Los Angeles, June 15 (IANS) Hollywood actress Amanda Seyfried has shared that the viral cover of Joni Mitchell’s “California” on “The Tonight Show” wasn’t born out of coincidence.

The Oscar-nominated actress was once attached to play the singer-songwriter in a biopic, reports ‘Variety’.

The actress recently revealed that she learned to play Mitchell’s ‘Blue’ album on dulcimer, piano and guitar during the Covid-19 pandemic in preparation for a biopic.

She told ‘GQ’, “It was a movie about her and (manager) Elliot Roberts. Then he died, but not before I met him”.

She met Mitchell, too, who invited Seyfried to her Los Angeles home for a steak dinner. The two ended up listening to “Blue” together.

She further mentioned, “I sat on the floor petting one of the dogs. She told me a lot of stories. She’s like, ‘We’ll put on the album and light a fire’. After we listened to the album, she’s like, ‘It’s sparse, isn’t it?’” The actress responded, “It’s perfect”.

As per ‘Variety’, the actress also learned the Mitchell classics ‘Both Sides Now’ and ‘The Circle Game’, but the project didn’t end up working out. Still, Seyfried is proud of the musical accomplishment.

She shared, “The day that I finished learning the last song on the album, ‘(The Last Time I Saw) Richard’, I fucking wept. I felt like a bona fide musician, like I belong here. I felt like I had put my own flag on the top of the mountain. Because it was a fucking mountain, I tell you”.

‘Almost Famous’ helmer Cameron Crowe is now directing a different Mitchell biopic, reportedly set to star Anya Taylor-Joy and Meryl Streep as younger and older versions of the singer.

–IANS

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