Mamma Mia! royalties joke
ARMANDO Iannucci has joked it “would be nice” to get a cut of the royalties from the forthcoming Mamma Mia! film because his Abba-loving character Alan Partridge helped it to succeed.
The writer co-created Partridge with actor Steve Coogan, who played the Norwich radio DJ in TV series including Knowing Me Knowing You and I’m Alan Partridge.
Partridge’s adoration for the Swedish band, on which the musical films are based, is one of his key traits. Iannucci said: “I certainly think the success of Mamma Mia! is partly down to Alan’s appropriation of Abba for his chat show. I’m not asking for a cut in the worldwide revenue generated by that project. I’m just stating it would be nice.”