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Post by Ace on Mar 6, 2007 19:47:17 GMT -5
I think my brain just imploded. 
Variety: Brosnan set for 'Mamma Mia!'Actor cast opposite Steep in ABBA musical By MICHAEL FLEMING Pierce Brosnan will play the male lead opposite Meryl Streep in "Mamma Mia!," the film adaptation of the hit musical for Universal and producing partners Playtone and Littlestar. Pic begins shooting June 25 in London and Greece. Brosnan sang a few Irish standards in the indie drama "Evelyn," and sang onstage early in his career. But this will be a decided departure for an actor best known for playing the steely James Bond. Brosnan will play Sam, one of three men summoned to a Greek isle by a young woman who believes one of them is her father. For Brosnan, the opportunity to belt out such ABBA standards as "S.O.S.," which will be a duet with Streep, was irresistible. "I said yes right away because it meant working with Meryl Streep," Brosnan told Daily Variety. "Secondly, I saw the show with my family in London, and found it just so wonderfully happy and joyful, and so pitched in time forever in the 1970s. What a kick in the pants, to be able to go off and spend time with Meryl on some Greek island, singing ABBA songs." "Mamma Mia!" is being produced by Littlestar's Judy Craymer and Playtone's Gary Goetzman and Tom Hanks. Rita Wilson will exec produce with Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, latter of whom wrote the tunes when they were the creative catalysts for ABBA. "Pierce brings a certain smooch factor and we think he'll have great chemistry with Meryl in a romantic comedy," said Craymer. "He is just the perfect choice." Phyllida Lloyd, who directed "Mamma Mia!" in its London and Broadway runs, is helming the picture, which was scripted by Catherine Johnson. She wrote the book for the stage musical, which recently surpassed $2 billion in ticket sales in over 140 cities since opening in 1999. Brosnan takes the job while preparing a sequel to "The Thomas Crown Affair," which John Rogers scripted and which Brosnan is producing under his Irish DreamTime banner. A director will be set shortly and production will begin before year's end. Brosnan recently completed "Butterfly on a Wheel," a co-production between Irish DreamTime and Icon that will be distributed by Lionsgate, and he also recently shot "Married Life," a Sidney Kimmel Entertainment pic that will be released by MGM. |
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Post by donnamcg on Mar 6, 2007 22:27:01 GMT -5
OH MY GOD!!!!! This is incredible! ;D That is one FABULOUS show ....... and what a part!!! I died and went to heaven!! It IS SOOOO joyful!!! Am I excited? Oh just a wee bit!!! Donna |
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Post by TIM on Mar 6, 2007 22:36:28 GMT -5
TCA 2 scripted by John Rogers ( he did CATWOMAN ) yuck. this doesnt sound promising for TCA 2. As far as i can still remember didnt they hired Harley Peyton to do the script?
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Post by Ace on Mar 6, 2007 22:56:45 GMT -5
I had the same initial reaction but to be fair Kurt Wimmer who co-scripted TCA wrote (and directed) the horrible Equilibrium, Ultraviolet etc and Leslie Dixon had basically just done comedies.
Supposedly Rogers in one of the "hot" Hollywood scriptwriters and he's been attached to a ton of projects (from The Rush Hours to Transporter)
I gather they didn't like Peyton's version. Not unusual, one of the scripts written for PB's TCA later became the script for Entrapment but was turned down. And they have a previous film as well as a book to lean on.
Either way the director will shape the script into his vision -- that's what McTiernan did. I'm more interested in who's directing right now.
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Post by sparklingblue on Mar 7, 2007 5:17:43 GMT -5
ROTFL
Needing to realise that dream of becoming a rock star, eh, Pierce?
