Amanda Seyfried is opening up about passing on a role in a television series due to its sex scenes.
While speaking on a panel hosted by Alec Baldwin at the Hamptons International Film Festival in East Hampton, N.Y., on Oct. 4, according to People magazine, the actress reportedly discussed the reason for her discomfort with an offered role. She did not share which television series the role was for.
“I passed on a show where I would have to have sex all the time because of the sex,” she said. “Doesn’t matter [who it’s with] … I don’t wanna do it. I’m uncomfortable with it. I’m not into it right now.”
She explained that her thoughts may change when she‘s in a “different space“ in life.
“Maybe if [the project] came along again [at a later point], maybe I’d be in a different space. But I don’t wanna deal with being naked with a stranger,” she said.
A mom to two, Seyfried referenced her kids and them “paying attention to what I do“ as a motivating factor.
“And so I have to be less of a pushover,” she said. “The other day — this is so silly — but Nina, my daughter, and I were walking across the street [in Manhattan] … and a person on our side of the street asked for a picture, and I looked at my daughter, and I said, ‘No, I’m sorry.’ And then we walked across the street and I was like, ‘How was that for you, Nina? Was that okay?’ ”
“She’s like, ‘I’m very proud of you, mama,’ ” Seyfried shared. She also recalled her daughter telling her that she was “proud“ of her for saying no when someone asked for a photo while they were at a coffee shop.
“[If] I’m with my kids, I say no … whatever [they are] going through is more important than what I’m going through,“ she said.
Also during the panel, Seyfried further reflected on how things get “weirder“ the older you get while being an actor and portraying passion onscreen.
“Our jobs are weird,” she said. “And as I get older, it gets weirder. We have to be romantic with people that we’re not romantic with.”
“Sometimes it’s great,“ she added. “Sometimes it’s really uncomfortable. But I can’t believe back in the day I was just like, ‘We gotta make out. Great! This is awesome. I know how to make out. And it used to be so fun. It was a non-thing. It was like, ‘I get to make out with a hot person today … And they’re paying me.’ ”
Seyfried‘s comments are not the first time an actor has spoken out about onscreen sex scenes. In 2023, Penn Badgley had opened up about his request to have no more intimacy scenes ahead of You season four.
“This is actually a decision I’d made before I took the show,” Badgley said on his podcast Podcrushed at the time. “I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it publicly, but one of the main things is like, ‘Do I wanna put myself back on a career path where I’m just always a romantic lead?’”
He continued, “It’s really important to me … Fidelity in every relationship — and especially my marriage — is important to me, and it just got to a point where I didn’t wanna do that. Then, of course, before I took the show is there a question of, ‘Do I have a career if I don’t?’ I mean, you know, think about every male lead you’ve loved. Are they kissing someone? Are they doing a lot more than that? It’s really not my desire to.”