Amanda Seyfried has recalled giving disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein the “biggest hug” after learning he had purchased her 2013 documentary drama Lovelace — years before he became a convicted sex offender.
The Linda Lovelace biopic, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, starred Seyfried as the late adult film actor, who rose to international stardom following the release of the 1972 hardcore film Deep Throat. Lovelace also featured an all-star cast of Peter Sarsgaard, Sharon Stone, Chris Noth and Adam Brody.
Sitting down with Brody, 45, for Variety’s latest Actors on Actors interview, Seyfried recalled her experience working on the film.
“I had a great experience,” Seyfried, 39, said. “It was a move towards attracting a level of respect for skill as opposed to … I didn’t care about the reception as much as just changing the idea people had of me in the business. It’s just so easy to get pigeonholed.”
Brody chimed in: “I remember Harvey Weinstein bought it.”
Seyfried clarified Weinstein had purchased the film “pre-everybody admitting that he was the way everybody knew he was.”
“I knew he was scary,” Brody admitted, “but I actually didn’t know...”
“To the extent,” Seyfried interjected. “I didn’t know the extent.”
“I hadn’t heard anything sexual,” Brody said.
“I had heard a few rumors [about him],” Seyfried replied. “I invited him to the screening [at Sundance]. He showed up and said, ‘I bought it,’ and I gave him the biggest hug, and was like ‘Oh my God, thank you!’
“And it was actually his brother’s company, called Radius, who just f***ing trashed it and threw it away and didn’t do anything with it. Which is fine,” the Mean Girls star said.
“But it was just the excitement with which the whole room was buzzing. He was the big papa of the room,” she said, wiping herself off in disgust. “But it’s just the way it was. We all needed him to want our project if it was an indie, because that meant it was going to go somewhere.”
Seyfried sarcastically quipped: “Where is [Weinstein] now?” with Brody joking: “Yeah, what is he doing?”
Weinstein, 73, is currently awaiting the verdict in his New York sex crimes retrial. The convicted sex offender’s retrial began in April, nearly a year after his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges was overturned.
In a rare interview Friday, the media mogul, who is serving a 16-year prison sentence from a separate 2022 conviction in California, said he has “regrets” and admits he “acted immorally,” but insists his actions were “never illegal.”
“I have regrets that I put my family through this, that I put my wife through this, and I acted immorally,” Weinstein told Fox 5 anchor Rosanna Scotto over the phone. “I put so many friends through this and hurt people that were close to me by actions that were stupid, you know what I mean? But never illegal, never criminal, never anything.”
A Manhattan jury, comprised of seven women and five men, began deliberations Thursday, June 5, after more than five weeks of testimony.
Weinstein faces two counts of criminal sexual act and one count of rape, stemming from alleged incidents involving three women between 2002 and 2013. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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