NEW YORK – No matter what your opinion of Tom Hooper’s “Les Miserables” there is one thing everyone can agree on: it’s great to hear Amanda Seyfried singing again.
At a still spry 27, Seyfried’s diverse career has included a breakout role in “Mean Girls,” HBO’s “Big Love” and hits including “Letters to Juliet,” “Dear John” and “In Time.” What’s she best known for, however, is the global blockbuster “Mamma Mia!” and of all the actors and actresses singing ABBA’s greatest hits, Seyfried’s fantastic voice was the biggest surprise. The movie gods have now shined on audiences once again and Seyfried is thankfully in another movie musical. In the clip embedded below, “A Heart Full of Love,” you can hear Seyfried’s angelic falsetto alongside co-star Eddie Redmayne.
Like many of her co-stars, Seyfried had to train approximately five months before shooting began in order to endure the long hours of singing live on set.
“I got the role four months after I [was] auditioning. And then I had to shoot a movie and throughout that I was taking voice lessons,” Seyfried says. “So, I quit when I was 17 and started taking voice lessons again when I was 25. It was tough to really get back on the saddle and really study the technique. It was daunting.”
Having been part of the “Mamma Mia!” phenomenon, Seyfried was keenly aware how critical hardcore fans can be. And considering Hugh Jackman’s days as Wolverine and Anne Hathaway’s recent turn as Catwoman in “The Dark Knight Rises,” she wasn’t the only one.
“Everybody was a little worried about it,” Seyfried admits. “That’s always a fact you have to face when you are gonna take something from stage to screen or vice versa and I think Tom had everything covered. It was like he was going to transfer this musical so perfectly and then add these colors that you don’t necessarily miss when you watch the musical, but when you see the movie you go, ‘Oh, my god. That makes so much more sense now.’ Just [defining] the characters and make things more intimate and specific and just color things in. For me as a fan, it captures the essence of what we performed on stage.”
With two successful movie musicals to her credit, it’s no surprise Broadway producers would be pestering her to try her luck on the Great White Way. Sadly, that might have to wait a decade or two.
“I was gonna do a Broadway show this fall, but it was just a show,” Seyfried says. “I can’t see myself doing a musical on Broadway. Too much work.”
For more on “Les Miserables” and Seyfried, you can watch the interview embedded at the top of this post.
“Les Miserables” is now playing nationwide.