I’m weirdly interested in Amanda Seyfried’s recent film, The Testament of Ann Lee. I can’t even say why, it just looks interesting? Maybe that’s because its concept seems so unlike most other period films coming out these days? I can’t put my finger on it, but this seems like a good time to track down her previous frock flicks appearances!
Valerie in Red Riding Hood (2011)
Much more fantasy than historical, this film is loosely based on the fairy tale; Seyfried plays the titular character.
Cosette in Les Misérables (2012)
Seyfried plays Cosette, the ingenue (blech yuck Team Eponine), in this feature film adaptation of the musical version of the 1830s-set Victor Hugo tale.
Linda in Lovelace (2013)
A biopic about the actress who starred in the famous pornographic film, Deep Throat (1972).
Louise in A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)
A Western comedy about “a cowardly frontiersman who gains courage with the help of a female gunfighter and must use his newfound skills in a confrontation with her villainous outlaw husband” (Wikipedia).
Mary in Pan (2015)
A fantasy film prequel to the Peter Pan story. Seyfried plays Pan’s mother in pre-World War II London.
Marion Davies in Mank (2020)
A biopic about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and his development of the screenplay for Orson Welles’s 1941 film Citizen Kane. Davies is, of course, the famous silent actress who left the film industry to be publisher William Randolph Hearst’s mistress.
Ann Lee in The Testament of Ann Lee (2025)
A feature film biopic about Ann Lee (1736-84), founder of the Shaker religious movement.
Which is your favorite of Amanda Seyfried’s frock flicks roles? What are you thinking about Ann Lee?
How accurate is the Les Mis bonnet? I know they had wide-brimmed bonnets that stuck out forward, hiding the face, but were ones that flared up above the head a real thing?
Holy smokes, Dame Julie Christie, Virginia Madsen AND Amanda Seyfried in one family tree? Their fairy godmother must be clocking some very serious overtime!
Also, whenever I see la Belle Amanda one keeps wondering how long it can possibly be before she and Ms Michelle Pfeiffer make a film together: I can easily imagine them playing close relations.
Oh, and Sir Gary is not only wearing velvet, he is wearing PURPLE Velvet, the grooviest velvet of them all!
I haven’t seen MANK, but I’m guessing that last photo of a sort of white “drum majorette” outfit might’ve been an approximation of a costume Marion Davies wore in BLONDIE OF THE FOLLIES (1932)– which I also haven’t seen, but going on stills.
And 26 years before playing Seyfried’s mother in RED RIDING HOOD, Virginia Madsen had an early starring role playing Marion Davies in THE HEARST AND DAVIES AFFAIR, a 1985 ABC TV-movie.
Posted too soon– I just found an article from THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER where MANK costume designer Trish Summerville says the costume was a “fairly direct recreation” of what Davies wore for a circus-themed costume party thrown at the Hearst “castle,” and was based on a photo from Davies’ own book.
The THR article has more info about the MANK costumes shown, and can be found here:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/style/costume-designer-trish-summerville-on-the-glamorous-looks-of-manks-amanda-seyfried-4101011/