Shakers film shows how obscure religion championed modern ideals

Many of the tenets that 18th-century Shaker movement founder Ann Lee espoused hundreds of years ago could well enlighten today’s not-always-inclusive culture, says Amanda Seyfried.

She came to that conclusion by virtue of her starring in “The Testament of Ann Lee,” an epic historical drama and musical directed and co-written by Mona Fastvold. The film has drawn positive reviews on the festival circuit, not to mention some Oscar buzz, and opens in theaters nationwide on Jan. 23.

Central to the Christian sect’s game plan was its intent to create a utopian-like community in America in which everyone gets treated equally and pacifism receives a warm embrace. Those once-radical notions piqued the interest of Seyfried, an Oscar nominee who’s always up for a challenge (as she showed in David Fincher’s “Mank”) yet a bona fide box office star (as she proved, again, with “The Housemaid”).

Here, the versatile actor portrays Mother Ann with kinetic religious fervor and an ethereal quality that all but transfixes you during the course of the 2¼-hour film.

For Fastvold, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter (“The Brutalist”) and director, bringing Lee’s spiritual journey to the screen shines a big spotlight on a relatively unknown but influential historical figure who championed communal living, gender equality and celibacy.

“The idea that people were yearning for a community that pleaded for equality all the way back then, and that 6,000 people gave up sex to be a part of that, to live in that system … that’s a big sacrifice,” said Fastvold, who, with Seyfried, talked about the movie during a press stop in San Francisco. “Even men who had freedom and had autonomy also said, ‘You know what? I want to partake in this community where I am safe and everyone else is too.’”

So it’s only fitting that Fastvold’s quasi-musical biopic “The Testament of Ann Lee” proves to be as daring and radical as its subject, telling the story in three dramatized chapters that feature more than 12 trance-inducing songs and dance sequences, all inspired by Shaker spirituals and their movements.

Fastvold, a former dancer and actor, collaborated with Oscar-winning composer Daniel Blumberg and choreographers to bring these trippy music numbers to electric life onscreen.

“The Testament of Ann Lee,” a $10-million epic that looks like it cost at least eight times that, opens Jan. 23 in Bay Area theaters.

Born in Manchester, England, the impoverished Lee went against the grain of the times. She became a member of the Shaking Quakers and went on to found the Shakers. Through visions, she saw herself as a vessel for Christ, and preached frequently that a second coming was imminent. Because of these and other views, she was persecuted and imprisoned several times for blasphemy in England. Lee suffered other injustices, including the four traumatic deaths of her infant children. She went on to swear off sex with her husband Abraham (played by Christopher Abbot). Along with eight followers, one of whom was her devoted brother William (Lewis Pullman) – who is portrayed as being gay in the film– she left England in 1774 seeking religious freedom in America. When they arrived, she was aghast that the majority of American society regarded Blacks and indigenous inhabitants as inferior — counter to the Shakers’ belief in equality.

“That was a very dark part of American history,” Fastvold said. “To know that simultaneously this woman arrived in America and she said ‘No, I believe in equality for all. I think we should love and respect each other and we should be pacifists’” illustrated her conviction.

Seyfried adds that the Shakers showed “how communities can build with space and freedom and worship and a very incredible and healthy lack of judgment.”

To create a utopian-like society, as the Shakers sought to do in Maine, requires a crucial mind-shift – letting go of ego. Not so easy to do in this day and age.

“Some ego is healthy and a lot of it is not,” said Seyfried who continues to voice her concern about the direction America has taken of late.

Given that Mother Ann was such an influential figure and that the Shakers movement blossomed, why do so few know about her today?

Partly because Ann Lee was a female religious figure, Seyfried and Fastvold concur, and that she wasn’t interested in seeking the spotlight.

“She didn’t speak to the larger groups,” Fastvold said. “She was more interested in the one on one, conversions and professions and guidance. She lived like everyone else and very modestly. There were no monuments raised in her name because they were against that. This is not my legacy. It’s not me. It’s just my space.”

While there’s not a plethora of information available about Lee, there is a legacy of what the Shakers — now numbering three members in Maine’s Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village — left behind, from journals,  text, hymns and, in particular, furniture and architecture.

Fastvold, who also directed 2020’s “The World to Come,” wanted to ensure that the film and its production design reflected those contributions and their aesthetic.

“It was supposed to be sustainable and it was supposed to be beautiful in its simplicity and its functionality,” Fastvold said.

Being functional and on schedule proved crucial too on the set for an ever-so-tight shooting schedule, which included a chunk of filming in Budapest, as well as tight-quarters filming and dancing aboard a historical ship in Sweden and at Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Seyfried admits when she read the screenplay — co-written by Fostvald’s husband Brady Corbet, who directed and co-wrote the screenplay along with Fastvold for “The Brutalist” — it was hard to envision how the song-and-dance numbers would figure in. But she trusted Fastvold and her vision and liked being challenged.

Fastvold sought to make the film set for “Ann Lee” a bonding experience for cast and crew, mirroring the spirit of the Shaker community. She certainly achieved that: Seyfried and Pullman credit the director for running a collaborative set that allowed them to feel safe about taking risks. (Seyfried prepped for a year for her starring role.)

For Pullman, son of actor Bill Pullman, the leap of faith was tackling his first singing and dancing role as Mother Ann’s supportive brother, who sought to gain more members for the flock once they relocated to America. The versatile Pullman – seen in “Thunderbolts*” and the Apple series “Lessons in Chemistry” – was anxious about being a part of the film, at first.

“I literally almost talked myself out of it,” he said during a Zoom interview. He recalls meeting with Fastvold, clicking with her vision and her creativity. “I was like ‘well, I’ll take the smallest (of three yet-to-be-cast characters).” Fastvold had other ideas and offered him the critical role of William. He sent over a recording of his voice and his take on an 18th-century Mancunian accent to see if that’s what she was looking for.

“I sent it to her and Daniel (Blumberg) and she was like yeah that’s what I want for William,” he said. “She was so certain of it and so that evaporated the first layer of fear, just that she had trust in that. She was like ‘OK, I’ve heard your voice now and what your capability is. You’re not a singer. You’re not like a professional singer. You can emote, and you can find purpose within the song of why you are singing, and you can find the truth in that and the conviction in that.’ And that’s what she wanted.”

To gain a few tips for those fluid dance movements, Pullman didn’t have to look too far. He asked his mom, Tamara Hurt, who is a modern dancer and choreographer, for some assistance. In turn, he asked choreographer Celia Rowlson-Hall to shoot over footage of the dance moves to his mom.

“Then my mom and I for a week or two would go through (the moves) every day and my mom broke the scenes down and she dissected them beat by beat. I got to carry some of my mom’s voice and articulation with me, and that instilled a lot of confidence in me.”

Seyfried, in turn, worked with a dialect coach to get her into the 1770s era, and Fastvold noticed from the start that she had bonded with her character.

Seyfried says she felt a connection to Lee because of the multiple ways faith factors into our lives, including the challenge to see the bigger picture in things.

“Faith is not one thing,” she said. “It’s a belief in something greater that kind of guides you through life or gives you a figurative hand that you can hold. And it can come in any shape, color, form or whatever.”

Seyfried finds faith being represented to her in various ways.

“Faith to me is art and Mother Nature. That’s what unites us. I don’t have to be god-fearing in order to have faith. I can appreciate people’s connections to God or Jesus or Joseph. People want to put their faith in this higher power because at the end of the day it is faith that gives you purpose. Faith makes you feel like you’re safe to explore. Safe to live your life.”