Art of Racing cast “teammates,” says Amanda Seyfried

Amanda Seyfried says the Art of Racing cast are “teammates,” not just costars.

The Art of Racing cast weren’t just costars, but instead “teammates,” according to lead actress Amanda Seyfried.

“I was like, ‘The Art of Racing in the Rain, with Milo Ventimiglia?'” Seyfried told People Magazine in a video interview before making sputtering noises of disbelief. “‘And Me? Me, too? Please?””

Costar Ventimiglia, who was also doing the same interview, added that Seyfried was the first name mentioned for the lead female role of Eve Swift.

They’d met previously about fifteen years ago, which would be around the time they both broke into the spotlight, as Ventimiglia was starring on as Jess Mariano, while Seyfried played the Plastics’ Karen Smith in Mean Girls.

“There was always a truth in her eyes when you’d watch her onscreen,” Ventimiglia said of Seyfried’s acting, “and being there in front of her, on the sets-”

Here Seyfried makes a goofy-yet-earnest face at him.  “That face, she did that all the time. It was remarkable, working with her.”

In the meantime, Ventimiglia has played Rocky Balboa’s son Robert in the later Rocky movies and then really burst into the spotlight on NBC drama This Is Us, playing Vietnam veteran Jack Pearson opposite Mandy Moore.

During that time, Seyfried starred in the Nicholas Sparks adaptation Dear John and other similar chick flicks like Letters to Juliet or Mamma Mia, though she also found roles in such diverse films as Jennifer’s Body, A Million Ways to Die in the West, and Ted 2, and had a recurring role on Veronica Mars.

At that stage of their careers, Garth Stein’s novel was published (see our review), and it was attempted to be adapted into a movie version several times, though it never came together until now.

“I think we created something really amazing,” Seyfried added. “We just connect really well, so we’re like teammates now, for now and forever.”

To some extent, this is typical stuff you here from an actor about their castmates after any reasonably-pleasant production, but on the other hand, Denny and Eve make a fantastic team in the book, and isn’t that what marriage is, or ideally ought to be?

The third member of their four-member team is Denny’s Golden Retriever Enzo, the narrator of the movie, voiced by Kevin Costner (Dances With Wolves, For the Love of the Game, Man of Steel).

And the final member is Denny and Eve’s daughter Zoe, whose role is shared (at different ages) by Ryan Kiera Anderson and Lily Dodsworth-Evans, neither of whom has quite been in anything yet that audiences would recognize them from.

Audiences can decide for themselves how good a team the Art of Racing cast makes, as The Art of Racing in the Rain is in theaters nationwide starting Friday, August 9.