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| Amanda Seyfried in The Testament Of Ann Lee which she says was "an exceptional chllenge" Photo: © 2025 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved. |
Alongside the music, which draws on actual Shaker hymns, the distinctive movements adopted by the community are choreographed by Celia Rowlson-Hall (The Fits). At the press conference for the film in Berlin, the Norwegian director said: “One of the biggest opportunities for me was to get to work with Daniel Blumberg on creating such a musical piece and with Celia Rowlson-Hall as our choreographer, bringing in modern dance.”
She added: “My background is in movement and I was so excited to bring that into my cinema language.”
Seyfried, meanwhile, revealed that she had worked harder than she ever had before at the role.
“I think the less time you have the harder things get,” she said, “I saw this as an exceptional challenge handed to me on a platter by Mona And I also had a year to work on the songs.”
She said that Blumberg took “simple little hymns” and turned them into “vibrant long pieces of beautiful music”.
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| Mona Fastvold and Amanda Seyfried ahead of the press conference |
“But those weren't the only challenges. It's also just that she's so foreign to me. Not in the fact that she is from Manchester – and it has that really difficult accent – but also, because she existed 300 years ago and created a community. She was so devoted and had this conviction that I don't necessarily relate to or walk through the world with.
“So, I had to adopt that but because of the script, it was very clear the story that Mona wanted to tell and, in some ways, it wad really liberating. But I will say it was the greatest challenge of my career. I think it's very obvious when you see the movie that we went through a lot. Rain, cold, extreme heat no time to shoot, no money, $10million in 34 days. It's absurdly impossible, for the most part, except Mona did it. And you would say the same thing about Ann Lee. It's like if, if she were to tell you what she wanted to do and what she wanted to create is this kind of utopian society with equality between gender and race and the 18th century, you’d think that's impossible and she fucking did it – and that's what Mona and Mona did it too.
“But it didn't come without extreme cost personally in terms of comfort. But, you know, that's what art is and we make those sacrifices and it's a privilege for me.”
When asked about how she picks her projects, Seyfried added: “When I think about what I'm going to do, I think about what's worth me leaving my kids for and what's going to give me the opportunity as an artist to flex myself and to learn something about myself.
“This particular project had quality all over it and what I define as quality is a clear vision and not necessarily a message but an exploration of someone's life through storytelling and it’s in a cinematic atmosphere, with a real edge and a real clarity of vision. This whole movie just felt like it was made and with such passion and such nuance and such careful creation.”
Speaking about the film’s spirituality, Fastvold noted that she isn’t religious and wasn’t raised within a specific faith.
She added: “I just have a natural scepticism towards any story about a religious figure, I think. And that's how I approached my research. But the more I read about Mother Ann Lee, and the Shakers, the more she defied my expectations. So my intent with the portrayal of this character was to take the audience on a journey that was hopefully as open as mine was, when I was doing that research research. It kept shifting. At times, I would find them to be ridiculous and absurd… humorous and at other times, I thought her story to be deeply, moving and heartbreaking. And I was filled with empathy and love for what she was trying to achieve with equality and with this community that she was trying to create. For me, it's a matter of trying to strive for impossible projects, that’s what spoke to me, that’s what I connected with personally.
Hopefully what you're left with as an audience member is a bit open. Hopefully, you're left with a conversation with your partner, with your friend, with your parents, with someone who disagrees with you.”
Seyfried also said she isn’t religious although she respects religion.
Speaking about Lee, she added: “I really believe that she believed and I believe that she found comfort and strength in her faith and I and I get that because I do too. It's what keeps me being able to be here and leave my family, because I love the work. I love talking about it. I love my fellow artists. And maybe that's kind of a church too, you know, making films.”
