Turns out, Amanda Seyfried‘s viral cover of Joni Mitchell’s “California” on “The Tonight Show” wasn’t pure coincidence — the Oscar-nominated actor was once attached to play the singer-songwriter in a biopic.
In an interview with British GQ, Seyfried revealed that she learned to play Mitchell’s “Blue” album on dulcimer, piano and guitar during the COVID-19 pandemic in preparation for a biopic. “It was a movie about her and [manager] Elliot Roberts,” she told British GQ. “Then he died – but not before I met him.”
She met Mitchell, too, who invited Seyfried to her L.A. home for a steak dinner. The two ended up listening to “Blue” together. “I sat on the floor petting one of the dogs. She told me a lot of stories,” Seyfried said. “She’s like, ‘We’ll put on the album and light a fire.’ After we listened to the album, she’s like, ‘It’s sparse, isn’t it?’” Seyfried responded: “It’s perfect!”
Seyfried also learned the Mitchell classics “Both Sides Now” and “The Circle Game,” but the project didn’t end up working out. Still, Seyfried is proud of the musical accomplishment. “The day that I finished learning the last song on the album, ‘[The Last Time I Saw] Richard’, I fucking wept,” Seyfried said. “I felt like a bona fide musician, like I belong here. I felt like I had put my own flag on the top of the mountain. Because it was a fucking mountain, I tell you.”
