Director Mark Pellington noticed something in the air when Amanda Seyfried would shoot scenes with Thomas Sadoski for his upcoming film “The Last Word.”
Seyfried’s journalist character was supposed to fall for Sadoski’s DJ, who works at an edgy, alternative radio station. But the acting seemed too authentic to Pellington.
“This natural, real chemistry emerged on camera. It was like, ‘Boy, there’s something there’ — more than playing their roles,” Pellington says. “It was like, she seems really into him. And he seems really into her.”
Pellington was correct: Seyfried, 31, and Sadoski, 40, confirmed their engagement in September, months after filming ended for “The Last Word” (in theaters March 10).
The couple took another exciting step last month, with Seyfried showing off a baby bump at a Givenchy fragrance event (she’s the face of the beauty brand).
Pellington, of course, wasn’t surprised. “The connection and the chemistry worked off-camera too. Obviously,” he says.
Seyfried (“Les Misérables”) and Sadoski (HBO’s “The Newsroom”) met off-Broadway in 2015 as co-stars in “The Way We Get By,” Neil LaBute’s play about a one-night stand. But working together on “The Last Word” took the relationship to another level.
Seyfried portrays an obituary writer who is pushed into action by Harriet (Shirley MacLaine), a businesswoman who decides she wants control over the final words about her and her legacy.
“Harriet, in her attempt to control her own life, realizes that the guide to that control is the obituary writer played by Amanda,” Pellington says. “They set out to create the perfect obituary.”
The two meet up with a young, foul-mouthed girl, Brenda (AnnJewel Lee Dixon). But the journey culminates at Sadoski’s character’s radio station, where Harriet is able to become a DJ at age 81 and achieve a milestone key to her ideal obituary.
As in real life, Seyfried’s and Sadoski’s characters show signs of coming together.
“No spoilers, but ultimately, that will make a great sequel,” Pellington jokes. “It’s pretty clear by the end of the movie what the story would be, I’ll put it that way.”
The director says Seyfried showed true heart as star and executive producer on the art-house film. She singlehandedly called in favors to bring in a major coup: approval to use the Kinks’ classic “Waterloo Sunset.”
“We’re a little movie that was cash-strapped, and Amanda stepped up and got us the song. That’s what kind of person Amanda is: kind and great,” Pellington says. “I couldn’t be happier about where they are in their lives.”
Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY
