Filmmakers Mona Fastvold and Brady Corbet were outspoken about the challenge of independent cinema at the Venice Film Festival along with their drastic musical drama The Testament of Ann Lee. Their latest collaboration explores the founder leader of Shaker, a radical religious moment that began in the late 1700s. This focuses on this lesser-known chapter in American history. In other words, the film was not the most obvious sale to film financiers.
“It was a pretty feat,” said Corbett, who co-written “Anley’s Will” with FastVold at an official press conference. “As you can imagine, the elevator pitch for the Shaker Musical was not the easiest to get off the ground.”
Producer Andrew Morrison was responsible for covering the film’s $10 million price tag, and “certainly there’s something simple,” he added, “the goal was for Mona to have total creative freedom.”
Despite her financial budget, FastVold was willing to compromise on her grand vision in bringing Ann Lee’s story to the screen.
“I thought she deserved something grand and wonderful,” Fastvold returned to Venice just a year after directing the film and co-written the 2024 awards season darling, The Brutalist. “Have you seen male icons over and over again on a massive scale? Can’t you see one story about women like this?”
Amanda Seyfried starred the historic drama musical star as Anne Lee, founder of 18th century Christian Sect the Shaker. Born in Manchester, England, in the face of religious persecution, Lee moved to the United States in 1776 with a small group despite experiencing many personal traumas. FastVold came up with Seyfried, known for films such as “Mean Girls,” “Mamma Mia,” and “Les Miserables.”
“Amanda has a lot of power. She’s a very strong, a great mother and a little mad,” FastVold said. “I knew she had access to those things. I saw Amanda was ready to fully gain momentum.”
Seyfried described the role as “enlightening and incredibly therapeutic.”
“I’ve never been released like this,” she said. “It was incredible, but it was also difficult to play someone who was the leader.”
Before the press conference, Safried spoke to variety about singing on screen for the first time since “Mamma Mia 2,” and spoke in a more chanting style that was very different from what she had done before.
“In contrast to melodic sounds, a lot of them were animal sounds,” she said. Because one song had to release “my shit, ears, needs, Amanda’s needs, to find a voice that is passion, life, sadness, and despair.”
Before the press conference, the cast and creative panel were asked if there were any people in the modern era who looked like someone like Anley.
“Mona is closest,” Corvette said with a laugh. “That’s your mother Mona, baby.”
