Amanda Seyfried opens up about the realities of romance

Amanda Seyfried at the New York City press junket for "Letters to Juliet"

As a rising star, Amanda Seyfried has become recognizable in recent years for playing women who are romantics at heart, whether it be in 2008’s "Mamma Mia!" or in 2010’s "Dear John" and "Letters to Juliet." (Even in the erotic thriller "Chloe," Seyfried played a hooker with an insatiable need to be loved, even if her love was obsessive.) In real life, Seyfried says she’s a romantic, but she’s a lot more realistic than her on-screen alter egos. Still, the actress says there is always a little bit of her real personality in every character that she plays.

In the drama "Letters to Juliet," Seyfried plays Sophie Hall, a New York City magazine fact checker/aspiring writer, who travels to Italy with her fiancé, Victor (played by Gael García Bernal), for a pre-honeymoon romantic trip. Victor is a chef who is about to open a restaurant back in New York City, and he spends most of the trip consumed with finding the perfect recipes for his restaurant. Feeling bored and ignored, Sophie finds herself joining a group of women in the Italian city of Verona (the setting of Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet") who answer love-related letters left in a wall in for the fabled Juliet. Sophie finds a letter written 50 years earlier by a British woman named Claire (played by Vanessa Redgrave), who laments the loss of her first love, an Italian guy named Lorenzo Bartolini.

Sophie is so moved by the letter that she writes to Claire and invites her to come to Verona to track down Claire’s long-lost love. Claire, who is a widow, arrives in Verona with her grandson Charlie (played by Christopher Egan), who immediately clashes with Sophie, since he believes that Sophie is leading his grandmother on a wild-goose chase. When Sophie offers to accompany Claire and Charlie in the search for Claire’s lost love, he resents Sophie even more for what believes is her intrusion in his grandmother’s life. While Seyfried was in New York City for the world premiere of "Letters to Juliet" at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, I sat down with her at the movie’s press junket, and she candidly shared her thoughts on romance, marriage and what type of project she’d like to do with her boyfriend (and "Mamma Mia!" co-star) Dominic Cooper.

Amanda Seyfried in "Letters to Juliet"

What was the main reason why you wanted to do "Letters to Juliet"?

The reason why I did this movie was because I met Gary [Winick, the director of "Letters to Juliet"], we had lunch, and I was like, "I’ll do anything you want me to do." When you meet somebody that you feel you can connect with right off the bat, that’s special, and if you can create something like this [movie] together, why not? … It made sense. That was the only movie I could do in the time I had off.

Do you think "Letters to Juliet" is the most romantic movie you could ever make?

I don’t know. It’s full of that [romance] and long-lost love and true love and fate … I’m not going to make a romantic comedy for a while, I’m sure. My focus is to not focus too much on one genre. I like to keep people guessing.

Christopher Egan and Amanda Seyfried in "Letters to Juliet"

What’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever experienced?

Just flying, going across the ocean to see somebody, I think is romantic in itself. I happen to be really a romantic. I like to make things for people. I had a relationship where I constantly made cards. I make cards anyway, but I construct cards in my own little way. That’s really romantic. And being driven on the back of a motorbike across the country was pretty amazing.

But the craziest thing I did, which isn’t that crazy, is fly and surprise somebody. And before he woke up, he was sleeping, it was like 8 a.m., and I flew from Toronto to New York, and I got in bed with him, and he was just blown away. That made me feel really good.

Was there anything you related to for your "Letters to Juliet" character? For example, do love Shakespeare? Do you feel a connection to "Romeo and Juliet"?

I have a really, really strong connection to "Romeo + Juliet," the Baz Luhrmann movie. I don’t know why. I was just so intensely inspired by it when I was 10, and I’ve never let that go. It’s kind of a thing that threw me into being an actor.

Amanda Seyfried in "Letters to Juliet"

Do you have any favorite scenes in that movie?

Yeah, the aquarium. The first moments that [Romeo and Juliet] have, they shake you beyond. As a 10-year-old, I was just thrown by how real it was and by how it felt for me to be watching that. It was really powerful. And it still is. I had a talk with Leonardo DiCaprio [who played Romeo in the movie], and he said, "Yeah, it’s true. That’s my favorite movie." It’s the reason why I’m sitting here and in L.A. making movies.

How is it working with Leonard DiCaprio, who is one of the producers of your movie "The Girl With the Red Riding Hood"?

I didn’t realize it was his idea to make that movie, to turn it into a gothic film. And it’s going to be great.

Amanda Seyfried in "Letters to Juliet"

Do you relate to all the characters that you play?

