Amanda Seyfried knows exactly what she wants from Hollywood

MAMMA MIA! star Amanda Seyfried has her future pretty well mapped out. The first-time mum wants to keep working as an actor — but she has a very particular set of terms by which that will happen.

AMANDA Seyfried has her future pretty well mapped out. The first-time mum wants to keep working as an actor — but on her own terms.

“As an actor, as a performer, here is what I would like to put out there in the universe: I would like to do two movies a year, very quality movies, whether they be a comedy or a musical or some kind of thriller or a documentary,” Seyfried says.

“I want to be working but I only want to do two movies a year because press tours are really hard and I want to have more kids so I am going to try to get that all worked out for the next decade.”

Seyfried, Pierce and Streep in a scene from Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.

The 32-year-old Hollywood star and her castmates sat down with Insider at London’s Corinthia Hotel this week ahead of the world premiere of her new film, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, in which she returns as Sophie Sheridan.

The much anticipated follow-up to the 2008 blockbuster Mamma Mia is again a romantic comedy interwoven with an irresistible soundtrack of ABBA songs performed by the actors themselves.

Seyfried, who is mum to a one-year-old daughter, is refreshingly honest in a business where big name stars often avoid talking about anything controversial.

Nothing is off limits, which she believes to be important in the “new Hollywood”, changing rapidly in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the ongoing #MeToo movement.

“I like to not lie if I can,” she says. “I think it (Hollywood) is less bells and whistles these days; I think people are catching on. They are like, ‘I should just be honest’ because people don’t actually want to see me bullshitting them. I don’t like to tell too much anymore because I realise a filter is very important for privacy and to keep out of the headlines but I do like to just be honest and there are certain things that I won’t (filter), that just need to be said and I’d like to say them. I’ve gotten such good feedback from my peers and from fans that they appreciate the honesty so I am going to keep doing it as long as it doesn’t harm anybody.”

Seyfried prides herself on being open and honest about life in Hollywood.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is a happy film, something Seyfried believes the world needs at this time.

“You have to have joy in this, what do we call it? In this embarrassing climate … where we don’t believe in climate change … yeah it is joyous. It is exactly what we need.”

The second Mamma Mia film sees Seyfried reunited with an all-star cast that includes Meryl Streep, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard and Dominic Cooper.

Sophie is expecting her first baby in the movie; the story flashes back to her mother Donna’s life at the same age, with Lily James stepping up to fill the younger Donna’s shoes. And superstar Cher pops up as Sophie’s grandmother, Ruby.

The film puts women centre stage, “where they belong”, Seyfried says.

“There is no ego involved. This whole set was ego-less and that is what is beautiful about this movie, that it is so lacking ego,” she says.

“We have Cher coming in to the room and she is as sweet and as young spirited
as anybody and we are all connecting on this level like we are so glad to be here because
we didn’t expect this to happen and now we get to tell this story in a different way and be together. I think that is what is really special about this. All of the guys have so much humility because at the end of the day, humility is what matters. Can you laugh at yourself? Can you make a joke of something? Yep. You are going to be fine.”

A scene from Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.

Does Seyfried laugh at herself?

“Sure, I have to,” she says. “It is all ridiculous right, the whole world. The business is funny but everything is really funny if you think about it. Trump being President … funny right?”

Co-star Brosnan, who plays one of three possible fathers to Sophie, alongside Skarsgard and Firth, has no problem having a laugh at his own expense either.

“The lads dressing up in spandex, we know the joke is on us and the singing is on us or whatever you call this,” he says. “I opened the paper this morning and there was something about me sounding like a donkey when I was singing but you have to laugh. They didn’t employ me as a singer; they employed me as an actor to interpret this delightful drama. It is just a joyful piece, it is a theatrical piece, it wears its heart on its sleeve and there is a wonderful sense of humour and irony to it.”

Neither does Brosnan have a problem taking a back seat to his female co-stars.

“It (the film) celebrates women and I think it couldn’t do a better job,” the former James Bond star says.

Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard and Pierce Brosnan. Picture: Jonathan Prime/Universal Pictures via AP

“The songs tell that story, the stage play did the same and I think the first film was just epic and just such an epic surprise for all of us and the world at large. All of those ingredients are still there now, if not even more poignant than ever in these kind of troubled times and times of reality TV, which does so much shaming of people’s lives and is a cannibalisation of our society.

“There’s no celebration of each other as men and women.

“Women must be celebrated and must be honoured and I think this film embraces that.”

Telling a joyful story wasn’t Seyfried’s only reason for signing on for the sequel, set five years after the previous film. With acting credits that include Mean Girls, In Time, Red Riding Hood, The Big Wedding and Les Miserables, she’s a realist who knows how the business works. The first Mamma Mia flick was a massive global hit and Seyfried is banking on the sequel to keep her currency as an actor up there.

“It was exactly what I needed,” she says. “I didn’t realise how important this was going to be when I’d had my child and they were like, ‘we are going to start shooting in September and
I was like, ‘you can go and F yourself. I am so glad it is here, it is such a good story.

“I needed a movie that would give me international value for career purposes. That is so stupid but it does matter — it matters in terms of what work you get. I also needed to do another musical because I love to sing and I love to dance and I also needed to do a feel-good family film because I’d just had a baby and that is what I am attracted to and so that is what I will continue to look for.”

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is now showing.

Originally published as Amanda Seyfried knows exactly what she wants from Hollywood