Director's vision drew Seyfried to dark fantasy

HOLLYWOOD - Amanda Seyfried didn't actually read the "Red Riding Hood" screenplay before she signed on to the gothic thriller. Instead, she was sold on the drawings, photos and video materials director Catherine Hardwicke showed her.

"She had all these crazy visuals to show me, and I thought about how difficult it is to make this timeless old tale into a full-length movie," recalled the blond, green-eyed actress. "Then I met with [producer] Leonardo DiCaprio, and that was it."

Seyfried, 25, stars in this retelling of the classic children's fairy tale as a dark fantasy thriller. As Valerie, she lives in a medieval European village held hostage by a killer wolf. The fearful townsfolk ritualistically offer their best livestock to the beast so he'll leave them alone, but that unspoken truce is broken when one of the villagers - Valerie's sister - turns up dead. The menfolk form a posse to find and kill the bloodthirsty wolf, but when they return, a mysterious priest (Gary Oldman) informs them the killer is not an ordinary wolf but someone who walks among them . . . a werewolf. Fear gives way to paranoia as villagers turn against one another and their search for the killer becomes a witch-hunt.

Meanwhile, Valerie has other problems. She loves Peter (newcomer Shiloh Fernandez), a young woodcutter, but her parents have promised her to another boy (Max Irons). The enterprising lass ponders leaving the village with Peter, but the murder of her sister puts those plans on hold. So she goes for advice to her grandmother - who lives in the woods outside the village.

Hardwicke directed "Red Riding Hood" from a screenplay by David Leslie Johnson ("Orphan").

If this supernatural love-triangle premise sounds vaguely familiar, consider that Hardwicke previously directed "Twilight," about a teenage girl in love with a vampire and a werewolf.

Seyfried was the first and only actress Hardwicke considered for the title role in "Red Riding Hood," after hearing her speak at an autism-awareness event.

"I've been watching her in all these other parts, and I saw she could be funny in 'Mean Girls' and sexy in 'Chloe,' and I thought, this chick can do anything," recalled Hardwicke. "And when you think of the line, 'What big eyes you have,' no one else compares."

Seyfried, who has an ethereal quality about her, said she admires Hardwicke's boundless energy.

"She's so involved in everything and so passionate, she's the perfect kind of director to direct a movie like this," said Seyfried, who made her feature-film debut in 2004's "Mean Girls."

The production in Vancouver (where "Twilight" coincidentally was filmed) was a difficult one for the young actress.

"I was hyperventilating for two days straight, which is really challenging," the soft-spoken Pennsylvanian (she grew up in Allentown) recalled. "To be terrified consistently for two days in a row is just not fun and pretty exhausting."

Seyfried drew inspiration from her fellow cast members, particularly Oscar winner Julie Christie, who plays her grandmother.

"She was just awesome," Seyfried said with wide-eyed enthusiasm. "She's just a really cool human being. Ageless though. I don't know how old she is even. It doesn't matter. She looks hot. She's an aware, generous human and a great actress. She's been doing it for so many years. I don't strive to be any certain person, but if I did, it would be her."

Seyfried, whose credits range from the musical "Mamma Mia!" to the twisted dark comedy "Jennifer's Body," said she feels she has more to learn about her craft.

"I feel like I've been playing versions of myself," she said.

The one film in which she feels she may have tapped into some solid character work is "Chloe," the Atom Egoyan erotic dark thriller she starred in last year opposite Liam Neeson.

She is recording a viral video in conjunction with "Red Riding Hood."

"It's only because I like singing," she said.