trying to grab something.
The film explores trauma in such a visceral way. How did you think about that while preparing for the role?
It’s how cells regenerate, and we are forces to be reckoned with. The human body is absurdly complicated and almost more powerful than we give it credit for sometimes, especially when it comes to our psyches and trauma.
We create new pathways. That’s why it’s so important for kids to have people who love them and who hear them and understand them and guide them, because those pathways aren’t set in stone — they’re just developing.
I think with trauma, you can be renewed in a way. You can be damaged. There’s so much that happens in grief that I don’t fully understand — thank God. I think we can’t survive unless we create new pathways, subconsciously and consciously, but the body is going to try to survive.
What was it like working with Lewis Pullman?
He has no fear. He just goes. He’s beautiful, and you can see the depths of his soul. He brings himself completely to every scene, to every character. I love him.
He just really showed up for Mona. He really wanted to do it, and he had no ego. I don’t know where his ego went, but it’s not there, and it’s beautiful. It was immediate that I understood that our process in that way is the same — just to show up and to really love our characters and love what we do.
I can’t imagine a better person to play my brother, because he understands the sibling relationship the same way I do. I want to nurture him. I want to protect him. He’s just a good, good guy.
The burning house sequence at the end looks incredibly difficult to shoot. What was that experience like?
When the house is burning and Mary’s laying there with her eye out, and Lewis is truly suffering from hypothermia in real life, we had Matthew Beard — who’s one of the best actors of our generation, for sure — and all of us were just screaming for 10 minutes straight because we had four cameras going at the same time.
It was one of those moments where we could have all just really wanted to quit what we do because it was so hard and cold and we didn’t know what was happening. After we were done, we all just kind of got up and laughed, even though we were soaked and cold and bloodied.
We knew we’d do it for the love of the game, but we also knew that we were all doing it together — and if that ain’t something, why we do it?
So, we have to ask: “Mamma Mia 3?” Is it happening?
I was talking to Rita Wilson last night. Someone had said earlier that night, “I just talked to Rita Wilson. She said ‘Mamma Mia 3’ is not off the table.” And I was like, “It’s burning a hole through the table.” She agreed with me.
It would be so silly if it didn’t happen. I mean, they keep making “Fast and the Furious.” We’ve already done “Mamma Mia” two. Meryl is available. Let’s do it. Just get me on an island with Christine Baranski. Just get me back there. She’s one of the goddesses of our time.
This feels like a career-defining performance. How do you look back on it?
It was a challenge, and I was totally there for it. I’m really proud of it. I’m super, super proud.
I love acting, but getting the opportunity to sing and move — and I mean, not necessarily move, I don’t love it, but it’s necessary — getting to sing again in this medium with this kind of genre-bending, magical stuff is a role of a lifetime, for sure. I’m just so glad she chose me, because it’s another one of those opportunities that you can miss out on. And I’m in it.
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta, Jenelle Riley and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts.
