The 36th Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) presented the prestigious Montecito Award to Academy Award nominee Amanda Seyfried during a live virtual presentation on April 9th. That particular honor, named after one of the most beautiful and stylish areas of Santa Barbara, is given annually to a person in the entertainment industry who has made a great contribution to film, and the level of detail and attention paid through her work with David Fincher to portray Marion Davies alongside Gary Oldman as Herman Mankiewicz in Mank is definitely a stand-out this awards season.

During the nearly 90-minute presentation, featuring clips from many of Seyfried’s films, spanning from Mean Girls and Mamma Mia! to First Reformed and Mank, the actress shared insight and memories about everything from overcoming her insecurities, her strengths and weaknesses as an actor, working with her idols, why she’s attracted to playing real people, accepting this level of recognition, stepping into the shoes of Elizabeth Holmes for her next role in The Dropout, and her desire to do the Wicked musical.

Amanda Seyfried in Mean Girls
Image via Paramount Pictures

QUESTION: How did you end up starting out as a model before becoming an actress?

AMANDA SEYFRIED: I’d heard about modeling on the radio. I’d listen to the radio at night to go to bed, especially on Sundays with Casey Kasem, and they had these commercials about open calls to come be a model. I thought, “How glamorous.” I had a cousin who was a local model with a local agency, so I went. And then, that agency sent me to New York for an open call there. One thing led to another and I was modeling in Manhattan. I had this glamorous weekend life, every once in awhile, when I was 10, 11 and 12. And then, I became an actor. Allentown is very close to New York. I would take the Carl R. Bieber bus that was $18 per way. My mom and I would buy a pack of tickets, we’d take the one o’clock bus, get there at 2:45, do my audition or go see for some modeling job, and then I’d come home and have to do my homework.

And then you did soap operas with As the World Turns and All My Children. Was that a grueling thing or a fun thing?

SEYFRIED: It was the most fun thing I could possibly have thought of or imagined. There was one point in high school where I thought tennis was more fun, but that was only just a blip. I really loved getting to memorize lines and play these characters. It was a great learning experience, and I had money to buy shoes and jeans, which I coveted for some reason. It was magical. There was no pressure. I just got to have fun.

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You also got the musical bug in high school. Were you doing the high school musicals, or were you studying outside of that?

SEYFRIED: I actually started taking voice lessons when I was 10 because I wanted to audition for Annie on Broadway. That audition went not so great. And then, I continued to sing with my voice coach, and I went to my voice coach’s voice coach who was an opera teacher. I was singing German songs and Italian songs, and I really loved that because that’s where my voice sits comfortably. I would do recitals. But then, I quit when I moved to the city. I stopped training, but I continued singing. I never, ever stepped foot on a stage when I was in high school because that high school theater program was so intense. I was already doing television in New York and I was too busy to really focus on that, and I was intimidated by the theater students.

Karen Smith standing under an umbrella and smiling widely in Mean Girls
Image via Paramount Pictures

You were going to go to college, but then you went up for Mean Girls and that trajectory changed.

SEYFRIED: My life turned in a day, in an hour. It’s not an anecdote. It was a crazy point in time where I had to make that choice. I was standing in front of the elevator bays of Fordham University at the Lincoln Center campus, I was on the phone with my parents, and I was 15 minutes late for my first class because of my Karen screen test. I thought, “Do I go up there and take this one class that I’m signed up for, or do I just go home and hope for the best?” And I went home. My dad was like, “Just leave.” So, I left and I got Mean Girls. I knew I was gonna get it. I figured I would because it was the last stop. I had already gone out to L.A. and auditioned for Regina. They showed so much interest. I had such a good time at the audition, I knew. It wasn’t a choice I made lightly.

And then, Mean Girls was a really big hit and your career changed.

SEYFRIED: Yeah. It was miracle. I felt so lucky just to get that job, at that age. I was 17. I was living alone and my mom had to come live with me in Toronto to shoot Mean Girls because I was not emancipated yet. That was bizarre. I had the most fun I could have possibly imagined having and I was doing what I love. And then, this movie became a huge hit. That was not expected and not even an idea in my mind, that that could be possible.

After that, you went on do to Veronica Mars.

SEYFRIED: I got Veronica Mars within two weeks of moving to Los Angeles after shooting Mean Girls. I also got Big Love the same week. Big Love was a blast. That was a main contract character. I think I was five, six or seven on the callsheet. And with Veronica Mars, I was recurring, so I was able to do both of them. It was another stroke of luck. I knew then that I was being taken seriously, in a way, and that made me feel really good because confidence plays a big role in how you perform, for sure.

Amanda Seyfried in Veronica Mars
Image via Warner Bros. Television Distribution

What was it like to have that sense of security?

SEYFRIED: It’s all relative. I started from nothing. I remember looking at my bank account when I was doing All My Children. I didn’t know how I was gonna pay my rent. I was living in a studio apartment on the river and I didn’t know how I was gonna do it. I was 17, and that same year, I got Mean Girls. That gave me a chunk that I’d never seen before. And then, you work again and you’re like, “Oh, my God, I can afford more than rent. I can afford to lease a car.” It’s incredible.

Mamma Mia! was a real starring role for you. Was it hard to get that role?

SEYFRIED: It was hard to get that role. I didn’t, in a million years, think I was gonna land it. I still remember the feeling of getting it and thinking, “My life, again, is gonna change.” I got to work with Meryl Streep and really be in every frame and fill the whole story. It feel like a hundred years ago, and it feels like yesterday. The memories are so deep in my bones.

What was the hardest part of it? Was it doing the music first and then lip-syncing?

SEYFRIED: By the way, that’s the way to do it. I’ve done live singing. No way. Never again. The singing was a little tricky in the beginning, because I didn’t have the confidence in my voice. I hadn’t trained in four years, so that was tricky. But that was only a couple of days. I was working with Benny [Andersson] and Björn [Ulvaeus] from Abba, and they were the biggest fans. They were so into my voice, and that made me feel so great. It was sharing the space with Meryl and feeling like I was worthy of that space and feeling like I was there for a reason. That was a confidence thing. I certainly had fun. It was a lot of work. I wanted to play more than I wanted to work, some days. Those girls became my absolute best friends, to this day. We share tattoos. But the biggest challenge was just making sure that Meryl was okay with me, and she was. She was amazingly kind. I have nothing to say about that except that it was the best.

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Image via Universal Pictures

Was that a turning point where you didn’t have to audition anymore?

SEYFRIED: Half and half. I got a lot of offers. I got more offers than I’d been used to, but I still had to audition for the really juicy stuff – the movies that have the list of girls that are around the same age.

What was it like to go up for every part with the same group of actresses?

SEYFRIED: The whole goal is longevity. When you feel like you’re in your slump, and you’re not getting as many offers and you know these other girls or women are getting these roles, first of all, I respect all of them. Second of all, I know some of them personally and think they are wonderful people, and I’m flattered that I can even be on the same list as them. I also am very aware that I do have instincts and skill, and that, if I’m not right for one thing, there’s something else I’m right for. It’s just one of those things where you go in knowing it will happen if it’s meant to happen. You just let it go. Healthy competition is one thing, but jealousy is another, and that doesn’t really help. You congratulate people quietly, by yourself, and you know that there’s definitely something brewing for you. That’s always been the case for me. That’s helped.

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When you listen to yourself in Les Misérables now, how does it make you feel?

SEYFRIED: Ouch, but it’s okay because it’s not about the technical aspect of it. It’s not about the voice. Would I love to do it again? Yes. It’s all about the way she’s feeling and capturing that first love and that desperation to see somebody again. Gosh, it’s so stupid to harp on the stuff that doesn’t matter. It’s not about the singing. It’s about being able to express yourself, as truly as you possibly can. That’s the whole point. That’s why I do this. I think I did that. I had a beautiful time, and who cares if it wasn’t perfect? It was live. The biggest challenge with that was singing live, and then still having space to express the feeling behind it.

Cosette leaning against the wall and looking pensive in Les Miserables
Image via Universal Pictures

Tom Hooper really wanted all of the actors to sing live, to varying degrees of success. Was it hard to have to keep doing more takes?

SEYFRIED: I wanted to do it as many times as I could possibly do it. At some point, because it’s so technical, you’re just not gonna get it. It’s not like just acting. We probably all have some regrets, but who cares? That movie soared. It was impactful for people. Tom knew what he was doing, and I’m so glad he did it that way. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. It was worth it.

What made you decide to do Dear John with Channing Tatum?

SEYFRIED: That character had to grow up very quickly and I really appreciated that about the story. It was a Nicholas Sparks movie, and I really love romance novels. I loved the fact that I got to play the romantic lead in something. I really loved The Notebook so much and I thought, “This is my chance to play that role, of someone who’s really struggling, but through love, conquers all.” It was the most fun I’ve ever had shooting anything, still to this day. I think it was the age and the setting. I was in Charleston, South Carolina. We had so much fun. Channing is so funny and so easy-going and doesn’t take himself seriously. We just really had the best time. It was very comfortable with the beach and the horses. I love myself a farm.

What are your strengths and what are your weaknesses, when it comes to acting?

SEYFRIED: I’m glad you’re asking me now. I know my strengths now. My weakness list is much shorter and my strengths list exists. My strengths are that I’m really allergic to lying and to dishonesty. I wanna find the reality and the truth in everything. That really works well for me, as an actor. I also just wanna play everybody. I have so much compassion and I really love storytelling. I love movies and books, and I just wanna dive into someone else’s world and walk in their shoes. With Mank, getting to play a real person was the best thing, ever. My weaknesses are that I can get lazy. I can learn my lines in the makeup chair, on the day, and sometimes that gets in the way. Sometimes it doesn’t, but sometimes it does. I also don’t want to do certain physical roles, but I can’t just say no to things that mean I have to work harder, in a physical way. I think that can really affect my performance in a really good way and I need to just open my perspective a little bit. I’m sure there are many more, if I delve... This level of recognition and appreciation is unprecedented for me and I’m soaking it up, trust me. But I came to a point, in my early 30s, where I was really struggling with finding the right things and finding something that really fulfilled me. I did this play, and I do think it reflected back at me that I really did have a stamina and incredible passion, and I would do anything to find the deeper meaning in something. It was hard, but I did it, I got through it, and I succeeded. It was also a lesson in proving that I really can do anything, if I work hard enough, and I deserve to work hard because I deserve to reap those benefits. I have the passion, I have the compassion, I have the skill underneath, and I have the time and the experience. I wanna just fly now.

Amanda Seyfried in Lovelace
Image via Radius-TWC

What made you want to play Linda Lovelace in Lovelace?

SEYFRIED: I wanted to give someone a voice who didn’t have one anymore and really didn’t have one, ever. I remember very clearly where I was when I said yes to that. It was one of those decisions that I was making, when I knew that if it didn’t turn out right, it wasn’t gonna be great, but I knew I needed that challenge. It was the first person I was gonna play that really existed and I thought, “This is a really important perspective on someone who’s no longer with us,” so I just ate that up. It was hard and it was so rewarding. I got to work with incredible people, like Sharon Stone... I wanted to show as much as I could of this poor woman and what her life was really like behind the scenes. She’s infamous.

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You had to do some pretty intimate scenes in that film. How did you handle that?

SEYFRIED: You compartmentalize. I was working with really wonderful human beings playing these really hideous people. You have to trust that they’re gonna take care of your body, especially with Peter Sarsgaard manhandling me so often and putting a gun to my head, and then having to do some of the Deep Throat scenes. You have to compartmentalize. The point is, you’re telling this story in a way that needs to be told. It’s all very necessary. We cut out anything that was gratuitous and unnecessary. I just had to be as present as possible, but it’s hard. It’s hard not to take some of that stuff home because this is what happens to people. It’s not like you’re creating a character that goes through things that other people don’t go through. The reality is that it’s not okay.

What was your experience like with Noah Baumbach and Adam Driver on While We’re Young?

SEYFRIED: [Adam] was very mysterious, but it also felt like you totally knew what was going on, at times. I had a lot of fun with him. He fit perfectly into that character. Not that he’s that guy, but he’s a chameleon, as you can see. Watching him and Noah work very closely together was really exciting because they totally got each other, and Ben [Stiller] too. That whole experience was awesome. It didn’t all fall on my shoulders, so I was able to experience Noah Baumbach’s world in a way that didn’t feel too pressurized. When you step foot on a Noah Baumbach set, it’s his world and his creation. You say the lines the way that they’re written. Everything is written for a reason. You just have to trust, and it’s all really funny. He wants to see a different side of things. My brain doesn’t work the same way his does, so it was awesome to step out of myself more, playing someone similar to me, but in a completely different way. I don’t know how else to explain it. It was wacky and awesome. Naomi Watts and I learned a hip-hop routine. What could be better?

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Image via A24

Have you always felt extremely natural in front of the camera?

SEYFRIED: It did come easily to me, from childhood. I certainly wanted to express what I was feeling, all the time, and throw it on the table. Teenagehood was completely different. I don’t even wanna go there. I was inside of myself for a time. But besides that, I vomit my feelings very easily. I’ve been trying to create a filter that I still don’t use quite often enough, or as much as my family would like me to use it, but it’s really served me as an actor. I wanna express. Someone told me my face was too animated, and I could have taken that the wrong way, but I decided that was a good thing. And so what? I have frown lines because I frown a lot. I feel things and I want to express them. I guess that’s what it is. It’s hard not to.