Yeah, I always find a personal connection in everything. [My "Letters to Juliet" character] is clearly just a version of myself. It’s a pretty normal young woman who’s inspired by love, goes to lengths to help somebody out and to find something beautiful. And she’s very much like me. She’s also very similar to my character in "Mamma Mia!," who’s also named Sophie. When I play these roles, it’s not because they’re challenging. It’s more for the fact that I’m playing somebody who’s easily relatable, the audiences will understand and will relate to and feel connected to, because I want to be a version of everybody.

That’s the thing about all these mainstream, romantic movies: that you can connect to a lot of people, because you’re similar to them or similar to someone you know and love. It’s fun to play. It’s not as challenging as, say, "Chloe," but it’s still super-fulfilling. And yeah, I connect to her [my "Letters to Juliet"] character, because she’s on her path to find herself and discover things about herself and other people. She likes to travel, and she’s adventurous, and I feel like I could connect with her.

Amanda Seyfried and Gael García Bernal in "Letters to Juliet"

Sophie starts to have doubts about getting married to Victor. Do you think romantic movies should have people second-guessing their relationships?

Yeah. You can get lost in a relationship. You can get in a rut or you can just forget what you love about the person. You’re spending so much time with them, because there’s such a strong friendship there between my character and Gael [Garcia Bernal’s] character, that I think they lost their way, and they forgot why they were even together in the first place. He was into something completely different and very selfish about it, and she has her own life and her own plan. And they became such good friends that it just worked for them.

And what she realizes is that she’s missing a lot out of that relationship. And luckily, there’s somebody else to point her in the right direction — and that’s Chris [Egan’s] character, and it’s special. We all get stuck. We all lose ourselves a little bit in a fantasy or in our jobs and forget how we feel about other things. It’s really important to check yourself, to spend some time alone.

Vanessa Redgrave and Amanda Seyfried in "Letters to Juliet"

In "Letters to Juliet," Sophie is quite the matchmaker for Vanessa Redgrave’s Claire character. In real life, do you prefer to be the matchmaker or the person being matched?

I’m definitely a matchmaker. I’m always thinking about somebody who’s looking for somebody, and when I meet somebody who’s single and has these qualities that a friend of mine would appreciate, I absolutely do almost anything. [She laughs.] I’ve gotten in trouble a lot, actually.

I want people to find happiness like that. I know I have. I feel it. I’ve had it a lot in my life. I’ve been really lucky with love, and I’m dying for people to feel the same way, especially when I know some of my friends are a little bit lonely, and I just want them to be happy. And I think the secret to the happiness would be finding someone else. And sometimes I’ll be wrong about it, and their happiness has nothing to do with finding someone else. It’s just has to do with being in the right spot. I don’t know. There are so many reasons to fulfill someone. I get confused at times, and I try to help out by that, but it doesn’t necessarily work out all the time.

Do you think it’s difficult to entertainers to "have it all": a fulfilling personal life and a great career? For example, how do you feel about the theory that in order for artists to be truly committed to their art, their personal lives have to suffer?

There are always sacrifices, I think. As an artist, I feel that everything in life becomes work. Everything that you do can be connected to your art, whether you’re a singer, an actor or painter. It can completely bleed into your life and take over a little bit and you can become consumed. Yeah, sometimes [art] is more important. Sometimes you have moments where it just feels more important, but everything should have equal priority. We all lose our way a little bit and get too focused on one thing, but we always come back.

Dominic Cooper and Amanda Seyfried at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival premiere of "Letters to Juliet" in New York City

If you could pick a project to work with your boyfriend Dominic Cooper again, what would it be? Theater? A movie?

I would love to do theater with him. He’s the king.

West End or Broadway?

Broadway. He definitely excels on stage. He’s a really good actor, no matter what. He just did a movie where I swear to you, he’s going to win some serious accolades. It’s "The Devil’s Double." He plays Uday Hussein and his body double. I mean, who’s worked that hard in the last 10 years? You can name a handful of people. And I’ve seen him go through it, and how he’s done it, and he succeeded, and he’s amazing. It ["The Devil’s Double"] was directed by Lee Tamahori.

But I’d rather do something on stage with [Dominic], because he can guide me a little bit. He knows everything there is to know about stage. I really think so. I know he’s young, but I hold him in high regard.

On stage, would you rather do a play or musical?

I’d rather do plays.

Amanda Seyfried in "Letters to Juliet"

Most people got to see you sing because of the "Mamma Mia!" movie. When can people see you sing again?

