Amanda Seyfried

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q189226: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as actor. The films the hosts said they acted in, which the two lists below run through too: Mean Girls (2004); Mamma Mia! (2008); Les Misérables (2012); Chloe (2013); Mank (2020); Seven Veils (2023); The Housemaid (2025); Jennifer's Body; The Testament of Ann Lee.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Citizen Kane (1941): 2 lines

  1. lineage (visual influence) · through Mank (2020), which they acted in: Citizen Kane ⇒ Mank (the maker said so: David's interview with cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt). Messerschmidt told the interviewer he wanted low, deep-focus photography evoking Citizen Kane, not noir.
    “He's like, no, I want to do it low to the ground, lots of deep focus, evoking citizen Kane.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:13:08 · David Sims (0.80 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (subject / source) · through Mank (2020), which they acted in: Citizen Kane ⇒ Mank (the host's read). Mank is partly inspired by Pauline Kael's essay on who truly authored Citizen Kane.
    “it's in part inspired by that very famous Pauline Kale, story raising Kane, about the true authorship of Citizen Kane”
    The Big Picture · Emergency Mailbag: The Oscars Are Streaming and Hollywood Is Fighting Over Trolls | The Big Picture · 0:58:09 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)

Heathers (1988): 2 lines

  1. theme (genre DNA) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they acted in: Heathers ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read). Mean Girls is described as part Heathers and part after-school special; the ending was pushed away from Heathers toward the relatable.
    “This movie is like part Heathers and part after school special.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 1:11:54 · Juliet Litman (0.55 sure it was them)
  2. theme (character descent) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they acted in: Heathers ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read). Regina George is framed as the legacy of the original Heather (Kim Walker), the first Heather killed.
    “Regina George. To me is the legacy of the 3 Heathers and Heathers.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:29:42 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

ABBA: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Mamma Mia! (2008), which they acted in: ABBA ⇒ Mamma Mia! (the host's read). The film is aesthetically and spiritually in tune with ABBA's incandescent, inescapable and stupid songs.
    “It is a film that is very, like aesthetically and spiritually in tune with its source material, being the, like, incandescent, inescapable, wonderful, and also really stupid songs of ABBA.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:52:57 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)

Clueless (1995): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they acted in: Clueless ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read). Clueless brought the teen genre back and made it female; Mean Girls inherits that more female guiding hand.
    “Clueless brought the genre back and I think people missed it.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:07:10 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they acted in: Fast Times at Ridgemont High ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read). Simmons proposes a championship-belt lineage of smart teen movies starting with Fast Times and running through Mean Girls.
    “I feel like Fast Times at Ridgemont High was the 1st one.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:02:07 · Bill Simmons (0.85 sure it was them)

Jack Fincher: 1 line

  1. lineage (script origin) · through Mank (2020), which they acted in: Jack Fincher ⇒ Mank (the maker said so: Fincher's own account as read from the dossier (outlet not named)). Fincher's father wrote the original Mank script, which David set aside until years later.
    “I'm handed this script that my dad wrote about all powerful directors ruining storytelling”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 0:48:09 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)

Pretty Woman (1990): 1 line

  1. industry (awards crossover) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they acted in: Pretty Woman ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read). The Vivian Award for best clothes started at the Pretty Woman rewatchables; here it is reversed for worst clothes.
    “We had the Vivian Award for best clothes in a movie that we started during the Pretty Women rewatchables”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:45:24 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)

The Lost Weekend (1945): 1 line

  1. craft (visual echo) · through Mank (2020), which they acted in: The Lost Weekend ⇒ Mank (the host's read). The election-night drunk sequence in Mank is called self-consciously reminiscent of The Lost Weekend.
    “almost self-consciously reminiscent of the last the lost weekend”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 2:03:48 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

West Side Story (2021): 1 line

  1. craft (craft) · through Mamma Mia! (2008), which they acted in: West Side Story ⇒ Mamma Mia! (the host's read). In Dancing Queen, Baranski and Streep's chiffon skirts allow one Jerome Robbins-style moment that echoes West Side Story.
    “they do like one Jerome Robbins, like, uh, sachet moment.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:17:19 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Mean Girls (2024): 3 lines