Do you want to go back to the theater?

SEYFRIED: It makes me nervous thinking about it. Yes, of course I do. My husband [Thomas Sadoski] is starting to direct theater now, and even a year ago, I told my husband, “Okay, but the character has to have breaks in between. I’m not gonna do that thing where I can only pee in the beginning, and then no more breaks because I’m on stage the whole time. It’s gotta be the perfect role where I can leave the stage.” That’s my only rule. I’d love to. It’s an incredible experience.

How was the experience of working with Shirley MacLaine on The Last Word?

SEYFRIED: I love her so much. When I found out that Shirley was interested in doing the movie, because I’m pretty sure that I was cast first, it looked like it was a possibility that we weren’t gonna get bonded or be able to make the movie. Part of me was like, “That’s okay, it wasn’t meant to be,” because I was scared of Shirley. I was scared that I was gonna be crap, that I wasn’t gonna be good enough, that she would wonder why she did it, that she would find herself in the wrong movie, and all of those time-wasting worries that I still have with certain people that I look up to this much. Shirley MacLaine is the person that I had always wanted to work with and thought, “Maybe one day,” and here was my opportunity. So, when I heard the movie might go down, I was like, “Oh, that’s fine,” because I was too scared. And then, of course, it happened and we got on incredibly well. We have a very similar sense of humor and get annoyed at the same things, so it was perfect. Those scenes, as hard as I would have thought they would be before we started shooting, were a piece of cake because we had such a good rapport that it doesn’t matter if you’re yelling at each other in a scene or laughing about something else. That engagement and that connection that we have can go either way when we’re rolling. She set the bar really high and I was able to meet her. Like with Gary [Oldman] in Mank, she made me better. She’s present. She’s just right there. You cannot compete with Shirley and you don’t want to. If she helps you rise above the clouds with your own stuff, let her. And she did that.

What did you learn in observing her? Did she give you any advice?

SEYFRIED: I’m sure she did. I can’t remember. I’m sure she did, in her own way of not giving advice, but in telling stories. The truth is, I learned that memory is everything. I just wanna be as sharp as she is, the whole time. The fact is, you’ve gotta just write stuff down. She wrote everything down. She has it all in her books. Nothing is out of the realm of possibilities, too. She definitely showed me that.

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Image via Bleecker Street Media

What was your experience with playing your character in First Reformed for director Paul Schrader?

SEYFRIED: She’s pregnant, and I was pregnant. I was 33 weeks when I stopped filming that. She had just found out that her husband has shot his head off, and Ethan Hawke’s character found him in the woods because he asked him to meet him there. That was hard. I don’t have that many regrets, but the actor in me is like, “I wish I could go back and do that again.” We didn’t have a lot of time. It was the opposite of David Fincher. Not that it was Paul Schrader, who you can trust 100%. He knows exactly what he wants to do. He’s edited it in his head. He’s incredible. I cannot believe I got to work with him. Like David Fincher, he trusts that world, but unlike David Fincher, we had no time. It was a very small movie. I wish I’d had more time. I don’t know what it’s like for that character, but I can imagine. I spend a lot of my time, as an actor, imagining. I spend a lot of my time as a human being suffering from OCD imagining that kind of stuff happening. I was removed somehow from it, but maybe I was removed too much. That’s what I fear. That movie was hard. I shot that whole thing in seven days because I was pregnant. It was a character that I’d never played before, with the best performance Ethan Hawke has ever given. Did I feel that I could live up to that? No, but I tried my best. That’s all you can do, is try your best. It was a beautiful movie and I can’t believe I got to be a part of it and help tell that story.

Did you turn down big roles along the way in favor of the ones you decided to do?

