Sometimes you’ve got to make changes to take a big step forward, even when that change means leaving a hit TV show. HBO’s Big Love was a huge get for rising star Amanda Seyfried back in 2006. She had already done Mean Girls and worked on Veronica Mars, but being part of the stellar ensemble of an award-winning HBO show gave her the notoriety to make some major moves and that’s exactly what she chose to do after the show’s fourth season.

In late 2009, it was announced that Seyfried would be leaving Big Love after Season 4 to focus on her film career. While leaving an acclaimed series must have been mighty scary, it did make sense for Seyfried who had just co-led the fifth highest-grossing film of 2008 alongside Meryl Streep, Mamma Mia!. While on Collider Connected in anticipation of her upcoming release, Mank, Seyfried spoke about her decision to leave Big Love to focus on film:

“I had gotten Mamma Mia! and I had shot Mamma Mia! with the same people that produced Big Love, Playtone. There was just not enough work to make it make sense. The story wasn’t about me, and that’s fine. It was always an ensemble and mostly surrounded the wives. Those are the meaty parts. Not to say that I didn’t have some fantastic writing and some fantastic scenes and storylines. Big Love is really important to me and important for my career. But by the end, it was just like, ‘I can’t hold babies anymore. I have to capitalize on this moment!’”

Seyfried also took a moment to stroll down memory lane to share an especially sweet memory with the late Bill Paxton about his response to her booking Mamma Mia!:

“I remember when I got Mamma Mia!, when I found out I had gotten it, I was back on set - this was before we shot it, of course - and Bill Paxton comes around the corner in the production office and puts his arms out and he’s like, ‘You did it!’ And I ran into his arms and he picked me up and spun me around. He was very much like a father to me. And it was so wonderful because I had all the support of them, too. So much support from my Big Love family. Those run deep, those ties run really deep. So that was definitely, it was time to go.”

If you’d like to hear more from Seyfried on her journey to Mank, including her experience working on Mean Girls, what makes Julianne Moore a standout collaborator and how she responded to David Fincher’s preference of doing many, many takes, keep an eye out for her full Collider Connected conversation dropping later this week!