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Amanda Seyfried
Traffic is awful.
Narrator/Advertiser
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Amanda Seyfried
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Amanda Seyfried
About EPI and if Creon could help.
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Ed Gamble
Welcome to the off menu podcast. Taking the pasta dough of conversation, putting it through the pasta machine of humor, and making the tagliatelle of podcasting.
James Acaster
That is a gamble. My name is James A Caster. Together we own a dream restaurant and every single week we invite in a guest asking the favorite ever start a main course, dessert side dish and drink. Not in that order. And this week our guest is Amanda Seyfried.
Ed Gamble
Yes, a wonderful actor. James.
James Acaster
Of course, one actor man.
Ed Gamble
Yep. So many things.
James Acaster
Mank got an academy award nomination for mank. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ed Gamble
Mean Girls.
James Acaster
Mean Girls, of course.
Ed Gamble
Mamma Mia.
James Acaster
Mamma Mia. Of course.
Ed Gamble
And the new film that Amanda will be talking to us about, the Testament of Ann Lee or the woman clothed by the sun with the moon under her feet.
James Acaster
It sounds fantastic.
Ed Gamble
It does.
James Acaster
It's about. I never heard of. And they didn't know who. And they was somebody who founded the Shakers, which is a religious section. It's an incredible story. We're going to talk to Amanda more about it, learn more about it, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing the film.
Ed Gamble
Yes, very much so. The Testament of Van Lee is in cinemas on the 20th of February this year. We will also, of course, be talking to Amanda about her dream menu. James.
James Acaster
Oh, yes, I thought we would.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
James Acaster
However, if Amanda says the secret ingredient, which an ingredient we deem to be unacceptable, we will have to kick her out of the dream restaurant.
Ed Gamble
Yes, we will.
James Acaster
And the secret ingredient this week is Calteen Bars.
Ed Gamble
Calteen bars is from Mean Girls.
James Acaster
Yeah, it's for Mean Girls.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, it's from Mean Girls.
James Acaster
So probably unlikely it's not going to.
Ed Gamble
Come up because I don't think it's a real thing. But it is something from Mean Girls.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
James Acaster
So like that. That's us. That's us hedging. Basically making it safe that we don't have to kick the guests out.
Ed Gamble
Hey, here's a little secret for you, okay? I love Mean Girls.
James Acaster
Ed loves Mean Girls, everyone. Embarrassingly, I've never seen Mean Girls.
Ed Gamble
That's crazy to me.
James Acaster
It's crazy.
Ed Gamble
You've seen so many films. Mean Girls is such a good film. I've been See Mean Girls, the musical. I love Mean Girls.
James Acaster
Yeah. So I've got.
Ed Gamble
I've got to watch it and I love Mean Girls. No.
James Acaster
Yeah, yeah.
Ed Gamble
Not gonna bite on that. Okay.
James Acaster
I didn't know you liked Mean Girls.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, sure. Come on. Cold. Be as cold as you like.
James Acaster
Your wife's quite nice.
Ed Gamble
Oh, yeah, don't. She's a lovely lady.
James Acaster
Yeah, yeah.
Ed Gamble
I found a good one.
James Acaster
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But you. But you love Mean Girl. Yeah.
Ed Gamble
I ain't marrying a mean girl.
James Acaster
But you like him.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
James Acaster
Who's your favorite?
Ed Gamble
Who's my favorite mean Girl?
James Acaster
Yeah. You know, I couldn't.
Ed Gamble
What from in my life.
James Acaster
Yeah, I couldn't.
Ed Gamble
I couldn't say that. That would be. They don't probably. Don't know. Realize they're a mean girl.
James Acaster
Chloe. Pets. Yeah, you can watch this on YouTube tomorrow.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, tomorrow you can watch this on YouTube, but why not listen to it now and then watch it on YouTube tomorrow?
James Acaster
Yeah, do both and see if it's as you imagined it in your head.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, yeah. Exact. Let's get on with it then. This is the off menu menu of Amanda Amanda Seyfried. Welcome, Amanda, to the Dream Restaurant.
James Acaster
Welcome, Amanda Seifred, to the Dream Restaurant. We've been speaking to you for some time.
Amanda Seyfried
Thank you so much.
James Acaster
I'm being a genie there.
Ed Gamble
James is a genie in the podcast because he can get you whatever meal you want from wherever in the world. Yeah, good question.
James Acaster
Any colour you want. So, yeah, it's like your dream. Pink.
Ed Gamble
Pink.
James Acaster
Yeah. Yeah.
Ed Gamble
I think it's the first time you've been pink.
James Acaster
I love it.
Amanda Seyfried
Glitter hair.
James Acaster
Thank you.
Ed Gamble
Nice.
Amanda Seyfried
Giant purple eyes.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
Maybe a tail.
James Acaster
Yes, please. I wouldn't turn down the tail. Yeah, yeah. Like a fluffy tail or like a cattail.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
A sleek cat tail.
James Acaster
Yeah, yeah. Any color you want to pick the tail color.
Ed Gamble
It's rare. The genie gets the pink.
James Acaster
I like to stick with pink. Really? So that it looks like it's like one is part of me.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
James Acaster
I don't want to go like a different color and then like. I think I'm gonna follow your lead and continue with the pink tail. Maybe some blue stripes, actually.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, yeah. Like Bagpuss.
James Acaster
Like Bagpuss. You like Bagpuss?
Amanda Seyfried
I like his look. I like his name.
James Acaster
Yeah. Wasn't expecting a Bagpuss reference from you.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, I wasn't expecting to discover Bagpus.
James Acaster
No.
Amanda Seyfried
Because I still don't really get it, but I. It's one of those UK isms, you know, I was very Fond of.
James Acaster
How did you get introduced to Bagpus?
Amanda Seyfried
Just by living here back in the day. It's probably the same week I learned what Minj meant.
James Acaster
Oh, that's quite the week.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, that's a big week.
Amanda Seyfried
And I was in a lot of. I was in a lot of cues as opposed to lines and a lot of quids everywhere.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Ed Gamble
This was huge. So how long were you living in the uk?
Amanda Seyfried
On and off for a while.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
Many years.
Ed Gamble
And picking up all these bits of information, like bugs.
Amanda Seyfried
I mean, I learned a lot in the first week.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
From my two friends and my driver, who's. Who's still with me outside. Oh, yeah, he's family. But it's. It's just funny, the words, you know, they're Your slang is. Is completely. It was completely foreign to me. It was exciting to be in this new foreign world. But they speak English, but they don't.
Ed Gamble
Did you take. Did you take, like, Minj back to the States?
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, there's minges everywhere now.
James Acaster
People say it. People say it in Hollywood.
Amanda Seyfried
Well, my handle on Instagram is Minji, because, you know, Instagram's been around for 15 years or whatever.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
And it's just my nickname. And I have it on my. My foot, tattooed on my foot. A few other girls, and it's just a nickname. You don't think about what you're saying anymore. It's just. Just Term of endearment.
Ed Gamble
So you have Minji tattooed on your foot.
Amanda Seyfried
Minj. Without the word.
Ed Gamble
Just Minj. Yeah, yeah, just Minji on the foot.
Amanda Seyfried
Minji for the socials.
James Acaster
The socials. That's fun.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, yeah, you got.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, that's like. Yeah, that's fun.
James Acaster
Yeah, yeah.
Ed Gamble
You got to keep it fun for the socials.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
Add a Y to your names.
James Acaster
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ed Gamble
Eddie and Jamesey.
James Acaster
Eddie E. Eddie E. Oh, so you're adding an extra Y.
Ed Gamble
I pre. Added the Y, but if you want to add an extra Y, that's fine. I'll be Eddie E. And you'll be.
James Acaster
James E. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just carry on going recurring E sounds at the end of our names. The more E's, the more fun you are.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah. Like, the louder you say it, I guess.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
The more impact it has.
James Acaster
So maybe bag pussy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ed Gamble
For example, that actually gets better the more easy you add to it. The initial. Why?
Amanda Seyfried
Bag pussy. Thank you for bringing that back so quickly and so gently and so. So with such a commitment.
James Acaster
Had to commit to it. If I. If I went in half ass there, that would have Been bad.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, that would have been really bad.