SEYFRIED: I chose not to do certain things because of where they shot and how long they shot and what the actual content was. I chose not to do a giant, giant, giant movie where I could have possibly built three barns, but that’s okay because I really only wanted one. I turned it down specifically because I wanted to work with Seth MacFarlane on his comedy, A Million Ways to Die in the West. I thought that would be more fulfilling as an actor. Maybe I was wrong, but I don’t think I was. I really enjoyed that. I got to be a part of his world and he’s really funny and smart, and we got to work together again after that. I don’t think that was the wrong move. I didn’t wanna do anything where I would be so bored and wouldn’t wanna go to work. Luckily, I’ve had no experiences in any movies, where I didn’t wanna go to work, except when I was sick because I was pregnant and that happened twice... There’s a wave that goes up and down. Over my career, I’ve had moments, and then slumps, and then moments, and then slumps, but they’re expected. They’re the only things in life that are expected. Everything is fluid, especially feelings. I never wanted to have to capitalize on a moment and do something for the sake of international revenue or for whatever business purposes. The regrets are few and far between in that respect. Also, I really just wanted to do things that were diverse. From an audience standpoint, I wanted to manipulate that situation as much as I could and control in, so that I could disappear in roles more easily. I know Mamma Mia! didn’t help, but I also need stuff like that too because that was a challenge, in a different way. And nothing has ever been too green screen for me.

How did your previous experience working with Gary Oldman help with your chemistry on Mank?

SEYFRIED: That’s the secret. It actually does help when you’re familiar with someone like Gary. Much like I was with Shirley MacLaine, I could have been really intimidated by him, just because of how incredible they are, as actors. We already had that rapport. We’re pretty similar to Mank and Marion. We’re both really honest. We love to laugh and will do anything for a joke. He loves to tell stories and I love to listen to them. We work very similarly, in that we don’t take things too seriously or ourselves too seriously. You can really feel that connection that we have, in the characters, not just because the script is so wonderful and there’s so much to be said about that incredible script and that beautiful connection that was written, but we just tapped into it so much more easily than two strangers would have.

Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman in Mank
Image via Netflix

What were your initial conversations with David Fincher like? What did you talk about?

SEYFRIED: The first conversation was over Zoom and it was very late at night for me, at like 10 o’clock, and he talked for half an hour. I was worried that he was gonna think I was mute or just didn’t have anything to say. I had read the script and I had thoughts about it. It was very obvious to me, right when I met him, that he was interested in my opinions on the script and on the character of Marion. I found that to be really exciting because it really put me in a position to feel like I was a peer and we were collaborators, as opposed to him being David Fincher and me dying to do this role. We talked about Marion and Mank, we talked about her feelings about where she was in her life and how she walked through this industry and these throngs of powerful white men who had control over her career in a lot of ways. And then, we also talked about how comfortable she felt because she knew who she was. She understood her role in a way that made her feel liberated, in some ways. She was a really interesting person, and we talked about her.

And did David Fincher really do something like 60 takes per scene?

SEYFRIED: Yes. I realize now that the thing I love about theater so much is that I really have time to not become this person, but really feel like I’m living their life. It’s important. To tell a story, if you can get there, you should, and I got to do that. There was no way we were gonna leave a scene and walk away without finding every moment that was possible to find. That’s the beauty of David Fincher, and that’s the beauty of Mank. You see a collection of lasting moments – the moments that land and the moments that truly express the truth of the scene. Not to say that the other movies that I’ve done don’t have that, because they do, but maybe there’s a depth missing in certain moments.

Is Mank a case where you feel like you rose to the occasion?

SEYFRIED: Yeah, I think I did. I’m proud. I’m actually really proud of it. I’m proud of what I did and I’m grateful for this honor. I didn’t expect it and I would have been okay without it, but it means so much because I’m actually here for it and I’m welcoming it with open arms. I wouldn’t have been able to say that five years ago.

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And next up for you is playing Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout, right?

SEYFRIED: Yeah, it’s exciting. I need to put Marion to bed and really start digging into it. I don’t wanna put Marion to bed. I never wanna stop talking about Marion, I love her so much, but it’s time. It’s been awhile since we shot that movie and it’s time to get back to work and roll up my sleeves. I get to play another real person who’s actually alive.

Your other great hope is Glinda in the Wicked musical?

SEYFRIED: There’s no secret there. I will tell the person at the Farmer’s Market that I wanna be Glinda. If I’m not gonna be Glinda, it’s because someone was better suited for it and that’s fine. I’m used to allowing space for that. But I’m perfect for Glinda. There’s a director attached. It’s a studio that I’ve worked for before. I’ve emailed every single person I can email. The main thing about my connection to Wicked and my want to play Glinda is that I have been studying, since Les Mis. For over a decade, I have been singing non-stop to perfect my voice for the next musical. I actually sent a rough voice memo of me singing to Jon Chu because life is short. If he doesn’t want me, that’s okay. I’ve gotta put it out there in the universe. You know what? They’d be lucky to have me. Also, it’s cool if they don’t want me and if I’m not right. If it’s not made in another ten years, then I’m gonna back off.

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