Resist you
even have to audition. She said: “My agent called and said, ‘You’re in the new Mamma Mia film!’, and then hung up. I didn’t have much choice…”
Cher, 72, also laughs about playing 69-yearold Streep’s mother. She said: “I am older than her – by [less than] four years. I said, ‘That’s absolutely fine, that’s cool’.”
But the small age gap was not the only thing that had the stars in fits of laughter.
Dominic Cooper, 40 – back again as Sophie’s husband Sky – told how some of the dance moves demanded by West End choreographer Anthony Van Laast left them in stitches.
He said: “It was hilarious, it was like a French and Saunders send-up of the original. We were all 10 years older… I used to take the mick out of Anthony because he’d say, ‘Just throw your arms up in the air’.
“I was like, ‘Are you serious, is that how you are going to choreograph this?’.
“But really, if you’re going to get Pierce or Colin to dance like that it would be awful to choreograph them. The more loose and chaotic it is, the better.”
Another cast member who had trouble controlling themselves – for a different reason – was Downton Abbey favourite Lily James.
Lily, a Mamma Mia! newcomer, was overcome with emotion at meeting her idol Meryl Streep.
She said: “Meryl was singing this song in a chapel, it was emotional. I was outside knowing I was about to meet her… and crying.
“And it was like, ‘Hold it together, Lily!’. It was too much.”
Lily, 29 – who played Cinderella in the 2015 Kenneth Branagh film – said the chance to work with Streep was a huge attraction.
She said: “I thought, what better opportunity will I ever have to study Meryl? What Meryl
does is unlearnable.” And she says doing the film also helped her rediscover her love for singing.
She explained: “I think acting sort of took over – and I also screwed my voice. I kept losing it from stress. It started in Cinderella. It was wonderful to embrace it again.”
With the hits of ABBA again providing the film’s soundtrack, singing was certainly the name of the game.
Alongside favourites including Waterloo, Mamma Mia! and Dancing Queen are lesser-known songs such as When I Kissed The Teacher and Kisses of Fire.
Cher and Andy Garcia’s version of Fernando has already been released as a single.
And with ABBA’S Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-frid revealing in April they have made two new songs together – their first in 35 years – it looks like it really is the year for fans to say, Thank You for the Music.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is in cinemas from July 20
There I was, about to meet Meryl… and crying LILY JAMES ON MEETING HER HERO MERYL STREEP
janine.yaqoob@trinitymirror.com