James Acaster
I think the only way is to fully commit to that.
Amanda Seyfried
You know what? My. The first cat I ever really knew was called Bad. Bad Pussy.
James Acaster
Right? Was called Bad Pussy. Yeah, yeah, that was its name by its owner named it that.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, yeah, because she climbed the curtains.
James Acaster
Oh, yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
So I. I inherited that. I think it was my aunt. This is my grandparents cat. So Aunt Bad Pussy.
Ed Gamble
So your grandparents cat becomes your aunt.
James Acaster
Yeah, that's the way it works.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
James Acaster
Okay, look up family trees, Ed. And that's how it works.
Amanda Seyfried
My mom's sister was bad pussy.
James Acaster
Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Your mom's sister's bad pussy aren't bad pussy.
Ed Gamble
That's.
James Acaster
That should be a. I mean, that should be a character in a film. That's a good.
Amanda Seyfried
No, you have bag, which is way better.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, yeah, that's true.
Amanda Seyfried
At least we.
Ed Gamble
We just discovered we're not related to Bagpuss, though.
James Acaster
Sadly, we don't know. I haven't been on the who do youo Think youk Are? Could go on that show. There's a show called who do youo Think youk Are? And they trace their route.
Amanda Seyfried
I did a show like that in America.
James Acaster
Yeah, there's like a couple of them in America. Right. And like, yeah, I might be related to Bugpuss.
Ed Gamble
Could be.
James Acaster
Yeah, that would be very exciting.
Amanda Seyfried
Probably not though.
James Acaster
Who were you related to when you did it?
Amanda Seyfried
A lot of most of my family came over from outside of Frankfurt in like the mid-1800s. So they're all dead.
James Acaster
Yeah, everyone. All your ancestors are dead.
Amanda Seyfried
If they. If the ones who migrated. Yes, they are in fact, longer.
Ed Gamble
That must have been so sad to find out.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, yeah.
James Acaster
The American version of this show is different to our one. But you're. When they just go, bad news, they're all dead.
Amanda Seyfried
They. They. Not at first, but. But one of my. My great, great, great grandfather was murdered in cold blood in his pretzel shop on a street that is very close to my house in Allentown in Pennsylvania.
Ed Gamble
Oh, wow.
Amanda Seyfried
Like they lived. They moved from outside of Frankfurt to Allentown, Pennsylvania, and lived there from the mid-1800s.
James Acaster
Wow.
Amanda Seyfried
I think that's commitment.
James Acaster
Murdered in a pretzel shop.
Amanda Seyfried
And he was murdered. He was just robbed and murdered. Yep. In a pretzel shop.
James Acaster
So is it, is it gonna be triggering being on a food podcast because of the pretzel shop incident? Oh no. Oh no.
Ed Gamble
Oh no.
James Acaster
Such a good actor that we all fell for it.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, definitely. I genuinely fell for that.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
I really love pretzels, though, but they're not part of my dream food.
James Acaster
No. Well, fair enough.
Ed Gamble
Yeah. They bring up bad memories as well though, right, so.
Amanda Seyfried
No, no, no. I eat pretzels differently now. Yeah, it's my. My entire experience eating pretzels has enhanced because of my history.
Ed Gamble
Yes, of course. Yeah. It's more like a tribute.
James Acaster
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
So it is an honoring every time.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
James Acaster
Well, look, that little bit of acting you gave us just there absolutely shook us to the core.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
James Acaster
And obviously we'd like to talk about the Testament of Anlee, which is actually the whole title is even longer, if I could. Do you know the title off by Heart? You know it? Off by Heart, Yeah. The woman clothed by the sun with the moon under her feet. Very nice title.
Amanda Seyfried
Beautiful.
James Acaster
There's countries of amazing images.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
James Acaster
What can you tell us about an League? So I didn't know anything about this person.
Amanda Seyfried
Not many people did. Yeah, you're not alone. I mean, I grew up in America and you would have thought, you know, a feminist who was able to create the biggest utopian society in American history would have been at least mentioned once or twice in school and nothing. And I actually grew up in the northeast where she settled. So she's really an I. An icon, feminist icon. You know, for people who really studied that time period especially, it's like she was, you know, women were men's prop, Their husband's property, and there were slaves. And yet she created this. This community of people who were just treated equally, like completely inclusive. She was, Was their mother, but she was one of them. And she kind of created a space for people to. To, you know, grow in prosperity with, you know, just building and being together and having. No. Having complete equality. And that was just like. That's very progressive. Still progressive. It's still goddamn progressive. And she made. Managed to do that until, you know, in the Shaker community lives on. I mean, there's three, but still we're talking 20, 25. Obviously, the, the. The thing that I think most people can't really get down with is that they were celibate. But the celibacy came from something very real, like a very real trauma in her life. She lost all of her kids in stillbirths and in infancy, so that would. That could bring a person to their knees, that could make someone desperate for. For some kind of peace and end of suffering. And she was able to find that and, and bring people in, which is, you know, to lead through love and compassion and nurturing instead of power and fear is an extraordinary thing. It's pretty simple and it lifts people up for the greater good. She like, you know, she made an impact for a lot of 6,000 people at one time. So weird that I didn't know about her. And people definitely are going to know now because Mona had such a vision, a clear vision about what she wanted this movie to look like. She's the director. So there's a lot of music, a lot of movement, nothing you've ever heard or seen before. So that's special too. Just very unique. Everything about this project. Role of a Lifetime. Can't believe we made it for like under $10 million. Yeah, it's like an epic 34 day shoot, which is an epic tale shot in 34 days is near to impossible.
James Acaster
Does it make it easier that not many people like know that much about how that to play a role like that?
Amanda Seyfried
It's definitely easier because we take liberties in everything that we do. You know, when we're portraying somebody, it's our portrayal, it's not fact. Even when you're playing real people and it's based in fact, it's not necessarily the way it was because you can't reenact that. But with less information out there, the more we can actually take liberties and the easier it is for audiences to be drawn in. Because. Because when you don't know what you're getting into, you don't have any expectations.
Ed Gamble
And you get to tell this story for the first time as well. So people are finding out about this woman and you're the one who's telling them. That must be an exciting thing.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, well, it's intimidating as well because Mona Fascal wrote this with her partner Brady and she's directing this because it's her baby, because she's so curious and really obsessed with this, with this woman. And so I also wanted to be. I wanted to provide her everything she needed, you know, in order to direct me, in order for, you know, to embody her for her and to honor the character, the actual Anlee, to honor Mona and Ann Lee and everybody who worked tirelessly to bring this to life. I have to be. I have to go there. I have to go all the way there. That's scary because sometimes the parameters of being on set aren't enough to keep you safe from your own, you know, breakdown, emotional breakdown. So yeah, I haven't gone nuts yet though.
Ed Gamble
That's good. We're very glad to hear it. We're very glad to hear it.
James Acaster
We always start the Dream meal with still. A sparkling water.
Amanda Seyfried
Do you have a still, still, still, still?
James Acaster
Yeah. No doubt in your mind there? Yeah. Do you have anything against sparkling water?
Amanda Seyfried
No, nothing against it. I'm just always thirsty. And sparkling water just doesn. Cut.
Ed Gamble
It doesn't. Doesn't quench the thirst at all. And it.
Amanda Seyfried
And it. It's bubbly. And so we know what bubbles do.
James Acaster
Sure. Do you drink a lot of water when you're. When you're on set, when you're acting? Are you all.
Amanda Seyfried
More than anybody I know.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Narrator/Advertiser
Fact.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
I've never met somebody who drinks as much water as I do.
James Acaster
Wow.
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
I'm always thirsty. I always have a bottle by my side. In fact, I always have my Nalgene with the two eyeballs that I designed on the Nalgene website once and had to buy 48 of them because now.
James Acaster
What's the. What. What are you saying?
Amanda Seyfried
Nalgene bottle? Yeah. It's like. It's just a plastic BPA free water bottle with a little handle. There's little eyeballs on it, and I'm running out of them, but I put a. Like a really nice straw inside of it and it's constantly filling up, and I bring it everywhere with me except overseas.
James Acaster
Right.
Ed Gamble
So do you miss the bottle when you're.
Amanda Seyfried
Every day.
