Is a new publicist.

Journalists covering a film festival see each other every day, for several days, sometimes several times a day. And there is time to kill. A LOT of time to kill. Because they make us arrive well before screenings. Usually an hour before the screenings. We get there and we stand around, crammed up against each other with nothing to do, clutching our blackberries and talking sh-t.

So a red carpet becomes our locker room. This is where we exchange war stories, compare interviews and observations.

How did it go with you and Mariah Carey?

Did you get a full 5 minutes with Drew Barrymore?

Was XyZ stoned when you talked to him too?

Usually every account is pretty different. Different shows, different perspectives, different questions…

But this year we all agreed on Amanda Seyfried.

She’s a doll. She’s lovely. She’s so sweet, very talented, a nice girl.

And holy f-ck she needs new handlers.

All of us had an “Amanda Seyfried’s publicist treats her like a child” story.

In the halls of the Intercontinental where the junket interviews were taking place, several journalists saw Seyfried’s her personal rep yanking on her arm, sticking her finger into her face, aggressively ordering her around: don’t say this, don’t talk about that, keep it short, always look at me, look at me if you need me, remember what I’m telling you, listen to me when I’m telling you, are you listening, can you remember, do you understand what you need to do, do you understand, you need to understand, can you understand?

Amanda Seyfried isn’t an idiot. She’s bright and clever and quick. But by the time this woman was done with her she was almost trembling with insecurity. And this is how she was perceived. Many members of the press reported that she gave one word answers, bland answers, and had a stale personality which was surprising, especially to those who’d met her before because prior to this festival the word on Amanda Seyfried was that she was delightful and charming.

It wasn’t any better on the Chloe carpet.

At one point, in between interviews, in front of a full line of press, Amanda was pulled aside by her rep and berated to the point where her shoulders started sagging, and she started shrinking away like a wounded animal repeating “ok ok, I get it, I get it” with her head down, unable to make eye contact. Needless to say, it was a meek shell of a girl who eventually presented herself at the next media outlet.

She pays this person to treat her like this…?

I LOVE Amanda Seyfried. I am very excited about her career. But this is not the kind of team she needs around her. It’s embarrassing.

Here’s Amanda last week at the Hot Topic Jennifer’s Body Q&A in Hollywood. We’ll blame this one on Megan Fox.


Photos from Black Cat Photos/Splashnewsonline.com