  1. unmapped (meta-joke) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they acted in: Mean Girls ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read). The new film turns the original's October 3rd meme into a meta bit by having a choir sing it.
    “they have like the choir go, it's October 3rd, you know, which like, that's at least like making a meta joke of it”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:53:15 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (remake) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they acted in: Mean Girls ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read). The new film reuses the original's iconic lines and jokes nearly verbatim, which Sean found a little flat because no joke lands when you know it is coming.
    “they really do it verbatim, like, and so that's weird with a joke.”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:52:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. craft (tone shift) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they acted in: Mean Girls ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read). The musical sands the edges off the Plastics and replaces bite with empowerment, a generational update on the original's Tina Fey punchline comedy.
    “the edges are sanded off the plastics. And most of the jokes don't have the same bite.”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:54:59 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

Knocked Up (2007): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they acted in: Mean Girls ⇒ Knocked Up (the host's read). Bill thinks Mean Girls may have been the first to figure out 'more funny than romantic, but also having the romance'.
    “I feel like mean girls might have been the 1st one that figured out.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Knocked Up’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Craig Horlbeck · 0:03:37 · Bill Simmons (0.85 sure it was them)

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Mamma Mia! (2008), which they acted in: Mamma Mia! ⇒ Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (the host's read). The sequel is both prequel and sequel, with Lily James as young Donna in Donna and the Dynamos.
    “can I tell you it's both a prequel and a sequel?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:35:44 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)

Patricia Clarkson: 1 line

  1. craft (craft) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they acted in: Mean Girls ⇒ Patricia Clarkson (the host's read). Clarkson's cool-mom scene is a slight nod to Amy Poehler's cool mom in Mean Girls.
    “This is like a slight nod to mean girls, Amy Poehler, your dance is funny.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobbins, and Shea Serrano · 1:13:41 · Juliet Litman (0.50 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Acting (16) everyone in acting

Other (1) everyone in other

What was said about them, by kind

career (3)

  1. career (career): Amanda Seyfried → Mean Girls. The film comes shortly after Mean Girls and just before "end time" (as transcribed) and Jennifer's Body, with Seyfried going for the brass ring.
    “It's shortly after Mean Girls.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:59:06 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. career (career): Amanda Seyfried → Mean Girls. Seyfried, a Mean Girls costar, became the most visible and commercially viable of that cast.
    “You got Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Seyfrid.”
    The Big Picture · The 10 Most Misused Stars in Hollywood and the Gnarly Magic of ‘Send Help’ · 1:08:43 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. career (upcoming role): Amanda Seyfried → The Housemaid. Seyfried is in Paul Feig's The Housemaid with Sydney Sweeney.
    “she's going to be in that movie, The Housemaid, directed by Paul Fig.”
    The Big Picture · ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Is the Most Important Movie of the Year So Far. And These Flicks Are the Best … · 1:12:50 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)

people (1)

  1. people (performance contrast): Avantika → Amanda Seyfried. Avantika plays Karen as a big over-the-top performer, which a fan of the original may not accept after Seyfried's version.
    “but that's not Amanda Syphron, you know”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:58:10 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

unmapped (1)

  1. unmapped (on-set mentor): Lacey Chabert → Amanda Seyfried. Seyfried says Chabert took her in, listening to Dido in her trailer.
    “I don't know what I would have done without Lacey Shea Bear.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 1:00:24 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

  1. fun, about Amanda Seyfried: A cocktail wiener pinned into Amy Poehler's bra was how the Chihuahua scene was filmed.
    “They pinned a piece of a cocktail wiener into her bra.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 1:01:17 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Amanda Seyfried: Sean's fan trivia: her Vogue get-ready-with-me discussing her eczema, a Jimmy Fallon clip singing Joni Mitchell, an Architectural Digest tour full of hiding places.
    “doing her get ready with me, talking about her eczema.”
    The Big Picture · ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Is the Most Important Movie of the Year So Far. And These Flicks Are the Best … · 1:12:16 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Amanda Seyfried: At CinemaCon, Sydney Sweeney treated Seyfried like she was Katharine Hepburn.
    “Sidney Sweeney was treating her like she was Catherine Hepburn.”
    The Big Picture · ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Is the Most Important Movie of the Year So Far. And These Flicks Are the Best … · 1:13:12 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)