Amanda Seyfried Says She Had to ‘Let Loose’ to Play Religious Leader Ann Lee

Amanda Seyfried is no stranger to difficult movie roles, but her experience on The Testament of Ann Lee was an especially unique one.

The actress plays the real-life Lee, a founding leader of religious sect the Shakers, in the upcoming historical musical drama from writer-director Mona Fastvold (The Brutalist), set during the 18th century.

Seyfried, 39, spoke at a press conference for The Testament of Ann Lee ahead of its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival on Monday, Sept. 1, where she revealed what it was like to play Lee.

“This did feel like an opportunity where there were just no tethers to anything,” she said. “Basically, I follow Mona into the light and anything goes, because there’s so much freedom, and the only threat is to not use that freedom to your advantage as an artist to go as far deep as you can go to make the craziest sounds. I’ve never been let loose in this way.”

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Seyfried went on to say that starring as Lee was an “incredible,” experience, but noted that “it’s also really hard playing somebody who’s a leader.”

“Like yes, I relate to the mother instincts, I relate to the need for community and kindness and compassion and the quality. And I love Mona’s intentions and Ann Lee’s intentions behind everything they did, and it was just so attractive,” she explained.

But at the same time, “I also was like, ‘Mona, you don’t have to cast me,’ ” she admitted. “I kept saying, ‘Go with somebody English,’ because the accent seemed so hard. That wasn’t the hardest part but it was just, I saw the love that Mona had. This was her baby, and I didn’t want to F it up. But she believed in me, so I believed in me, and here we are.”

The Testament of Ann Lee marks Seyfried’s first movie musical since 2018’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Aside from the Emmy winner, it also stars Thomasin McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Stacy Martin, Tim Blake Nelson and Christopher Abbott.

Asked why she cast Seyfried in the lead role, Fastvold, 39, said during the Venice press conference, “Amanda has a lot of power. She’s really strong. She is a wonderful mother. She is a little mad. And so I knew that she could access those things — she could access the kindness, the gentleness, the tenderness. And she could also access this power and this madness.”

Added the director, “And I think that, at our age, there is something really exciting about exploring the combination of all of that. And I saw that Amanda has all of that, and that she was ready to go full force into that.”

Seyfried previously chatted with Vanity Fair about making The Testament of Ann Lee for an interview published Tuesday, Aug. 26, where she revealed that aside from the singing portions of the role, “So much of it was screaming and doing weird takes.”

“I had these crazy moments of complete freedom — the weirder, the better,” she said. “I was, like, ‘So, basically, we can do whatever the f— we want.’ But it’s got to come from somewhere — it’s got to be grounded in something. You could ruin your f—ing voice, I’ll tell you that.”

Fastvold told Variety in an interview published Aug. 22 that she warned Seyfried before taking on the role, ” ‘I will pay you nothing, you’re going to work very hard and it’s going to be a very uncomfortable experience for you.’ ”

But as the filmmaker addressed Seyfried during their Vanity Fair interview, “I couldn’t believe the sounds coming out of you in the end.”

The Venice International Film Festival runs through Saturday, Sept. 6. An official release date for The Testament of Ann Lee has not yet been announced.