Ed Gamble
Every day, yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah.
James Acaster
What are you having to settle with here? Well, what you got down there?
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
And I drink about three or four of these a day.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Narrator/Advertiser
Wow.
Ed Gamble
That is a. That's a decent amount of water. That's a lot.
Amanda Seyfried
I love meal water.
James Acaster
Drink it out the bottle right now.
Ed Gamble
Huge respect.
James Acaster
We've had some guests on who don't drink any water.
Amanda Seyfried
I know a lot of people who don't drink water, they drink soda. And I'm just like, how. I was just curious as to what their organs look like, but what do I know?
Ed Gamble
Yeah. And you can't ask people what their organs look like.
Amanda Seyfried
No, it's like, it's. It's really. I mean, unless you're a doctor.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
You have some, like, special devices. You really can.
Ed Gamble
You can't tell and you can't ask. It's frowned upon to say what you're.
Amanda Seyfried
Sometimes it comes through your skin.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, it does. Well, this is why I thought, you know, if you're hanging out on set with a lot of other actors and stuff, surely all the other actors are downing water because you got to keep the skin looking.
James Acaster
And we. We've interviewed Florence Pugh and she said she never drinks water.
Ed Gamble
That's true. She Crazy. Yeah.
James Acaster
Google it.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
So, like, she never drinks water.
James Acaster
Doesn't like it. Doesn't see the. Thinks it's a lie. Thinks, like how good it is for you is a lie.
Amanda Seyfried
I also think we can trust our bodies. If we crave something, we probably, probably need it. I mean, they, the doctors always say, you know, if you crave meat, it's because your iron levels are low. So I think in some ways our body's going to take care of us in some ways. And I think if you don't crave water, you're probably getting enough liquid hydration through fruits or vegetables. So I don't know. Who knows. Also, when you're drinking juice that's partly water.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
So she is, she's. She probably has what she needs.
James Acaster
Do you reckon?
Amanda Seyfried
I do reckon. I know a lot of people who.
Ed Gamble
Don'T drink water, but I worry about those people. I do worry about internal.
Amanda Seyfried
Do you drink a lot of water?
Ed Gamble
I drink a reasonable amount of water. I go through phases with water where, you know, sometimes I'll really be across hydration.
James Acaster
Yeah, yeah.
Ed Gamble
What, my phases? Yes, Drink that.
Amanda Seyfried
Phases?
Ed Gamble
No, no, not phases. All the time.
James Acaster
I go through phase.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, yeah. I think, I think both of us go through phases without.
James Acaster
I'm entering a phase right now of not drinking it.
Amanda Seyfried
Why?
James Acaster
Because I just coming out of a phase where it got a little bit too much. Wasn't feeling happy a lot of the time, so not doing it anymore.
Amanda Seyfried
I think it's hard, you know, when you're, when you drink socially, you know, this is apart from people who, who have addiction problems, which I grew up, and I'm completely respectful and in awe of people who, who get through that period and quit using their, you know, their drugs, quote unquote. And, and, and for me, it's like I've never had that addictive personality, but I really enjoy alcohol and, and I realize as I'm away from my kids a lot and I'm social and I'm out every night doing these press events or seeing friends, it's really, really hard not to have a drink. And then I try to do it and I just end up wanting to go home early. And then when I do have a glass of wine, it makes me have more fun and go home a little later. So it's like, do I want to have a little bit more fun and get less sleep or do I want more sleep and less fun? And then I'm just like always between those two places.
Ed Gamble
It's a balance. And especially when we're recording this in the UK in November, December time, when it's cold outside, it's dark all the time. And then there's so many events. Everyone's like, it's Christmas, we gotta go out. And like, after two weeks, you're like, oh my God, I've never felt worse.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, it's bad.
James Acaster
I'm trying to remember like the start of last year because I have. There's Christmas, New Year, then my birthday.
Amanda Seyfried
Is early January, my birthday is early December. So I have like December, all the Christmas parties, Christmas, New Year's, God.
James Acaster
But that same problem. I imagine you get to the end of that and you're like, I cannot do this anymore.
Amanda Seyfried
I can't believe you have your birthday after all that.
James Acaster
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's two. Two weeks after Christmas. So like, it's like straight in. And obviously New Year's is in between it. So I'm.
Ed Gamble
You're dead me.
James Acaster
I'm dead me. And there becomes a point where I'm just like, I just. I can never ever look at alcohol ever again. This is bad. And like, and I turn up at stuff and if I was like, what are we drinking? I resent them for even asking.
Ed Gamble
But then.
Amanda Seyfried
And then all of a sudden you miss it and you're like, okay, I'm gonna.
James Acaster
Yeah. And then a few months later, you miss it, have one and go, oh, man, this is so delicious. Yeah, it's so good. And then like, and then you're like, I love you in the dream.
Amanda Seyfried
I love you so much.
James Acaster
I'm not even straight in there. So the dream on the cycle is like, when I start drinking again, then it's every so often. It's not that often. And every now and again, I'm having one a time. I'm just really enjoying that martini or that gimlet or whatever the drink is. And then eventually it just gets back round to who, who cares? This is. I'm having like either. If I go on tour, same as you with the day of working. If I'm doing a gig every night.
Amanda Seyfried
Impossible.
James Acaster
You just want to unwind after the.
Ed Gamble
Gig, have a lovely wine.
James Acaster
You're not getting drunk every time, but you're having one, you're having two. It builds up.
Ed Gamble
Publubs.
James Acaster
Or bread pop ups.
Ed Gamble
Or bread.
James Acaster
About the cipher. Pums. Or bread, Bread, bread, bread, bread. Great.
Ed Gamble
It's got to be bread. Is there a particular sort of bread?
Amanda Seyfried
Sourdough.
Ed Gamble
Sourdough every time.
Amanda Seyfried
Salted butter.
Ed Gamble
Amazing. Is there a place where you get the best sourdough? Is there but the. Where. Where in the world have you eaten the best sourdough you've ever had?
Amanda Seyfried
I would probably say Zurich.
Ed Gamble
Zurich. We've not had a shout out of a Zurich sourdough before recently. Yeah.
James Acaster
Were you filming there? You work in there?
Amanda Seyfried
I was not. I was just on tour with Mona and our kids. We took our daughters with us.
James Acaster
Oh, that's nice. Your daughters get on?
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, yeah, they sure do. Her daughters, they're two years older than mine, but they're. They watched my daughter. Her daughter showed my daughter mean girls for the first time on that trip while Mona and I were having a meeting. Zoom.
James Acaster
Meeting her daughter showed your daughter?
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah.
James Acaster
Was that weird for you?
Amanda Seyfried
I was like, I don't know if she. You know what? Here's my code.
James Acaster
Did your daughters know who was in the film when they started? Oh, yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
She's just been wanting to watch it. She's just patient and it was. It felt like it was fine. She gets things and then if there's things she doesn't, it's over her head and it doesn't matter. And if she has questions, she comes to me about it and we're honest. But I didn't think there was anything in there that she was gonna be too confused by or scared by.
James Acaster
You still getting that film quoted at you a lot?
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, all the time.
James Acaster
And is that nice? Because I guess you've been in so many things now that you know there's things that can keep coming back and things that don't. So does it. Is it just like. It's quite nice to have something that's.
Amanda Seyfried
Oh, yeah.
James Acaster
Still being the zeitgeist and still be going around? Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
It's also just really special because it was my first movie and I. I was just like. They like put a rain tower over me for my first shot ever on. On film.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
And it was like movie magic in. It was surreal. The whole thing was surreal. It's, ah. I'm never. I. You know, barely a day goes by where I'm not like, how the fuck did I get here? It's just so cool and magical. My job is still so insane at times. I get like crazy opportunities and. And I feel like they're all safe because it's in the. Within these parameters of. Of make believe, so I can really explore myself so well, so, I mean, in front of people, like publicly explore my own. My own spirituality, sexuality, like, you know, explore meaning necessarily. Not physical, but like my ideas and thoughts on things. But, you know, as I walk through other people's shoes. It's fascinating.
Ed Gamble
Do you know when you're making a project that it's gonna be one of those things that people are quoting back to you years later?
Amanda Seyfried
I don't know.
