BEHIND-THE-SCENE SECRETS
1 Mega-fans went wild when leading couple Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper began dating in real life. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be, and the pair split in 2011. But the sequel meant the pair had to reunite – and Dominic, 40, admitted last summer that it may be awkward. He said, “I think it will be fine working with Amanda again… Though it’ll be odd, gazing into each other’s eyes and singing an ABBA song.”
2 Meryl Streep’s character, Donna, does the splits multiple times during big musical numbers – and while fans speculated over whether there was a body double, Meryl revealed it was really her. She said, “I keep getting asked about the scene with the splits. They ask, ‘Was there a body double? Or was it CGI?’ No! I just did the splits on instinct!”
3 A UK poll conducted earlier this year revealed the film that has most inspired Brits to book a Greek holiday is Mamma Mia! In fact, almost one in 20 of the 2,000 adults polled who had seen the film booked a beach holiday to Skopelos after falling in love with the blue skies and whitewashed buildings seen in the film.
4 The stage show version – on which the film is based – has been seen by over 50m people worldwide and has grossed over £1.5 billion internationally. It has opened in more major cities faster than any other musical in theatre history, with productions in over 325 cities.
5 Fans are no doubt excited about pop legend Cher’s cameo in the sequel – but the star was originally asked to be in the first film. She was offered the role of Tanya – who was played by Christine Baranski – but due to concert tour commitments, the singer had to decline the role.
6 Pierce Brosnan – who plays Sam – admitted he had no idea what the film was about when he signed up. He said, “When the offer came in with a phone call from the States and they said Meryl Streep, Mamma Mia!, Greece… I just said, ‘Great, I’m in.’ The next night I went to see the stage show and I saw the set, then they started singing and I thought, ‘Oh dear, oh dear’.”
7Many of the cast members have little experience singing – but all the voices you hear are genuine. Meryl even reportedly insisted on singing live as they were filming to make it more authentic. And after dodgy reviews of Pierce’s vocals in the first film, reports claim he’s since worked with a vocal coach for the sequel.
8 The first film is the ninth highestgrossing movie of all time at the UK box office. It was the most successful musical movie until Disney’s remake of Beauty And The Beast surpassed it last year. While Mamma Mia! had a £39m budget, that grew to £53m for the sequel.
9 Meryl revealed one of the reasons she agreed to the film was to get back at New York journalist Pauline Kael, who’d said she only acted “from the neck up”.
10 In Mamma Mia! when the female 10 leads take all the village girls down to the beach, singing Dancing Queen, the women were in fact locals from the surrounding area and mainland Greece. There is even a scene with a woman sitting on her donkey singing along – who was reportedly a Greek local watching the fun.