Amanda Seyfried tackled a tall task by stepping into the shoes and strict religious beliefs of Shakers founder Ann Lee for her new film, The Testament of Ann Lee . The film’s writer and co-director Mona Fastvold fielded an obvious question during today’s Venice Film Festival press conference: Why Amanda?

“Amanda has a lot of power. She’s really strong. She is a wonderful mother. She is a little mad,” Fastvold explained of her Emmy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated star. “So, I knew that she could access those things, the kindness, the gentleness, the tenderness. And she could also access this power and this madness.”

Amanda Seyfried tackled a tall task by stepping into the shoes and strict religious beliefs of Shakers founder Ann Lee for her new film, The Testament of Ann Lee

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