Ed Gamble
It's always a surprise.
Amanda Seyfried
It's always a surprise, especially. Cause the landscape changes so quickly. Like something's trendy and then all of a sudden it's not like rom coms are. They thought they were back, but they're kind of not really. And you know, you just like. I never expected Letters to Juliet to be something that people are like. I loved Letters. I just watched it. It's more like Jennifer's Body. Mean Girls and Mamma Mia. Those we know people saw in droves. I mean, not Jennifer's Body, not in the box office, but you know, it's a cult classic.
Ed Gamble
It's a huge cult heavy.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah. And it's just, you know, I just had so much fun, I guess. I guess the point is anything that hits, is it just a blessing. And anytime someone stops me to say something, you know, how a film has affected them or to quote me, it's a celebration, it's not a pain in the ass.
Ed Gamble
Do you have anything that you're like, that should have hit. That should have been the thing I.
Amanda Seyfried
Thought Jennifer's Body should have hit because it was really so well written and directed. And Megan and I, we were really incredible together in that. Like we had such an amazing chemistry. It should have hit the music, everything about it. But they marketed it in a way that didn't help us at all. That's so funny. I'm sure I can think of 17 different things that should have hit and didn't. But you know, I wasn't surprised that Dear John hit. I mean, that was the best selling book. I'd be surprised if the Housemaid doesn't hit. But those are just. That's IP that's just so popular, you know, it's just the landscape changes all the time. You never know. You just never fucking know. And that's why it's always about the journey for me. I mean, listen, the press stuff can get relentless, of course. And it's not natural to have to talk about something so often and like repeat yourself so much and try and.
Ed Gamble
Keep the light behind the eyes when you're talking about it.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, but you know, I am good at it. But it takes a lot out of me. But it's more about like what happened last year in Budapest and shooting it. Just like it's all always about the journey, never about the end result for me as an actor and I don't. It doesn't have to be about the end result for me because I'm not cutting it together.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
And then when it, when it cuts together really nicely. And you like your performance when. Yeah, like this. The testament of an Lee Clothed by the sun, the moon under her feet. Under her feet, yeah. My son used to run around the house saying, well, I made him, I taught him this. But I was learning the, the accent, the Mancunian accent for like a year. And he was like, this accent is very forkin art. And it was just really funny. So he didn't know what he was saying.
Ed Gamble
But yeah, of course, yeah. You're sort of not. He's not even saying the word because he's putting the accent.
Amanda Seyfried
I don't know if I'm doing it right or not.
James Acaster
More Liverpool.
Ed Gamble
That's more Liverpool. That.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah.
Ed Gamble
So you're ready for your next role. You can be a Scouser.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, Scouser.
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James Acaster
So let's get into your dream meal. Proper, your dream starter.
Amanda Seyfried
A kale salad, chopped kale salad Tuscan, finely chopped. Long ways like spaghetti noodles. Gently massaged with an extra virgin olive oil and shredded Parmesan cheese.
James Acaster
Simple, delicious. Simple, delicious.
Ed Gamble
I love the level of detail.
Amanda Seyfried
And you didn't ask me what my pub snack was.
Ed Gamble
No, James, ask Amanda what a pub snack.
James Acaster
I know. I always ask that.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
James Acaster
And I skipped it for you and I shouldn't have. What's your pub snack?
Amanda Seyfried
Castle veltrona olives. Pitted.
Ed Gamble
Yes, Lovely.
James Acaster
Would you like those at what point in the day before?
Amanda Seyfried
Just before the appetizer?
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
James Acaster
With your water and your bread. You'd like the olives, the sourdough bread.
Amanda Seyfried
The salted butter, and the castle fortrano olives.
Ed Gamble
What's so wonderful about these olives in particular?
Amanda Seyfried
They're so salty and rich and not bitter like Kalamata olives are. They have the. The most perfect texture and they are just like a. Like, as delicious to me as meat used to be. Like a hot dog used to be.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, they do. I think I'm thinking of the right ones. They do almost have, like, a meaty texture. So they don't.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, they're like, almost round.
Ed Gamble
Yeah. Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
They're green. Like, bright green.
Ed Gamble
Nice.
James Acaster
How long have you not had meat. Meat for?
Amanda Seyfried
I think I had meat the other night.
James Acaster
Oh, sorry, I thought you were saying.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, I thought the same thing.
Amanda Seyfried
No, I did. I don't. I don't prefer. I don't eat it very often. I. When I say what I eat, I don't eat fish at all. Haven't since 2021. And I don't really eat beef. I had the other night had something that was. I don't know what it was.
Ed Gamble
Well, let's try and work it out.
Amanda Seyfried
It's delicious. What was it?
Ed Gamble
Where were. Where were you?
Amanda Seyfried
I was in la.
James Acaster
Okay.
Ed Gamble
Narrowed it down.
Amanda Seyfried
It was a cocktail party where they had hors d', oeuvres, which I hate. I just want a plate full of stuff.
James Acaster
Oh, you want all them?
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, I just. I can't. And I. It's also. You're always in conversation. Would you like. No, no, thank you. Oh. Oh, no, thank. Oh, no, no, no, thank you. Oh, yeah, sure, I'll have one. Oh, can I have two? Okay. And it just breaks up your conversation.
Narrator/Advertiser
It's.
Amanda Seyfried
It's not.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
How. I don't like it, but it was something. There was meat in it, and I was not expecting it, and I was like. Oh. And so I grew up just obsessed with hot dogs and sausage. So I'm. I'm a. I'm A pork kid. And I really, really don't really don't eat kind of that kind of meat. I only eat chicken.
Ed Gamble
But you're a pork kid.
Amanda Seyfried
But I came from a pork background. We ate it and I'm in the process of trying to figure out how I'm gonna secure a pig for our farm and it just really just doesn't. I do have a lot of chickens at the farm and I eat chicken, but for some reason I can't really wrap my head around having a pig and then eating pig.
Ed Gamble
That's interesting because you've got a farm.
Amanda Seyfried
I do.
James Acaster
Didn't know you had a farm. Yeah, it's exciting. We haven't had many guests on who have a farm.
Amanda Seyfried
Really? Yeah, like mostly rescue animals from like they're all. It's, it's what, it's. It's called a sanctuary. And I actually just got a 501C3 like it's now a tax deductible charity because they're expensive, because there's a lot of medical bills, invoices constant because they're horses and, and goats and you know, they're just lopsided, one eyed animals.
Ed Gamble
Yeah. So you got to look after them a lot.
Amanda Seyfried
You need a lot of medicine like.
Ed Gamble
And goat medicine is different to horse medicine.
Amanda Seyfried
Well, the vets come to you and it's a whole other thing. The vet. The X rays happen at home. The farrier comes to do all the horses, but at different times because the donkey needs a different kind of shoe is the. Or that needs a different kind of trimming as the horse needs shoes. And certain horses don't need shoes. And certain ponies. My pony's just like running around, you know. We've got like just a bunch of diseases that they have. You know, not terminal but they're just, you know, some of them are just ancient and every time I leave, I don't know if I'll see them when I come home. Lots of just accidents happen on the farm. Knock on wood to some. Some of the, you know, just the raccoons were trying to get into the ducks the other day.
Ed Gamble
You have raccoons on the farm?
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah. But you're looking after.
Ed Gamble
They're not like ill raccoons.
Amanda Seyfried
You have them as pets, but you can't do that. Have to have a permit for it. Not gonna go looking for a wild animal to domesticate it. Yeah, that's fucked up. But if one were injured, sure.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, yeah.
James Acaster
You could look after it.
Amanda Seyfried
It'd make it sleep in my bed for sure.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
I still wanna bring some of my animals inside the house, but the only animals that I think could fit are the goats and the chickens. And they shit everywhere all the time.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
Can't stop them. Unstoppable.
James Acaster
Your dream main course.
Amanda Seyfried
Okay, no judgment. It's going to be a very, very fresh cut and toasted plain bagel. Zabars, if we're getting specific.
Ed Gamble
Okay.
Amanda Seyfried
You're going to have a medium amount of cream cheese on that plain whipped. Sometimes it's fine. And then there's going to be some sliced, really deliciously sliced avocado separately and. I mean, do I have to add something else?
