Amanda Seyfried Weeps as The Testament of Ann Lee Gets 15-Minute Standing Ovation at Venice Film Festival
According to Variety, the Venice crowd responded like crazy, going 15 minutes on their feet for Ann Lee, edging out the weekend’s 13 minutes for Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein.
Amanda’s tears were out in the open right after the world premiere on Sept. 1. Video from Variety showed her quietly crying while standing next to the film’s director and co-writer, Mona Fastvold. As the applause rolled, Seyfried scanned the crowd, her face a mix of shock and euphoria, the noise echoing off the art-deco theater’s walls like fireworks.
According to the festival’s synopsis, The Testament of Ann Lee is “an epic fable inspired by the life of Ann Lee, the founder of the Shakers, a radical religious movement that began in the late 1700s.”
Director Fastvold expanded on that in a statement sent to the festival: “Our film is a speculative retelling of the life of Ann Lee, one of the few female religious leaders of the 18th century reported by people. She and her followers, known as the Shakers, worshipped through ecstatic song and movement—trembling, exuberant and physically expressive acts of devotion.”
Just before the movie’s Monday premiere, Seyfried sat down at a press conference and reflected on her one-of-a-kind journey in the role of the film’s title character.
“This opportunity felt totally untethered,” she explained. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “I basically follow Mona into the light, and anything can happen because we have all the freedom. The only real risk is wasting that freedom, so I dive as deep as I can to make the most wild sounds.
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No one’s ever opened that cage for me before.” When a reporter at the Venice press conference asked why she picked Seyfried for the lead, Fastvold answered without hesitation. “Amanda has so much power,” the director said. “She’s fiercely strong. She’s a loving mother, yes, but she also has a little madness in her.
I knew she could feel the kindness and the tenderness while also showing the ferocity.” “At our age,” she went on, “it’s exciting to mix all those shades. I saw that Amanda carries all of it, and I knew she was ready to charge in without looking back.”
Seyfried, also lending her voice to The Testament of Ann Lee, described the shoot as “incredible” but admitted that stepping into the shoes of a woman in charge was “really hard.”She said in a recent press conference that, “I feel the mother instincts, the need for community, kindness, compassion—the whole package. I loved the beautiful intent behind everything Ann and Mona did, and that drew me in.”Still, she urged the film team, “Seriously, you don’t need to cast a Midwesterner.
I was the first to plead, ‘Look for someone English. The accent totally scares me.’ I said, ‘I’m not the strongest accent in this group.’ I thought of the team. This was Mona’s baby. I absolutely did not want to F it up. She promised the world that the take would feel right, and she was right. The moment she stood behind me, I hoped to God that she was not the only one, and I’m proud of how it feels now. Yet the fear lesson it.
The cast also features Thomasin McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Stacy Martin, Tim Blake Nelson, Christopher Abbott, Matthew Beard, Scott Handy, Jamie Bogyo, Viola Prettejohn, and David Cale.
Fastvold co-wrote the script for the upcoming film with her husband, Brady Corbet, who previously teamed with her on the awards contender The Brutalist (2024). That project earned ten Oscar nominations, taking home three, including Best Actor for Adrien Brody.
The Venice International Film Festival is taking place now, ending on Saturday, September 6. A specific release date for The Testament of Ann Lee has not yet been revealed.
