Amanda Seyfried says she ‘regrets’ Les Miserables performance

‘I still have nightmares about it,’ she said

Amanda Seyfried has said she “regrets” her “very weak” performance in Les Misérables.

The actor played Cosette in Tom Hooper’s film version of the stage musical, which famously shunned backtracks in favour of the cast singing live on set.

Reflecting on her career to date, Seyfried told Vanessa Kirby as part of Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series: “I have had a lot of moments where I just felt complete regret.”

“I wish I could redo Les Misérables completely because the live singing aspect, I still have nightmares about it,” she said.

Elaborating on why she views the performance negatively, Seyfried explained:  “Singing is more indulgent than acting in some ways. I feel like when I have emotional scenes, where I get to really cry and feel what I’m actually feeling and be present in that, it feels really good and cathartic because crying is really cathartic. 

Amanda Seyfried says she ‘still has nightmares’ about her role in ’Les Misérables’ (Getty Images)

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She added that she feels she “could play Cosette now” as her views on the performance prompted her to “[work] diligently ever since to strengthen [her] voice.”

From a very technical standpoint, I was very unhappy with my singing,” she said.

Seyfried has also sung in films Mamma Mia! (2008) and its sequel Mamma Mia! Here we Go Again (2018).

Seyfried is in the running to receive an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in David Fincher’s Netflix drama Mank, which is available to stream now.