Actress Amanda Seyfried probably never envisioned herself as one of the stars of the film adaptation of the beloved musical Les Misérables when she was appearing in small roles on soap operas as a teenager, but when The Hollywood Reporter asked her about her role in the film at the New York premiere she had nothing but great things to say about the experience.
When asked what she had to work on most for the challenging role, Seyfried says, “The only thing I thought about was how I was going to make my character more interesting; how the Marius and Cosette relationship could be more profound and how I could sing better. And it’s an exhausting process.”
As for watching herself on screen — and, in particular, singing on screen — Seyfried confesses that to some degree she feels distant from the person in the film. She explains, “It feels surreal sometimes. But yeah, there are a lot of things that goes through an actor’s mind when they’re watching themselves with an audience, but it’s not even really about that for me at the end of the day. It was what it was about when I was doing it. I can’t fix it, so I’m detached from it in a way.”
So how did she wind down after such an exhausting shoot? Relaxing in one of the most old-fashioned of ways, apparently. She reveals, “I was doing a lot of knitting. There was no wine at the end of the long day, we didn’t go party at the end of a long day. We all kind of went to our separate holes and took care of ourselves for the next day. At least from my experience, I know I just kind of hibernated.”
Of all the musical’s memorable songs — and Seyfried sings a few of them — there is one that she wishes her character got to sing in the film. She admits she would’ve liked to have sung “A Little Fall of Rain,” adding, “I like that song. I auditioned with that song.”
