Overview

• At Toronto, Seyfried said she skipped Botox for a year and followed a no-makeup rule to play Ann Lee, calling the sacrifices worth it.
• She described fully confronting the character’s grief, noting that she and director Mona Fastvold also relied on prosthetics for key moments.
• The film premiered at Venice on Sept. 1 and received a 15-minute standing ovation, the longest reported at the festival this year.
• Fastvold characterizes the feature as a speculative retelling of the Shaker founder’s life, presented as a musical.
• Songs draw from authentic 18th-century Shaker hymns, and the film remains in its festival run with no general release date announced.