Overview
- Seyfried disclosed Monday in British GQ that she learned every song on Joni Mitchell’s 1971 album Blue on dulcimer, piano and guitar during the COVID lockdown while preparing to play Mitchell in a planned film.
- She recounts meeting Mitchell at the singer’s Los Angeles home, sharing a steak dinner, listening to Blue and hearing personal stories that informed her approach to the role.
- The project Seyfried was attached to focused on Mitchell’s relationship with manager Elliot Roberts but stalled and was ultimately shelved after Roberts’s death, she said.
- Seyfried’s dulcimer performance of “California” on The Tonight Show went viral in March 2025, a moment she says grew out of prior preparation and was not an audition for Cameron Crowe’s separate, industry-reported Mitchell film.
- Industry reports link Anya Taylor-Joy and Meryl Streep to Crowe’s project but casting and production details remain unconfirmed, and Seyfried’s account underscores how close preparation can be even when studio plans change.