Amanda Seyfried's Epiphanies

"On a recent chilly day in New York City, I met the actress Amanda Seyfried for lunch inside Clement, a quiet, white-tableclothed restaurant at the Peninsula Hotel, in midtown. We'd selected the location because it was near the studios of "The Kelly Clarkson Show," where she was set to sing a duet with Clarkson, of Clarkson's 2003 ballad "Beautiful Disaster," later that afternoon. "It's, like, a very specific dream come true for someone of our micro-generation," Seyfried said."

"Seyfried, who turned forty in December, was wrapping up a press tour to support two very different films. " The Housemaid," a runaway box-office hit, is a campy thriller based on Freida McFadden's best-selling novel and directed by Paul Feig. In it, Seyfried plays Nina Winchester, a wealthy woman who hires a live-in housekeeper (Sydney Sweeney) who soon discovers that Nina's private life is full of dark, twisted secrets."

On a chilly day in New York City, Amanda Seyfried lunched at Clement near the Peninsula Hotel and planned a Kelly Clarkson Show duet. She turned forty in December and was concluding a press tour for two contrasting films. The Housemaid is a campy, box-office thriller directed by Paul Feig in which Seyfried plays wealthy Nina Winchester, whose housekeeper uncovers dark secrets. The Testament of Ann Lee, directed by Mona Fastvold, portrays Ann Lee, an illiterate Manchester woman who founded the American Shaker movement in the late 1700s. Fastvold filmed on a ten million dollar budget in just over a month, and Seyfried's committed performance gives the film a monumental feeling. The Shakers were named for worship practices that included singing and stomping.

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