Amanda Seyfried Wishes Intimacy Coordinators Were Present Earlier in Her Career

The Dropout star Amanda Seyfried reflected on some on-set moments from her career that she regrets. Find out what she had to say.

By Daniel Trainor Aug 10, 2022 11:13 PMTags
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Amanda Seyfried looks back at the early days of her career much differently now.

The 36-year-old actress, who was nominated for an Emmy this year for her portrayal of Elizabeth Holmes in Hulu's The Dropout, recognizes how she sacrificed privacy for the sake of making those around her happy.

"Being 19, walking around without my underwear on—like, are you kidding me? How did I let that happen?" Seyfried said to Porter magazine Aug. 7. "Oh, I know why: I was 19 and I didn't want to upset anybody and I wanted to keep my job. That's why."

Though Seyfried said she managed to remain "pretty unscathed" from the experience, she noted that things have progressed in a positive direction, with the publication noting, "In some ways, she wishes she could be coming up now, in an era where intimacy coordinators are an on-set requirement and actors are in a better position to speak up."

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Seyfried got her big break in 2004's Mean Girls, where she played the lovable and aloof Karen Smith.

The movie catapulted Seyfried to stardom, but in retrospect, one scene in particular does not sit well with her. Near the end of the movie, while Karen is giving a meteorology report, she says "There's a 30 percent chance it's already raining" while grabbing her breasts. 

"I always felt really grossed out by that," Seyfried told Marie Claire in May. "I was like 18 years old. It was just gross."

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

Seyfried's comments come at a time when the concept of intimacy coordinators are a hot topic. 

Former Game of Thrones star Sean Bean spoke out against the idea of intimacy coordinators—who are responsible for the safety and well-being of actors during scenes of a sexual nature on set—in an interview with the Sunday Times.

"It would inhibit me more because it's drawing attention to things," Bean said. "Somebody saying, ‘Do this, put your hands there, while you touch his thing…'"

Bean pointed to one scene in particular with Snowpiercer co-star Lena Hall, which did not use an intimacy coordinator.

"Often the best work you do, where you're trying to push the boundaries, and the very nature of it is experimental, gets censored when TV companies or the advertisers say it's so much," he said of their scene. "It's a nice scene, quite surreal, dream-like and abstract."

Hall later responded, explaining why she didn't feel the need for the assistance of a coordinator.

"Sean is an awesome actor and made me feel not only comfortable but also like I had a true acting partner in those bizarre scenes," she explained. "It was us against the world and we were gonna tell that story."

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