Ed Gamble
No, you don't have to.
James Acaster
This is your.
Ed Gamble
This is your dream meal. And why were you worried about us judging you?
James Acaster
What did you say? No judgment.
Amanda Seyfried
Meals, like. I mean, it's not like a dinner meal. It's more of like a breakfast.
Ed Gamble
Is that how you prefer to eat? Like sort of more snack. More snacky bits, More sort of breakfasty food instead of like a big.
Amanda Seyfried
My favorite thing is a buffet or like a Mediterranean platter. Nice vegetarian Mediterranean platter. Because they've got so many dips. The more dips, the more condiments, the better. I can't help myself. I mean, I guess if we're going to add something to that plate, it would be like applesauce.
Ed Gamble
No.
Amanda Seyfried
But like homemade.
Ed Gamble
That feels like a crazy addition to the. To the bagel plate. But applesauce with the avocado and the cream cheese and the bagel.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah.
Ed Gamble
That's interesting. I was unexpected.
James Acaster
It. A bit of zing.
Ed Gamble
Bit of zing.
Amanda Seyfried
Thank you. I love applesauce. I love apples. Any which way.
James Acaster
Applesauce feels like, you know, you get that on a farm.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah. We have two, like, really, really, really, like, young adolescent apple trees. And I don't know when they're gonna start, you know, growing us at my own apples. But we live upstate, you know, so it's Hudson Valley. Apples are just the best ones, you know, Ugly apples taste better.
Ed Gamble
Is that true?
James Acaster
Yes, because they have title for a film.
Ed Gamble
Ugly apples taste better because they're ugly. So they have to. They have to show off. Right.
Amanda Seyfried
I saw where your head went.
Narrator/Advertiser
Okay.
Ed Gamble
All these pretty apples, they don't have to taste good. People are going to eat them anyway, right?
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah. They're gonna be given to the princess.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
And they're gonna be poisoned.
Ed Gamble
Yeah. They always. I don't know why princesses are still eating apples at this point.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, I don't think. I don't think they Are. I don't think it's on trend right now. No, no, they're all. They're all eating Ozempic.
Ed Gamble
Yes.
Amanda Seyfried
Sorry.
Ed Gamble
It's gonna be a great new Disney film. Yeah.
James Acaster
Yeah. Where did you say this bagel was from?
Amanda Seyfried
Zabar's.
James Acaster
Where's that again?
Amanda Seyfried
It's in New York City.
James Acaster
It's in New York. So. New York.
Amanda Seyfried
Fancy deli.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
Best bagels in New York. I think a lot of people would disagree with me, but they're just right up the street from my apartment. So when I'm in the city, I'll get my coffee, my bagel, at. Save ours.
James Acaster
Oh, great. Yeah, I think. I feel like I've been there, but.
Amanda Seyfried
I'm sure you have. Upper west side.
James Acaster
I think someone took me there. Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
I think orange writing. It's a market, too. Next door to the deli, there's like an actual whole market.
James Acaster
Yes. Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, that's right where I get my olives. That's where I get my shredded Parmesan. Sometimes, you know, I was doing a play. Interested or no? You like whiskey? Yeah, I would do. I was doing this play.
Ed Gamble
I like that you asked if we were interested before you decided what you were going to tell us about.
Amanda Seyfried
It's not even. Wow. I really set it up. Basically, instead of eating dinner, I would have like, a. Like a big lunch before my nighttime show when I was off Broadway in New York 10 years ago. And I would go home and have. I would pour Jameson with the good Jameson. What's the brand of Jameson? That's better. It's like the. It's a. More.
Ed Gamble
Is that like. Is it still called Jameson, but there's like an extra thing on it.
Amanda Seyfried
An extra Y.
Ed Gamble
An extra Y.
James Acaster
Extra.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
And. And I would pour the Jameson, and then I would just take the sweet and dry vermouth and go to, like, kind of make my own fake perfect Manhattan. So I love to drink. And I'd put three Luxardo cherries in it and then pour a little bit of the Luxardo cherry juice.
Ed Gamble
Oh, wow.
Amanda Seyfried
So it was super sweet. And then I would take a block of Manchego cheese on a plate, I'd cut it in half, and I'd thinly slice the Manchego block until it was completely done. And I would eat the whole thing, and each one was about slicing it very thinly. And I'd be watching tv, drinking my Manhattan. And as soon as I was done, I would go to bed. That shape I've ever been in.
Ed Gamble
What. What a great night.
James Acaster
That sounds like every night. Every night I miss it. Yeah. Yeah. I. I got the feeling it was like happy times for you when you were really living it.
Narrator/Advertiser
Now.
Amanda Seyfried
I just would never eat anything that late at night.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, it's always a bit. I think, you know, it happened to me at some point in life as well, where it's like, I can't be.
Amanda Seyfried
That late because you wake up really feeling like shit.
Ed Gamble
Yeah. Especially a block of cheese, you know.
Amanda Seyfried
Well, it was half a block. And the Manchego cheeses aren't that big.
Ed Gamble
Yes.
Amanda Seyfried
They're like.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
I would get, like, the thinner one and I would cut it, but it would. It was. Yeah, it was a lot of cheese. It was a lot of cheese. My cholesterol is not great. I stopped eating so much cheese because it was giving me eczema, and I think my body is very grateful.
James Acaster
Your dream side dish.
Amanda Seyfried
You know, like sauteed apples.
James Acaster
Lovely.
Ed Gamble
The apples are clearly at the forefront of the brain.
Amanda Seyfried
I love Palmers. When I lived here, Magnors and bombers.
Ed Gamble
Really?
Amanda Seyfried
I live for that. I live for a pint of that because it felt like I was really part of the pub culture because I had a yellow drink in the glass.
James Acaster
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ed Gamble
With ice in it as well. Did you get it with ice in it? No, just. Yeah. No, people get it. People when they're in pubs, they pour it into a glass of ice. But.
Amanda Seyfried
No, they don't. Not. Not when I lived here.
James Acaster
No, they don't.
Ed Gamble
I hate to pull rank here, but I have been here for quite a long time.
James Acaster
No, they don't, Ed. Well, okay.
Ed Gamble
No, they don't.
Amanda Seyfried
Back in the day, when I was living here.
Ed Gamble
Yes.
Amanda Seyfried
Nobody ever offered me ice. And if I. If they had, I wouldn't take it.
Ed Gamble
Yeah. Straight from the bottle.
Amanda Seyfried
Also, it's. You. It passes through you quicker. Warm alcohol or room temperature is better for you.
Ed Gamble
Oh, really? Because you just want it out the system as quickly as possible.
Amanda Seyfried
You get looser faster.
Ed Gamble
Okay. So no eyes, please. I want to get loose quick.
Amanda Seyfried
You're like, I need to get drunk and I need to get drunk now.
Ed Gamble
Yeah. And if you. I heard if you use a straw, you get drunker quicker because then it goes under the tongue and it absorbs quickly into your system.
Amanda Seyfried
Does it? Does. Is the under the tongue thing true? Because I do it with everything I. Every supplement I take.
Ed Gamble
So.
Amanda Seyfried
Like mushroom tinctures and cbd. Is that true?
Ed Gamble
Apparently. Apparently. Because it's more like spongy underneath the tongue, so it just. Everything. I mean, I'VE run out of facts here.
Amanda Seyfried
I'm, I'm, I'm curious to see what would happen if we each took like a swig of whiskey and kept it under our tongues.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
And if, you know, you would have to like kind of count down how, how long it took you to feel a little fuzzy on empty stomach.
Ed Gamble
Yeah. It's difficult to judge, I guess, because what's. How do we know how fuzzy each other are feeling? You know.
Amanda Seyfried
You can say, I'm feeling fuzzy.
Ed Gamble
I'm feeling fuzzy now.
James Acaster
But aren't we holding the whiskey under? Yeah, yeah, but maybe you can probably do that. You're trained actor.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, but you can be like. Because if it's under your tongue, is it faster to keep it under your tongue or faster to swallow it?
Ed Gamble
Good question. Is it. How absorbent is it if we keep it there? Is it just gonna.
Amanda Seyfried
Or is it still faster if we like suck it down like you drink it?
Ed Gamble
Yeah, I feel like still drinking it would be.