Probably on film. I am headed into the studio just to record some things I’ve written, but really for fun, for now. I ran into Joshua Radin, the songwriter … and he asked me to sing harmony on one of his songs. I’m very much into that world, and if someone’s going to invite me onto their album, I’ll surely take that opportunity, because it means so much to me. If I’m going to sing, you’re going to hear it on a soundtrack. I’m not going to put out an album [performing my own songs] … but I change my mind about a lot of things all the time.

I don’t know about [stage] musicals. I want to be moved by some really strong plays, and I think Broadway is the thing. I’m seriously considering it. I’m taking meetings with directors. If anybody wants me and offers me something, I’m going to consider it.

What’s the name of the Joshua Radin song for which you did harmonies?

I think it’s called "Eternity," but I actually haven’t heard it yet.

Gael García Bernal and Amanda Seyfried in "Letters to Juliet"

How important do you think being faithful is in a relationship?

I think if you’re going to get married and you weren’t planning on being faithful, then you have nothing. I think that’s why a lot of people who are young like me shouldn’t be getting married. We’re still changing. Our tastes are still changing, our minds are still changing. We’re still learning. I’m really against marriage at a young age. I think a lot of people don’t have any business getting married. There are so many reasons why people get married, and most of them are wrong.

So when do you think people should get married?

I think when you know who you are and know what you want and you’ve seen it all and you’ve met that person. Anything’s possible.

Amanda Seyfried and Christopher Egan in "Letters to Juliet"

You said you’re against marriage at a young age. At what age do you think most people are ready to get married?

Sometime in your late 30s, maybe. I’m hoping to find that space. But marriage really isn’t important to me. I think children are important, and children growing up in a loving environment is important. But that whole marriage thing? I don’t really get it. It’s an institution. It’s great if it works for people, but I think a lot of people do it for the wrong reasons. I’ve seen it too much. I’m not inspired by it.

You’ve gotten to work in some amazing locations. What were some of the highlights of filming "Letters to Juliet" in Italy?

Gary Winick and ["Letters to Juliet" producer] Mark Canton and I went to an Elton John concert, and we sat in the front row. It was the night of Michael Jackson’s memorial service in L.A., and Elton John was wearing his sequined Michael Jackson jacket. It was the best show! It was so amazing, because I know all the songs. He’s a legend. And we saw [the concert] at the Verona Arena, where they have all the operas.

Gary and I played doubles with Vanessa [Redgrave] and Dominic [Cooper] on the tennis court in the early mornings, after work. It was crazy! She moves like a whip. She’s really fit. And we drank a lot of wine and ate a lot of food. I really liked it.

Vanessa Redgrave and Amanda Seyfried in "Letters to Juliet"

What was the most important thing you learned from working with Vanessa Redgrave?

I don’t know. I think just to keep an open mind. And a clever imagination really takes you far as an actor … She’s able to connect with anyone and everyone. She’s been through so much in her life and she’s experienced years and years of accomplishments, raising children and traveling and having a long-distance relationship. She’s really learned a lot, and she’s just willing to give herself. I’ve never really met anybody like her. She’s a miracle.

When it comes to finding the love of your life, how much do you believe in destiny or fate?

Sometimes I really don’t even know what I believe … but I definitely think that there are things that will happen no matter what if you make the right choices.

Amanda Seyfried, Vanessa Redgrave and Christopher Egan in "Letters to Juliet"

You mentioned going to the Elton John concert in Verona. Is that the kind of music you normally listen to these days?

I don’t really sit around listen to Elton John anymore, but I used to a lot when I was growing up. And then I got a little older and I was listening to ‘N Sync and Backstreet Boys. And then my taste got way better when I started listening to indie music and folk music and alt rock. Now, I’m all over the map. I appreciate most music. Even rap music — I don’t listen to it, but I respect it. I started listening to Joshua Radin when I met him. Damien Rice, people who are singer/songwriter-ish.

What can you say about any of your upcoming movies?

"Albert Nobbs" is happening [going into production] in June [2010]. I’m leaving the last week of May to got to Ireland do that. I’m also doing "The Girl With the Red Riding Hood" in July in Vancouver for a couple of months.

What about "A Woman of No Importance"?

That’s been around for two years now. It’s been around for longer than that, but I’ve been attached to it for two years now. It used to be Sienna Miller, and before that, Lindsay Lohan. So it might be somebody else [eventually cast in the role that I’m attached to play], actually, because I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it.

Photo credits: Photo #1: Carla Hay. Photo #8: Getty Images. All other photos: Summit Entertainment.