KEY POINTS:
Double-Oscar winner Meryl Streep is upfront about why she signed on to film Mamma Mia! out this week. "I'm really doing this to embarrass my 20-something-year-old children," she confides. "The dancing part will mortify them. They'll have to move to Alaska or someplace. Just the overalls alone are
gonna do it for them."
While it's said tongue-in-cheek, it's true that Streep, 59, doesn't exactly exude glamour in her opening scenes. She plays Donna, a solo mum hotelier on the fictional Greek island of Kalokairi who is preparing for the wedding of her 18-year-old daughter Sophie (played by Big Love's Amanda Seyfried).
Unbeknownst to Donna, Sophie has discovered her mother's diary and learned she has three possible dads - businessman Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), adventurer Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgard) and banker Harry Bright (Colin Firth). Desperate to know the true identity of her father, she secretly invites all three of Donna's past suitors to her wedding and, like the audience, waits to see what unfolds.
Packed with Abba songs, the film is, of course, based on the smash-hit musical that first opened in London in 1999. Since then Mamma Mia! has been seen by a staggering 30 million people worldwide (indeed, thousands of Kiwis jumped the ditch to see the musical during its record four-year run in Australia from 2001-2005).
It is estimated to have grossed more than $2 billion at the theatrical box office, making its transition from stage to screen a virtual given. But it's birth was no easy matter. Producer Judy Craymer had long thought Abba songs would lend themselves to a musical with an original story, as opposed to a musical "Abba story", and in the late 80s had tried to persuade the 70s superband's founders Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus to give their approval. But, stung by their less-than-successful foray into theatre musicals with Chess - on which Craymer had worked as Tim Rice's executive producer - the Swedish pair were decidedly reluctant.
It was only after an Abba revival struck in the mid-90s - thanks chiefly to the unexpected success of Australian films Muriel's Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which prominently featured ABBA music - that Craymer's long campaign paid off. But when Hollywood inevitably came calling, a protective Craymer, original director Phyllida Law and writer Catherine Johnson would only agree to the film if they were at the helm, a condition readily agreed to by Tom Hanks' production company Playtone.
Craymer says she had always leaned towards Streep as the lead character in the film version, aware the Oscar winner had seen the Broadway production five years earlier and loved it so much she wrote to the cast to tell them how great they were. "Like schoolgirls, we kept this letter," Craymer reveals.
Meanwhile, Brosnan and Firth - no fans of musicals - signed on on the strength of Streep's involvement and the sheer challenge. Still, that didn't mean that both actors didn't suffer from a massive attack of the jitters. "I experienced sheer terror at the idea," admits Brosnan. "I don't think I have ever been so nervous about a job.
In the end, I just surrendered to the whole experience, and had a great time doing it. It's actually quite exhilarating to sing and to express your emotions that way." And, he acknowledges, in the end his nerves helped: "Fear will drive you to great lengths to try and get something perfect and meaningful. The months of anxiety paid off."
For Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard, who completes the trio of would-be dads, fear came from a different source: having to dance. "It's something I haven't done sober in 30 years!" he says. "[But] I enjoyed it enormously and tried to have as much fun as I could. The whole experience has been totally liberating. All you can do is enjoy it and go for it."
Although Streep has sung before, in films Postcards from the Edge and A Prairie Home Companion, this is her first full-on musical. "The songs are timeless," she says. "They just enter your body. When I came to learn them I found I knew every single one." Mamma Mia! The Movie is in cinemas from this Thursday.
Giveaway
We're giving away 10 Mamma Mia! prize packs featuring the soundtrack album (in stores from July 7) and jandals, beachbag, disposable camera, towel and iPod cover. Prizes are courtesy of Universal Music and Paramount Pictures. To enter, email your name, address and phone details to: view@heraldonsunday.co.nz (with Mamma Mia in the subject line). Or put the same details on the back of an envelope and send to: Mamma Mia Giveaway, View magazine, Herald on Sunday, PO Box 3290, Auckland. Entries close 1pm Monday, July 14. Winners' names published in View, July 20.