Amanda Seyfried
I don't know, it's faster to get into your bloodstream. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean?
Ed Gamble
You go via the. You go via under the tongue and then swallow it. I think you're getting double whammy then.
James Acaster
Double whammy.
Ed Gamble
You're getting whiskey.
Amanda Seyfried
No, you're not doing.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, you're not doing it.
James Acaster
I'm not putting the whiskey into my tank. That's how I know I've got a problem. Problem.
Ed Gamble
We used to do straw pedos quite a lot. Do you remember strawpedos where you get like a bottle of beer or something and put a straw in it, then bend the straw over, but you. So you've still got like the air going through the straw into the bottle. And then when you neck it back, you basically can drink a bottle of beer and two sips.
Amanda Seyfried
But for what? For what purpose?
Ed Gamble
Getting loose quick. Okay, I feel like you're judging me now, Amanda, but you're the one who's just said we should all put whiskey under our tongue and see who gets fuzzy first.
James Acaster
Yeah, but that's, that's like a proper.
Amanda Seyfried
Like, this is an experiment.
Ed Gamble
Oh, okay.
Amanda Seyfried
This was science based.
Ed Gamble
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
It was just curious about how the body works. Yours is just like bad lifestyle.
James Acaster
Enough actors now for you to know that's not gonna fly going. Me and my friends used to do this. Just get shit faced quicker. They're gonna look at you like, yeah, yeah, yeah. That doesn't sound very healthy.
Amanda Seyfried
Like telling me that you did whippets.
Ed Gamble
Yes. Yeah, I did do whippets. But they went, I. Whippets is the like the squirty cream. Gas, right?
Amanda Seyfried
It's gas, yeah. I don't know. How do you get it?
Ed Gamble
Nitrous. Nitrous oxide.
Amanda Seyfried
Nitrous. Oscar.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we did Whippets.
Amanda Seyfried
They offer that at the dermatologist.
Narrator/Advertiser
What?
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, they offer it at the dentist, but they offer it at the dermatologist as well. And I'm like, every time I go, she's like, do you want to try? And I was like, I'm driving. I don't know.
James Acaster
Steve Martin's character in Little Shop of Horrors.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, yeah, that's true. Oh, God. The best.
Ed Gamble
Yeah. So good.
James Acaster
The best. If someone said to you, you are allowed to retrospectively, retroactively give someone an Oscar who didn't get, didn't win it, didn't even get nominated, maybe, but you think that's one of the best performances of all time. And how, how did it not get recognized all time? It doesn't have to be your answer forever. Don't think people are going to hold you to this.
Amanda Seyfried
I just think that, I think that the Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes should have at least gotten nominated for Romeo and Juliet. But I say that as it was my favorite movie growing up. It's like why I became an actor. Like one of the reasons I was just, I really felt myself through that movie even though I was so young and I was, I was obsessed in a way, like not necessarily with either one of them, but just with the story and how they, how fucking grounded it was. Like, I really understood that I was watching something very special. I mean, it's, it's very Baz Luhrmann. It's a spectacle, but it was, and it was fast paced and I don't know if it would have been my favorite movie now as a 40, almost 40 year old, but it's certainly like, I think they were, I still, I just think they were unbelievably beautiful together. And to have that impact on a nine year old, ten year old just. Oh, sorry, I was, I was ten. 96. 96 came out.
James Acaster
That should be an Oscars best couple. Best on screen couple.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, the Oscar, I mean, listen, the Oscars are all like, it's a tricky, tricky business.
James Acaster
Yeah, it's obviously a bunch of. But like it's, it's fun to ask questions.
Amanda Seyfried
Like any awards? It's a bunch of. Because it's always a group of people. Right?
James Acaster
Yeah.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
James Acaster
So also the Oscars, the campaigning and stuff just makes me think oh, it's this.
Amanda Seyfried
That's what it makes you feel like. But in order to get to campaign, you have to. You have to blow some people's minds or you have to have something unique. And I feel like I am 100. I'm 100% behind my campaign with Mona. It is weird. It does feel wrong. But every time I get in a room with critics or voters, I have. I have real conversations as humans right off the bat. So it feels like it gets like, the first time I sat down with the critics during this, like, long, like, beginning of the campaign, I was like, so how many of these have you gone to this week? Did you go because you liked the movie or did you go because you were hungry? Like, what is it? And I just get down to business because, like, I like to keep the elephant out of the room. Because we're all here because you're like, we need something from each other. And that feels unnatural and kind of weird. But there's always. We're all human beings, so there's always a way to relate. And then, you know, you make it less icky. But at the end of the day, it's better to get a nomination than not to. So I have to show up. And I'm proud of my work.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
Thank God.
Narrator/Advertiser
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James Acaster
Are your dream drink a lot of shout outs. A lot of different drinks so far.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
James Acaster
So this could be tough competition.
Amanda Seyfried
I would have a. I think in the beginning of the night, you start out with liquor. Cause liquor before beer, you're in the clear.
Ed Gamble
Of course.
Amanda Seyfried
I would start out with a glass of Middleton, no ice. And throughout the night, I would have one Manhattan during dinner at Perfect Manhattan. One cherry, two cherries.
Ed Gamble
So not the one you made yourself with the shavings of Manchego. You'd get like a bartender to do it or eat.
Amanda Seyfried
I didn't put the cheese inside the manche.
James Acaster
Inside the.
Ed Gamble
With the manchego. I didn't think you put the cheese inside it. Although I want to try that.
Amanda Seyfried
No, the. The Manhattan's coming with. With. Between the. The kale. The kale. Chopped kale and the. And the bagel.
Ed Gamble
But you. But do you want, you know, the one you made yourself, or do you want, like, a professional bartender?
Amanda Seyfried
Oh, I would rather have a professional bartender. In fact. In fact, I've been. I've been having a lot of really great perfect Manhattans of late. And then after, I would probably switch to a really good natural Hungarian or Austrian wine.
Ed Gamble
Nice.
Amanda Seyfried
And that would be three drinks, and I'd be plenty hammered. And then. Do you want to know what my dessert is?
James Acaster
Yeah. We can move straight onto it if you want or.
Amanda Seyfried
Why? Is there something else? What's between the main course and dessert?
James Acaster
Normally we just talk about the drinks for a bit and then, like. And then I'd move us on to dessert. But if you want to move on to dessert, we have some just sort.
Ed Gamble
Of natural banter or something.
James Acaster
You're the guest. We could do. We could move on to the dessert if you would like to. I don't mind.
Amanda Seyfried
What are your favorite desserts?
James Acaster
Oh, too many.
Ed Gamble
This guy's obsessed.
Amanda Seyfried
Okay, okay, sorry. So if you. If you last day on earth and they were like chocolatey, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate thing, or just sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet.
Ed Gamble
You're more sweet, Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet.
James Acaster
Well, I guess, but, like, I mean, it's hard. I think consistently my favorite desserts tend to be things that are actually a bit sweet and salty and have a bit of both. The things I. I noticed that always become my favorites and that I go for. But then also. Yeah, I guess I'll go more on the sweet side just for the fact that every time there's some sort of French toast anywhere, if it's done really well, that usually ends up being my favorite thing I've had.
Amanda Seyfried
That's so American. French toast.
James Acaster
I guess I'm born in the wrong country.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
Is it. Is it big here?
James Acaster
Not as big. It definitely is more of a French toast is more. I mean, I feel like it should be French, but like. Yeah, I think it does feel more American.
Ed Gamble
Well, it's. Is it a version of palm perdu? Is that fair to say? Which I think is a French dish, which is like the stale bread and then they put it in egg and then. And then fry it.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah.
Ed Gamble
So yeah, it's sort of like come from that, I think.
James Acaster
Love it. This guy always keeps surprising me, but.
Ed Gamble
With like the syrup and things like that, and that's. That feels very American to me. Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
Depends on the syrup, but yeah.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
Wait, so if for both of you love hearts or. Or a bounty.
James Acaster
I'd rather have a bounty than love hearts. That's very easy for me.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, I think it's bounty for me as well, because I'm more of a. I'm more of a chocolate guy. Bounty wouldn't be my go to chocolate bar. But the love hearts just a bit chalky and I find the messages inane.
