Amanda Seyfried – the wide-eyed blonde star of Mamma Mia, Les Misérables, and The Dropout – has revealed how Marilyn inspired her Hollywood breakout, as People reports.
“‘It was sort of like, channeling a little bit of Some Like It Hot, Marilyn Monroe,’ the Long Bright River star, 39, told GQ in a video, posted Thursday, March 20, looking back on some of her most iconic roles. ‘I just held onto that so tight, because I felt like that was the reason I got the role, and I didn’t trust my instincts so much as having a clear idea of who I thought this person was.’
The beloved 2004 teen comedy marked the then-17-year-old Seyfried’s film debut, starring as high school queen bee Karen Smith alongside Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, Lizzy Caplan and Tina Fey. Her turn as the ditzy character definitely shared similarities with Monroe’s breezy performance as sultry singer Sugar ‘Kane’ Kowalczyk in director Billy Wilder’s iconic 1959 film.
‘I can only speak for myself about the experience of making Mean Girls,’ Seyfried said, ‘but I will say it felt like we weren’t really thinking about our characters as much as enjoying the process. Just enjoying, so much, being where we were, in a comedy with Tina. Because you’re younger, it’s different. It’s just different.'”
Amanda got close to another Monroe character when she played Cherie in a staged reading of Bus Stop, as the New York Post reported in 2011. Unfortunately, this didn’t lead to a Broadway revival of William Inge’s original play, last seen at the Circle in the Square Theatre back in 1996 with Mary-Louise Parker and Billy Crudup as Cherie and Bo.
The Marilyn Report 