Amanda Seyfried in “The Crowded Room”, the interview

TOsend Seyfried she defines herself impetuous and curious. She looks fragile and diaphanous like a Renaissance angel by Melozzo da Forlì, with big blue eyes, blond curls and a sweet smile, but it’s a moment: in reality she is a determined and stubborn woman in chasing characters she wants to bring to the screen.

His personal life, then, is the result of a perfect balance between opposite worlds: he flies to Los Angeles – he says peremptorily – only for work, while lives in upstate New York, on a farm with her husband, Thomas Sadoskyto their two children (Nina, six, and Thomas, two) and in the company of horses, goats, dogs and tortoises.

Oscars and Golden Globes

Since his film debut in mean girlsin 2004we have seen it in different projects, from Big Love (she was the teenage daughter of a polygamous family) to the hugely popular musicals Oh mama! And The Miserables. You have worked with David Fincher, David Lynch, Paul Schrader, Noah Baumbach, Atom Egoyan, always demonstrating a versatile talent, and stubbornly managing to avoid being saddled with the cliché of the (solo) beautiful and seductive blonde.

As Hollywood actress Marion Davis in Mankearned an Oscar nomination, and then an Emmy and a Golden Globe with the TV series The Dropoutin which she played with great sensitivity the visionary and ambitious Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the Theranos company (she promised a technology that allowed rapid and highly effective blood tests, ending up sentenced to 11 years in prison for fraud, ed).

The Crowded Rooma psychological thriller

Now in the series The Crowded Room (on Apple TV+) – a psychological thriller written by Akiva Goldsman (Oscar winner for A Beautiful Mind) – Seyfried plays another charismatic and intense role: she is Rya Goodwinthe investigator who interrogates the young man with a hammer for six months Danny Sullivan (a splendid Tom Holland, the English actor of Spider-Man), accused of murder, bringing out the boy’s unspoken past from their long and painful encounters and clashes. She on stage she appears without make-up, dressed hastily, her hair combed back; today, however, at our conversation, with a shiny apple green silk jacket, very long golden hair, soft pink lips, she is a mermaid. But direct, immediate, vehement in the answers, because she – she reiterates clearly – «I believe in this series, I’m passionate about it».

Destabilizing effect

Why does he care so much?
I fell in love with Rya, her tenacity and curiosity fascinated me. I was struck by her interest in humanity and her struggles. My emotional spectrum is intense, and here I had the opportunity to manifest it: The Crowded Room it was a new challenge. And then there was Tom…

For Holland it was a very strong experience from an emotional point of view: he confessed that the six months of production had a destabilizing effect on him and also influenced his behavior off the set. Has this happened to her too?
No, not me. But Tom’s character is probably one of the toughest and most difficult ever written, I was amazed at his total dedication, complete abandon in playing Danny, such a confused, ambivalent and complex boy.

I guess it wasn’t easy for her either.
At the beginning we were closed in a room, sitting at a table, the two of us, for hours and hours of rehearsals. As the days went by, our relationship became more spontaneous and relaxed: I, the inquisitor, was forced to extract all possible information from him; him in such a continuous seesaw of emotions, with moments of anger alternating with sadness… In the end he collapsed exhausted. Gradually, however, each time he was freer, more relaxed, he was finally able to breathe deeply: that room had become a sort of refuge for both of them.

Amanda Seyfried’s childhood

Investigating, interrogating and dealing with a troubled young man like Danny requires a certain psychological preparation, and a strong component of empathy. Goldman, also author of the series, wrote it with “the hope of creating compassion and greater understanding for those who feel different.” Danny also has a very complicated relationship with his mother.
I believe that every problem always starts from childhood. Not all parents have the tools to deal with and resolve their children’s emotional turmoil, especially if they are unable to deal with their own. It’s a vicious circle, a cycle that repeats itself: each of us has his own trauma: everyone was a child and the trauma is rooted in the history of humanity.

Are the new generations more aware of these problems?
I don’t think so, these problems have always existed. Today’s reality is not very different from that of the 70s (the series is set in the New York of that decade, ed), only now it is talked about openly, it is accepted and much more attention is paid to it.

Horrible discomfort

She is the mother of two children…
…and I would never want my children to feel emotions that they cannot express or share with me or, even worse, that they have to hide, remove them. This would exacerbate the situation and they would never get over it. Instead they should build up their own defenses, even with my help, and feel free to express their feelings. Raising children is difficult, one should pass an exam before having a child, rather than driving a car!

She looks like a woman who knows what she wants. She is successful at work, a close-knit family, lives in the countryside and works between New York and Hollywood. Yet I remember that a few years ago she told me that she was going through a difficult period, made up of anguish and panic attacks. How did she come out of it?
Talking about it, addressing my issues openly. I had to be honest with my mother, decide to ask her for help, and admit that I was scared. It’s hard to tell someone you’re scared, usually you prefer to say, “I’m angry with you.” At that time my mother left everything and she came to live with me for a month. I felt like a horrible creature, as well as horribly uncomfortable. Then revealing that feeling of embarrassment was dramatic because I felt ashamed, or something similar to shame.

“My tricks”

And what happened after that?
I began to treat myself, to see a therapist and discovered that I had obsessive-compulsive syndrome: it is a condition you can live with, you can even overcome it, but you have to work on it very seriously. It’s very difficult to break certain mechanisms: we generally try to survive and our mind puts tricks into action to help us.

An example?
Not wanting to think that one day we will die. We don’t want to admit it, we deny this reality, we remove it because we want to live at all costs. I don’t want to think about my death because I’m here with you now, and that’s right, but there are certain considerations we should make in order to accept that truth and move on with our lives. For this reason I must learn to recognize what is deleterious, destructive: it creates an imbalance in my life and has negative consequences.

It is always interesting to hear her talk about her experiences.
It all becomes “existential”, doesn’t it? I get passionate when we address certain topics. I also know that when we talk about our traumas, we don’t fix everything and we can’t “heal” them completely, but I also believe that the more we talk about them, the more old wounds heal. It’s just a matter – as I said – of finding the right tools, and with them building your own rescue kit. If then, with what we have learned, we are able to lend a hand to those in need, even better.

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