Amanda Seyfried
Okay, Peppa. Sorry, what are those? Pig Percy. Pig or like M and M's?
James Acaster
Percy pick M M's.
Ed Gamble
Every time. Every time. Peanut butter.
James Acaster
I think you're insane.
Ed Gamble
Peanut butter M M's.
James Acaster
Peanut butter M M's. Yeah. Didn't say peanut butter. M M's. I didn't said M M's.
Ed Gamble
Did you mean original? Original flavor, basic.
James Acaster
All right.
Ed Gamble
I still go with those even though sometimes with American chocolate and I find this with M M's, I feel like they smell like urine. Like Hershey's and M M's to me. Smell like sort of urea.
Amanda Seyfried
Urea, yeah, you got. That's specific.
Ed Gamble
Yeah. So it smells like a compound of urine to me. I love the country, though, and I'd love to get a visa.
Amanda Seyfried
Cinnamon buns or scones?
James Acaster
Probably rather have a cinnamon bun.
Ed Gamble
I think it's. I think it's cinnamon bun.
James Acaster
Yeah. Most of the time.
Ed Gamble
Scones can, for me are a little bit like with jam and cream and all of that. Delicious. But you didn't mention that. And I'm learning that if you didn't mention it, it's not part of the choice.
Amanda Seyfried
Oh, yeah, no, you're right. Yeah.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Ed Gamble
So I'm gonna have to go with cinnamon buns on this occasion. Thank you very much, Amanda.
Amanda Seyfried
Okay. Sourdough bread with salted butter or plain bagel with cream cheese?
James Acaster
I'd go for the plain bagel with cream cheese.
Amanda Seyfried
Oh, okay.
Ed Gamble
I'd go sourdough with salted butter. Just cause salted butter. I'm all about the salted butter.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, I get it.
James Acaster
I think this is what I'm feeling at the minute. Also, you said it was toasted earlier. The bagel.
Amanda Seyfried
It's toasted. Absolutely still toasted.
James Acaster
So I think the toasted bagel with the cream cheese is what I'm currently in the mood for.
Amanda Seyfried
It's just the best. It's what I had, like every night for probably a year when I was in middle school, I would eat that before bed. And I was so free. It felt like it wasn't a burden. Like if I went to bed now after having a bagel, I'd just be miserable.
Ed Gamble
But in the moment of eating the bagel, you'd feel incredible. I bet.
Amanda Seyfried
No the guilt sets in, like, probably like three bites. Like last night I had sourdough with salted butter at midnight, and I was like, oh, it's so good.
James Acaster
So it's the guilt, isn't it? Is the problem. I have this a lot, and I think if I didn't feel this guilt, which is who knows where that's come from, a whole bunch of different things, then I would just be loving this. It's not making me feel physically bad, really. It's not. It just tastes really nice. It's great. That's all. Is this the guilt that you've acquired as you've got older?
Amanda Seyfried
I know. And information, though, as well. The guilt is based on information. Like certain things you eat can, like, ruin your blood pressure for. I mean, like, it can alter your blood pressure so you don't sleep as well. And you. And you. Your body is trying to digest these certain things. And it's better to have your body digest this before bed. Like cherries. Apparently. That's the thing that's scientifically proven. God knows where I read it, probably the Atlantic. But it's apparently, like, there are a few things that you can eat before bed that are going to benefit you. And if they're not that, then you might as well go to hell and just accept that cancer is coming. Coming to you. You know what I mean?
James Acaster
So what is your dream? Dessert?
Amanda Seyfried
Rice pudding.
James Acaster
Rice pudding?
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah. Yeah, rice pudding for sure.
Ed Gamble
Is that something you ate growing up? A lot of rice pudding? Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
It's so good when it's homemade. Oh, it's just got the texture and the pudding. I love vanilla pudding. I'm from this small. Like, it's not a small town. It's a pretty big town in Pennsylvania, but, like, small house, you know, duplex, whatever. And, you know, we just had a lot of canned food and powdered food. You know, my parents like tuna fish. They would make stuff, you know, that was frozen, but they had no time to cook. We didn't have fresh food. And it's not because we couldn't afford it, but it was because we didn't care to go after it. And so I would just. Everything's just bottled, canned, and powdered and frozen. And you just throw the powder in and put the milk in and mix it and it would become a dessert. And then you would just put poor cereal in it or whatever. And rice pudding was so, like, exotic at one point. And then I realized that they sold them in those little snack pack things.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
And I ate the out of that for As a kid.
James Acaster
And do you want one of the snack packs as your dream dessert?
Amanda Seyfried
No, it would have to be homemade. I have, my, my standards have, have leveled up a bit.
Ed Gamble
Did you want. Do you want it warm or cold? I think it's a big question with the rice pudding. Yeah, I completely agree with you.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah.
Ed Gamble
It's so much more comforting and like, it just. Even though you would thought if it was warmer, it'd be more comforting, but to me, cold rice pudding. Sometimes I get rice pudding when I order Turkish food and they just throw in a rice pudding. Cold rice pudding with cinnamon on the top.
Amanda Seyfried
I know.
Ed Gamble
So good.
Amanda Seyfried
So, so good. I remember somebody gifted me frozen rice pudding from this really famous rice pudding place in like, probably somewhere in the middle of America. And. And I remember just. I don't. I don't know, I had like an issue like defrosting them and thawing them. And so I ended up putting them in the microwave. And then like the plastic bowl kind of like shriveled and it ruined. It was a bad moment.
Ed Gamble
It's heartbreaking.
Amanda Seyfried
It was heartbreaking.
James Acaster
You're looking forward to the rice pudding and then you had a problem on your hands.
Amanda Seyfried
It was awful.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
You realize microwaves are. Can be an angel or a devil. Yeah.
James Acaster
Do you want cinnamon on top of this?
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I put cinnamon in my coffee, my iced coffee, because I don't do milk anymore because it causes eczema. Like I mentioned earlier, they're laughing at.
Ed Gamble
Me now and again. We can hear.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah.
Ed Gamble
People on the team laughing. Laughing through the wall. I wasn't expecting to hear. Hear them laughing when you're talking about having eczema, though, to be honest, they.
Amanda Seyfried
Might just be giggling.
James Acaster
We often hear this sometimes when people, you know, bring their team along with them and they'll be in the other room and there'll be laughs. This is the most. It's been at unexpected points, I'd say. But I'm like, that's such an interesting. Yeah, yeah. They're really laughing. You have an expert.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah, they think it's funny.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
Well, it's not funny. I love milk.
Ed Gamble
Yes.
Amanda Seyfried
I love milk. I love a cappuccino more than your average guy. And I can't drink them anymore. No, I did have one yesterday.
Ed Gamble
Oh, well, there you go.
James Acaster
Okay.
Ed Gamble
Yeah. This is like the meat thing again.
James Acaster
Yeah. You've whispered into a microphone. I think you're going to be rumbled on that. Yeah. Right before I read your menu back to you. Is that because you quite detailed on this and you had the pup. Snacks. Is there anything else that you want on the menu before I move on? I don't want to be. You're full.
Amanda Seyfried
I am full.
James Acaster
It's quite a light menu.
Ed Gamble
Well, I think if you're ending on rice pudding as well, it's pretty impressive.
Amanda Seyfried
It's full, it's dense, it's a lot of bread.
Ed Gamble
You've got carbs flying around.
Amanda Seyfried
Carbs and sugar.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
That's why it's a dream.
James Acaster
You would like still water. You would like sourdough from Zurich with salted butter and pitted castell. I don't know how to pronounce Castelvetrano.
Narrator/Advertiser
Yep.
James Acaster
Starter, you would like Tuscan chopped kale salad, gently massaged with extra virgin olive oil. Shredded Parmesan. Long ways.
Ed Gamble
Long ways.
James Acaster
Main course, very fresh plain bagel from Zabaz Zabuz Zabars, cut and toasted with a medium amount of cream cheese and sliced avocado and some homemade applesauce. Side dish, sauteed apples. Drink Glass of Middleton whiskey, no ice. Early on, a perfect Manhattan with one to two cherries later and a natural Hungarian or Australian or Austrian wine. And then for dessert, you would like homemade rice pudding, cold with cinnamon.
