Emmy-winning actress Amanda Seyfried will headline “Seven Veils,” a new drama that brings together the worlds of opera and film, hitting U.S. theaters on March 7, 2025. The film, distributed by XYZ Films and Variance, has already earned strong reviews with a 79% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Director Atom Egoyan, known for his Oscar-nominated work, crafts a story about Jeanine (Seyfried), a theater director returning to stage her former mentor’s opera production. As she works on the show, hidden traumas from her past begin to surface, threatening both her work and personal life.
The film takes an unusual approach to storytelling by weaving its narrative around Richard Strauss’s opera “Salome.” Egoyan, who has directed the opera multiple times on stage, filmed during actual performances by the Canadian Opera Company, incorporating professional opera singers into the cast.
“I’ve been involved with opera for a number of years, doing it parallel to my film work,” Egoyan explains. “I always wondered if there was a way to bring the two worlds together.” He emphasizes that the film uses opera merely as a backdrop, saying, “It’s not really an opera movie, it’s just using the world of the opera as a workplace like any workplace.”
The director chose “Salome” for its rich history and cultural significance. “The story of Salome has such a rich inheritance. It comes to us from the Bible and then became the basis of this extraordinary play that Oscar Wilde wrote,” he says. Egoyan particularly admires how Strauss turned Wilde’s play into what he calls “truly revolutionary music.”
The film marks a reunion between Egoyan and Seyfried, who first worked together in “Chloe” (2009). Fresh from her Emmy win for “The Dropout,” Seyfried continues to build her diverse acting portfolio, which includes roles in “Mean Girls” and “Mamma Mia!”
“Seven Veils” premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, earning a spot on TIFF’s Top Ten List before screening at the Berlin Film Festival. The supporting cast includes Rebecca Liddiard, Douglas Smith, Mark O’Brien, Vinessa Antoine, Ambur Braid, and Michael Kupfer-Radecky.
The production brings together several major players in the film industry, including Rhombus Media and Ego Film Arts, with backing from Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates. Additional support comes from IPR.VC, Cinetic Media, Crave, and the Canadian Opera Company. Following its success in Canada, the film looks poised to appeal to American audiences who enjoy thoughtful, character-driven stories.
