Amanda Seyfried brings M.K. to life
The creators of ICE AGE and RIO will reveal a hidden world unlike any other in an all new 3D CG action-adventure comedy. EPIC tells the story of a battle raging all around us between the forces of good, who protect nature, and the forces of evil, who wish to see it destroyed. When a teen age girl finds herself magically transported into this secret universe, she must band together with a rag-tag team of fun and unique characters to save their world…and ours.
Amanda Seyfried brings Mary Katherine to life and discusses her character and her relationship with Beyoncé’s Queen Tara…
Tell me about Epic. What’s the story? Who are you?
What’s the story? I’m Mary Katherine. Well, I play Mary Katherine, M.K. as she likes to be called. She’s just a girl in the world who comes home to reconnect with her estranged father after her mother has passed away, kind of something I really can’t wrap my head around. Her father is really distracted by this world that he has discovered, of these tiny people living in the woods. This is the one thing M.K.’s mom wanted was for her to reconnect with her father and he’s off, out in some other land. And the funny thing is she gets transported to that world that he’s discovered. And now she’s just trying to figure out how to get back. But there’s so much happening in this world, battle between good and evil to save the forest and a lot of really interesting universal characters that come into play. And there are birds as cars, and flowers are people, I can’t give it justice.
M.K.’s going through a tough time personally. How does the forest help her?
I think the forest gives her hope. She realizes just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there. There’s a lot that she realizes, there’s a lot to learn from her father, and he’s got a lot to learn from her. And the gap between them is just completely filled with all she’s learned and experienced in the forest. There are just so many messages that she takes from this. She realizes that she’s going to have to help them save the forest, and she’s responsible for this pod that she needs to protect it in order to save the forest. And she becomes a solider in this battle and it teaches her a lot about herself and about humanity and how anything is possible, and it’s kind of beautiful because she creates relationships with these people. Luckily with the technology that we have these days she can still communicate with them even when she gets big again.
Tell us about Beyoncé and Queen Tara.
Queen Tara is a very magnetic personality. She’s the heart of the forest. She’s what keeps it going, and without a Queen they can’t survive. When her life is threatened, this pod needs to bloom every full moon or every year but Queen Tara gets hits by the boggins, the bad guys, and she parishes. And she has this pod and she gives it to Mary Katherine. Queen Tara’s my favorite character, because she’s so peaceful when she goes and it’s so sad, because you know this is the life. This is their Queen. These people need her. She’s so wonderful and mischievous and beautiful and she’s just a cool chick. She’s youthful and she’s just perfect. And Beyoncé was perfect to play Tara, because she has this essence to her that she’s magnetic and effortless. And she has a lot to give. You can tell. And this was perfect.
EPIC IS OUT NOW ON 3D BLU-RAY, BLU-RAY AND DVD