After a rousing interview with Channing Tatum, my fellow journalists and I are ready for round two of our Dear John interviews: Amanda Seyfried (and by the way – her name is pronounced Cy-fred).
She walks into the cavernous room towering in these killer heeled boots and she has a look of concern. She walks over to our table and says, “My child is sick.”
I didn’t know she had a child.
Then she says, “My dog.”
“Awwws” fill the room and she explains that her doggy back home has a runny nose. Luckily, her dog sitter is taking him to the vet. But alas, she composes herself in order to chat with us.
Savannah (Seyfried) reads a heartfelt letter from her dear John
Amanda has a resume of diverse characters and in Dear John, she plays Savannah a love interest that is too perfect for John – but love prevails. At the same time, the character is conflicted because John is overseas serving the country as a soldier in the Army Special Forces. That said, the first topic brought to the table was: how did she feel like playing a romantic lead?
“I felt like I had to fit into this mold when the script came out. I thought, ‘Wow, how cool would it be to play a romantic lead.’ That was my dream. I wanted to be Claire Danes in Romeo and Juliet when I was 12,” she laughs. “This is my chance to inspire other girls to fall in love.”
She goes on to say that it was a challenge fitting that role:
Then again, she says that playing a role like this is good for her. Being one of the emerging talents in Hollywood, tons of scripts get sent to her – but she says she doesn’t read them. That’s her agent’s job. “She knows exactly what I want to do – I trust her 100 percent,” she says. “People know that I can do more than play myself.”
And that she does – especially in an upcoming movie that she just finished.
Relating to prostitutes is one thing, but working with a director like Lasse Hallström is another thing. Working with someone that has foreign symbols in their name has to be intimidating, right?
“I grew up watching his movies,” she adds. “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is one of the best movies ever made. He’s just really good. You sometimes worry that he doesn’t know what he wants, but he’s just chill. He’s laid back.”
Savannah and John (Tatum) have a scientific, yet romantic, discussion about the moon
Throughout the movie, Savannah grows with her relationship with John. She goes through some pretty emotional bumps but still manages to keep her head on straight – a characteristic that Amanda admires.
“Savannah is way more confident than I am,” she says. “In the beginning of the movie she’s 21 and she knows who she is and what she wants. She’s way cooler than I’ll ever be.”
I don’t think Savannah is necessarily “cooler” than Amanda. One common bond they share is music. They both sing well. And that is something Amanda wants to explore in the near future.
And then there’s the whole ordeal about working with Henry Thomas.
But if anything, Amanda wants people to walk away from the movie with the overall theme: Love.
“We can all relate to it,” she adds. “You can take a lot from the movie. It shines a light on autism – it’s something we should know about. There’s a lot of elements that make it easy to watch even if you’re not a 12 to 17 year old girl. It’s not just Channing Tatum with his shirt off.”
Speaking of a shirtless Channing, Amanda feels that at times, people seem to be more interested in him than her when it comes to this movie – but she jokes about it and understands why this press tour is becoming Channing-palooza.
Amanda may be correct, but if it wasn’t for her, Channing’s character wouldn’t have found his heart. He also would’ve been making out with himself throughout the entire movie. Although that might be good for some, it wouldn’t necessarily make an ideal movie-going experience for the masses.
’Dear John’ is in theaters February 5. Read my interview with Channing Tatum by clicking here.
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