The Testament of Ann Lee

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‘The Brutalist’ Team Have Wrapped On An Under-The-Radar Musical Called ‘Ann Lee’ Starring Amanda Seyfried, Thomasin McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Christopher Abbott, Tim Blake Nelson & Stacy Martin

The team behind seven-time Golden Globe nominee The Brutalist have been quietly working on a starry musical called Ann Lee, which has now wrapped, with Oscar nominee Amanda Seyfried (Mank) in the lead role.

Mona Fastvold (The World To Come), Golden Globe-nominated co-writer of The Brutalist, serves as director, co-screenwriter, and producer. Venice Silver Lion winner Brady Corbet co-wrote with his Brutalist collaborator and partner, Fastvold. Golden Globe-nominated composer Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist) wrote and produced the original music.

The film, inspired by real events, is described to us as “an epic fable” about religious leader Ann Lee, the founding leader of the Shaker Movement, who was proclaimed by her followers as the female Christ and went on to build one of the largest utopian societies in American history. Lee–one of the rare female religious heads at the time– and her followers worshipped through exuberant song and dance.

Lee, also known as Mother Ann Lee, was born in England in 1736 but in 1774 she and a small group of her followers emigrated to New York where Lee continued to become a prominent and powerful figure.

Seyfried, who won a Golden Globe and Emmy for The Dropout, leads the movie in the title role with supporting cast including Thomasin McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Christopher Abbott, Tim Blake Nelson, Stacy Martin, Matthew Beard, Scott Handy, Viola Prettejohn, David Cale, and Jamie Bogyo.

The project marks Seyfried’s first musical since 2018 hit sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, though this is of a very different register. She also starred in Les Miserables.

Pic is produced by Kaplan Morrison’s Andrew Morrison, Intake Films’ Joshua Horsfield, Proton Cinema’s Viktoria Petranyi, Mona Fastvold, and Brady Corbet alongside Mark Lampert, Mid March Media’s Gregory Jankilevitsch and Klaudia Smieja-Rostworowska, and Mizzel Media’s Lillian LaSalle.

The team are lining up a 2025 launch. Sales and distribution has yet to be set on the project.

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The movie is now called The Testament of Ann Lee and will premiere in Venice

‘The Testament of Ann Lee’ First Look: Amanda Seyfried Sings in Historical Shaker Movement Religious Fable

Amanda Seyfried is back on the musical theater kick, and this time, she’s putting the Shake(r) in her dance routine for the big screen. The actress leads Mona Fastvold‘s “The Testament of Ann Lee,” portraying the titular religious leader who founded the Shaker Movement in the late 1770s.

“The Testament of Ann Lee” is co-written by Fastvold and her “The Brutalist” collaborator and real-life partner Brady Corbet. “Ann Lee” was announced in December 2024. It will premiere at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, and later will screen at TIFF 50.

Christopher Abbott, Thomasin McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Tim Blake Nelson, Stacy Martin, Matthew Beard, Scott Handy, Viola Prettejohn, David Cale, and Jamie Bogyo co-star alongside Seyfried. Ann Lee’s followers deemed her the female Jesus Christ, and her worshippers prayed through song and dance, hence the music-centric genre for the historical feature. “The Testament of Ann Lee” is shot in 70mm, as was “The Brutalist.”

The logline reads: “An epic fable about religious leader Ann Lee (Seyfried), who was proclaimed by her followers as the female Christ and went on to build one of the largest utopian societies.”

“Ann Lee” features original songs by Oscar winner “The Brutalist” composer Daniel Blumberg. Choreography comes from Celia Rowlson Hall, the dancer who played the adult Sophie in “Aftersun.”

“The Testament of Ann Lee” is Seyfried’s first music-centric film since 2018’s “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.” She also sang in the first “Mamma Mia!” film in 2008 and “Les Miserables” in 2012. Seyfried has publicly lamented on missing out on playing Glinda in Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked” before Ariana Grande was cast.

Seyfried told Vanity Fair that shooting Fastvold and Corbet’s secret indie film after wrapping the upcoming Peacock limited series “Long Bright River,” was tough. “I went to hell and back,” Seyfried said of the demanding back-to-back projects, with “The Testament of Ann Lee” being shot on location in Budapest, Hungary.

“Ann Lee” helmer Fastvold previously directed 2021 period queer romance “The World to Come,” starring Katherine Waterson and Vanessa Kirby. Fastvold and Corbet both produce “Ann Lee.”

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Amanda Seyfried on ‘The Testament of Ann Lee’ and Singing on Screen for the First Time Since ‘Mamma Mia 2’: ‘I Had to Release My S—’

The last time Amanda Seyfried was at the Venice Film Festival with a film it was in 2017 for “First Reformed,” playing a parishioner in modern day New York. For her latest trip to the Lido, she gone back almost 300 years but been upped to full-blown religious leader.

In “The Testament of Ann Lee,” premiering in Competition on Sep. 1, she plays Ann Lee, the 18th century founder of Christian sect the Shakers. Born in Manchester, England, Lee emigrated in 1776 with a small bunch of followers to the U.S. where, despite going through numerous personal traumas, helped establish a utopian society known for its sexual equality, utilitarian design, frenzied singing and celibacy (the latter ensuring Shaker numbers would eventually dwindle — just three currently remain).

From director Mona Fastvold — who co-wrote last year’s Venice-bowing awards darling “The Brutalist” with her partner Brady Corbet (who co-wrote this) — the film sees Seyfried sing on screen for the first time since “Mamma Mia 2.” But the actress isn’t quite sure it can be categorized as singing. “De-singing? Anti-singing?” Whatever it was, she admits the notes didn’t come easily, with the sometimes “animal sounds” she was was forced to make having been borne out of Lee’s “grief and desperation” rather than anything beautiful. To reach the right vocal point, she claims she had to “release my shit.”

Speaking to Variety, Seyfried discusses why she’d follow Lee — and Fastvold — anywhere, selfishly hoping “The Brutalist” would succeed in Venice to pave the way for this film, how Maxine Peake played a crucial role she doesn’t yet know about and her upcoming comedy with Sydney Sweeney: “I don’t know the last time I laughed that much.”

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Metacritic

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Woo-hooo! 100% on RT!

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This better get a nom-nom for Best Costumes