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah.
James Acaster
How do you feel about that?
Amanda Seyfried
I love it. I actually, you know, it'd be funny. I'm turning 40 and I'm having, like, a. Like a little party upstate with some of my local friends, and it's at a roller skating rink, and they're, like, doing all the food. They're gonna do, like, empanadas and pizza and shit. And you know what? It should just be that it's your birthday.
Ed Gamble
Sounds good.
James Acaster
Yeah. It's your birthday.
Amanda Seyfried
I should switch things up. I have, like, a minute to do it. It's like, a week to prep bagels for everybody. Do you think they would be sad?
Ed Gamble
No, I think it's your birthday. I think. And even if they were, I think they'd have to. They'd have to slap a smile on because it's your party.
Amanda Seyfried
Shit. I have to order the cupcakes.
Ed Gamble
Surely someone out there can deal with that.
Amanda Seyfried
I don't want to forget that there's too much on my plate, literally. Sorry.
Ed Gamble
What a perfect way to end. You need to go and order the cupcakes. So. Thank you very much for coming to the dream restaurant, Amanda.
James Acaster
Thank you, Amanda.
Amanda Seyfried
Thanks for having me. Wouldn't that be so nice if you then offered it up?
Ed Gamble
It would be nice, yeah. But we don't know what people are going to say, so it would be insane if we managed to pull that together in the last second.
Amanda Seyfried
That's the. But that's the challenge, isn't it?
Ed Gamble
That is a huge challenge.
Amanda Seyfried
You would have a chef out there listening.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
To everything.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
Or a 3D. 3D printer.
Ed Gamble
A 3D printer.
James Acaster
We 3D print the meal.
Amanda Seyfried
Can. Can you do that?
Ed Gamble
Well, when it's things like Zabars, it'd be difficult for us to run off to. Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
But doesn't have to be. But you can get as close as you want. And that's. That's another added. Like.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, yeah, that would be. That would be an added challenge. Well, Ben, can you deal with that for the next episode? Because we're. We're obviously doing the chat, so we can't be involved.
Amanda Seyfried
You should have a caricature artist who draws the meal. Who draws the meal.
Ed Gamble
That's actually a really good idea.
Amanda Seyfried
While you. Because, you know, it takes. So I'm having a caricature artist at my birthday party.
Ed Gamble
Yes.
Amanda Seyfried
And he says there's certain ones. He's like, I can do this much in one hour. If you want it more detailed. I can only do two for an hour. So, like, apparently it takes him 10 minutes to draw it. So if you have 20 minutes to draw everything.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
It would be cool to give somebody something to leave with because I'm leaving empty handed.
James Acaster
You wanted to leave with something.
Amanda Seyfried
I didn't want to leave with something, but I just thought about it.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, it would be nice to leave with something. Definitely.
James Acaster
You can keep that mug. Yeah, yeah. The coast is yours.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, we've got.
Amanda Seyfried
I mean, I'll take that.
James Acaster
Yeah, Take that plate.
Amanda Seyfried
Are you guys comedians?
Ed Gamble
Yes, we are. Yes.
James Acaster
If you have to ask at the end of the episode, probably not.
Ed Gamble
Yeah, that's real bad.
Amanda Seyfried
You make me laugh. You're funny.
James Acaster
Yeah.
Amanda Seyfried
But, like, still, I'll go and tour with you too.
Ed Gamble
There we are, James.
James Acaster
Lovely menu.
Ed Gamble
Lovely menu. And at the end, realized we were comedians.
James Acaster
Yes. You know, that's. That. That's a. That was a real.
Ed Gamble
Yeah.
James Acaster
Kicking the plums at the end there.
Ed Gamble
Kicking the plums. And then the cameras went off and Benito kicked us in our plums. For real.
James Acaster
He did. He always does that. He goes, remember, I love that.
Ed Gamble
Cause I love mean girls. Thank you so much to Amanda for coming on the podcast and not saying Caltine bars and not saying Calteen bars. Of course. Thank you, Amanda, for that. Don't forget to go and see the testament of Ann Lee or the woman clothed by the sun with the moon under her feet in cinemas on the 20th of February.
James Acaster
Don't forget to watch us on YouTube tomorrow. This episode.
Ed Gamble
This is on your computer cinema tomorrow.
James Acaster
Yeah, the computer cinema.
Ed Gamble
That's what I call YouTube. Computer Cinema.
James Acaster
Yeah, it's computer cinema. They should rebrand as that.
Ed Gamble
Yes, I'm touring America. If you're an American person who lives in America in the specific places I'm going, and I might be in Canada as well, but I don't know that yet because it's quite far in advance. But I'll definitely be in America. If you're in Portland or Chicago or San Francisco or New York, L.A. san Francisco. Why not come along. Edgamble.co.uk for tickets. Seattle.
James Acaster
Seattle.
Ed Gamble
Thank you very much for listening. We'll be back next week. Goodbye.
Narrator/Advertiser
Hey.
Amanda Seyfried
I'm Alison Spittle. And I'm Fern Brady. And you might remember us both from our episodes of Off Menu. I think in my episode I got very angry when I ordered toast in a restaurant and was presented with hot bread and then told that that was the nature of sourdough, that it simply doesn't toast as a bread.
Narrator/Advertiser
And I said that I take it.
Amanda Seyfried
In the hand and the mouth like communion. Did you?
Narrator/Advertiser
I did.
Amanda Seyfried
That kind of brings us on to the topic of our new podcast, Ignore that Feeling, a show by two ex Catholic girls who have never learned to acknowledge a single emotion, ever.
Narrator/Advertiser
And the podcast is out every Tuesday.
Amanda Seyfried
Starting Tuesday 10th February. So please listen and subscribe.
Release Date: February 4, 2026
Main Theme:
Comedians Ed Gamble and James Acaster welcome actor Amanda Seyfried to their “dream restaurant” to select her ultimate starter, main, side, dessert, and drink, while also delving into her latest film, memories, and food-related stories.
This episode brings Amanda Seyfried into the magical Off Menu restaurant to select her fantasy meal and discuss her life and career. The conversation blends sparkling humor, discussions of British and American culture, and deep dives into Amanda’s new film, The Testament of Ann Lee (The Woman Clothed by the Sun with the Moon Under Her Feet). Throughout, Amanda shares personal stories, quirky facts about her life on a farm, her relationship with food, and how her career has shaped her outlook.
On Ann Lee:
"To lead through love and compassion ... instead of power and fear is an extraordinary thing."
— Amanda Seyfried, (13:00)
On Food Guilt:
"If they're not [healthy things], then you might as well go to hell and just accept that cancer is coming to you."
— Amanda Seyfried, humorously on food guilt and information overload (54:46)
On Loving Milk:
“I love milk. I love a cappuccino more than your average guy. And I can't drink them anymore. No, I did have one yesterday.”
— Amanda Seyfried (58:41)
On Career Impact:
“Barely a day goes by where I'm not like, how the fuck did I get here? It's just so cool and magical.”
— Amanda Seyfried (24:48)
On Awards Campaigning:
“You make it less icky. But at the end of the day, it's better to get a nomination than not to. So I have to show up. And I'm proud of my work.”
— Amanda Seyfried (47:57)
Favorite Films & Acting Inspirations:
“The Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes should have at least gotten nominated for Romeo and Juliet. It's my favorite movie growing up. It's like why I became an actor.”
— Amanda Seyfried (45:39)
Farm Life:
“Mostly rescue animals ... they're all ... it's called a sanctuary ... now a tax deductible charity ... horses and goats ... they're just lopsided, one-eyed animals.”
— Amanda Seyfried (33:49-34:20)
Playful, warm, candid, self-deprecating, with sharp wit from both Amanda and the hosts. Amanda shows vulnerability, humor, and deep thoughtfulness about her work, her food, and her past.
Why Listen?:
This episode offers a delicious blend of Amanda’s charm, behind-the-scenes tales from Hollywood, reflections on self-care, family, and food, and the signature banter and surreal turns Off Menu fans love. You’ll laugh, maybe crave a bagel, and definitely want to rewatch Mean Girls or check out The Testament of Ann Lee.
Bonus:
Amanda’s Dream Menu (Quick Reference)