Amanda Seyfriend is fast becoming darling of Hollywood. From humble, though hilarious beginnings in Mean Girls, she moved on to the sweeter than sweet role of Sophie Sheridan in the multi-award winning Mamma Mia!, and to playing Cosette in another extraordinarily successful musical, Les Miserables. Having played such classical or humorous roles, her starring appearance as Linda Lovelace in 'Lovelace' seems a little out of kilter, but as she told the BBC, it was a challenge she couldn't resist.

"It is risky and people did not stop reminding me of that. But I also really wanted a challenge. It appealed to me in that way," she said. Lovelace is about Linda Lovelace, the star of the 1970s porn film Deep Throat in which Lovelace played a woman skilled in "a very advanced form of fellatio," as the Guardian puts it. Lovelace became hot property in the porn market, but when she released her biography in the '80s she portrayed her life as one wrought by an abusive marriage to a man who used hypnosis to force her to make pornography. 

Clearly, Lovelace's story was a traumatic one and, while Seyfried said she wanted a challenge, she was perhaps not quite ready for the depth of the challenge that she was embarking on. "I had a hard time letting go of Linda at the end of the movie," she said. "I went places that I couldn't get out of." Also appearing in Lovelace are Sharon Stone, Peter Sarsgaard (playing Lovelace's abusive husband, Chuck Traynor), Chloe Sevigny, Juno Temple, Chris Noth and James Franco. Reviews from its Sundance Film Festival premier have been largely positive, though quisitive. It is expected to reach cinemas in July.