Amanda Seyfried has revealed that she will not be attending the world premiere of her film Seven Veils at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival amid the historic dual Hollywood strikes.
The actress took to Instagram on Saturday to share her appreciation for the Atom Egoyan-directed movie, writing, “I am SO PROUD of this movie and it hurts my heart not to stand next to the beautiful people who helped create this special film at our @tiff_net premiere next week.”
Seyfried noted that while the film was given a waiver by SAG-AFTRA to “promote this fully, magically independent Canadian movie,” it still “doesn’t feel right to head to the fest in light of the strike.”
She added, “I can’t wait to show you all SEVEN VEILS when the time is right (and we’ve come to a fair agreement for actors and writers).”
Since actors joined writers on the picket lines in July, it has left a big question whether this year’s fall film festivals will see A-list actors in attendance. Stars are prohibited from promoting their film and TV projects unless they secure waivers from SAG-AFTRA to promote upcoming indie films unaligned with studios or streamers.
Seven Veils is set to debut on Sept. 10 as part of the Special Presentations sidebar at TIFF.
The opera-themed drama, which is a Canadian-financed indie film, sees Seyfried as Jeanine, a tortured theater director who has been tasked with remounting her former mentor’s most famous work, an adaptation of the opera Salome from composer Richard Strauss, based on the play by Oscar Wilde. But as her character reenters the opera world after several years away from the scene, some disturbing memories from her past haunt her, allowing for her repressed trauma to color the present.
Seyfried reteamed with Egoyan, who also directed the actress’ film Chloe, for Seven Veils, which also stars Rebecca Liddiard, Douglas Smith, Mark O’Brien and Vinessa Antoine.
The 48th edition of the Toronto Film Festival is set to run from Sept. 7 to 17.