The movie Amanda doesn't want her dad to see
Inside the tragic story of America’s first porn superstar
As the star of the infamous porn blockbuster Deep Throat, Linda Lovelace saw her name in lights on cinema hoardings around the world.
On general release, the movie was a huge hit making £382 million at the box office.
It entered the public consciousness to such a degree that the film’s title became the code name of the White House mole who leaked the Watergate tapes to The Washington Post.
But there’s far more to Linda’s story than that one film, as Amanda Seyfried found out while preparing to play her in the superb biopic, Lovelace.
“I had heard about her long before this movie came into existence,” she says.
“I didn’t really care about her story and thought she was a two-dimensional character.”
“But I learned that it’s important to know that everybody has three dimensions and everybody’s a human being.”
Linda, who made the equivalent of just £800 for her part in the movie, made several more films including 1975’s Linda Lovelace For President along with Monkees star Mickey Dolenz.
But in 1980, she published a book, Ordeal, denouncing her x-rated career and detailing how she’d been forced into making Deep Throat by her abusive husband.
The book sold out three print runs and for the next 20 years — until her death, aged 53, in 2002 — Linda campaigned on behalf of abused women and became a poster girl for anti-porn campaigns.
“I think a lot of women can relate to Linda in that she is kind of stuck in her life,” continues Les Miserables star Amanda. “She made some bad choices and was escaping one bad situation — a stormy relationship with her strict mother — and entering into another bad situation with her husband Chuck Traynor. How could she foresee that or what happened to her after she became famous?
“In a lot of ways, she’s always just trying to figure out who she is and trying to find her footing in her life, like we all are.
“Her circumstances are pretty awful throughout the whole thing, which is why I wanted to play her.
“I didn’t really have any doubts about taking on the role — apparently a lot of people did, which is why I got it.
“But I felt like I could do her some justice. She tried so hard to be heard, and I felt a big responsibility playing her, especially because we were in touch with her kids.
“It’s the first time I actually lost myself in a role. I feel like a real actor now.”
Amanda watched Deep Throat halfway through filming Lovelace.
“It was really difficult and intense to watch, knowing what happened and the story behind the movie. But at the same time it helped me to completely absorb what Linda was about.”
While the film has an 18 rating because of its content, it’s a shame it can’t be shown to young teenagers to act as a warning of the pitfalls of trusting the wrong sort of person. However, Amanda wishes she could have stopped at least one adult from seeing it.
“I don’t want my dad to see my naked body,” blushes the 27-year-old, who has been single since her split with Mamma Mia! co-star Dominic Cooper in 2010.
“We went to the New York premiere together and I wanted to cover up.
“I don’t have any problems with him seeing me in violent situations and sexual situations are a little tough, but it’s really just the nudity. I think anybody would agree with that.”
LOVELACE is in cinemas now.