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Post by icyvice on Mar 7, 2007 6:15:31 GMT -5
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Post by donnamcg on Mar 7, 2007 7:17:51 GMT -5
Isn't it awesome! I had the soundtrack in my head all through my sleep in the night!  You can bet THIS movie will get extensive publicity!!!!! Not like poor little SF!!! Meryl Streep!!!! Can you believe it??? Donna |
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Post by Lauryn on Mar 7, 2007 11:30:58 GMT -5
Strike me pink! The SMA is full of surprises these days! I had to look twice to make sure this came from Variety and not The Onion. The chance to duet with the Divine Ms. M on an island with beautiful little Greeks -- how could he resist? <wink> Even if too much ABBA makes my fillings hurt, I'll just have to go with the flow, LOL! Meryl's got a decent set of pipes on her and she's a great mimic so I'm sure she'll be super. And PB's vocals will probably be mixed under layers of the ABBA sound so not so many worries there as there might be.
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Post by Ace on Mar 7, 2007 13:49:56 GMT -5
I have been laughing about this news since last night. It's so wildly improbable and yet so fantastically fun to think about. When the SMA said he wanted to be a surprise to the audience he wasn't kidding. He seems to be having such a blast in his career right now and considering that his last two roles to hit the screen have not only been wildly divergent but brilliant performances I guess he knows what he's doing.  |
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Post by Ace on Mar 7, 2007 14:25:47 GMT -5
What;s really funny is reading some of the male centered/fan boy sites like Empire, Can Mag and Cinema Blend. Oh the horror! ;D |
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Post by Lauryn on Mar 7, 2007 14:57:41 GMT -5
What;s really funny is reading some of the male centered/fan boy sites like Empire, Can Mag and Cinema Blend. Oh the horror! ;D Priceless! All the more reason to have a sense of fun and embrace it with open arms. Just to annoy them silly, I don't mind if it turns out to be campier than a row of pink tents. My favorite of your cites is the guy who had to reassure himself that the ex-007 would likely be fornicating away during the filming with half the eligible female population of the Greek isles. Someone better alert the missus! |
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Post by Ace on Mar 7, 2007 15:03:11 GMT -5
After reading that the missus is no doubt eying his memento from Seraphim Falls in an entirely new light. Of course their entire prism is Bond skewed -- but for me I can't get the idea of Julian on an island filled with beautiful little Greeks out of my mind. |
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Post by donnamcg on Mar 7, 2007 15:06:37 GMT -5
Since it will be June when they start shooting, perhaps the missus and the boys will go with him. What a super summer vacation for them ...... where do I sign up? Donna |
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Post by Lauryn on Mar 7, 2007 15:16:26 GMT -5
After reading that the missus is no doubt eying his memento from Seraphim Falls in an entirely new light. Of course their entire prism is Bond skewed -- but for me I can't get the idea of Julian on an island filled with beautiful little Greeks out of my mind. Someone has a case of sequel wish fullfilment, LOL! Since I heard the news, I've been imagining Julian in a kick line wearing a fig leaf, actually, but maybe I should keep that fantasy to myself. |
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Post by sparklingblue on Mar 7, 2007 17:05:56 GMT -5
I hope Lauryn is right about the sound layering!  My mother already offered me her ABBA tape for "a sound check". It was interesting to consciously sit there and listen to it while imagining the SMA's interpretation... All that talk about Julian brought on (further) fits of laughter for me. So thanks for those and the mental images. |
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Post by Ace on Mar 9, 2007 10:31:08 GMT -5
Daily mail: Just gimme, gimme, gimmeby BAZ BAMIGBOYE 9th March 2007 With Oscar-winning star Meryl Streep landing the main role in the movie version of Mamma Mia! some of the other parts are going to people closer to home. The story, as most of the world now knows, involves Donna (Meryl), the one-time rebellious mother of Sophie, who's about to get married at her mother's Greek island hotel. Julie Walters has been considered to play Rosie, one of Donna's funloving girlfriends and former member of Donna And The Dynamos, but talks are at an early stage. Dominic Cooper, the heart-throb actor (he was in the original stage and screen versions of The History Boys and will star in the BBC's forthcoming Sense And Sensibilty), is in the final stages of negotiations to play Sky, Sophie's intended. Mr Cooper has auditioned for the movie's ruling trio - director Phyllida Lloyd, producer Judy Craymer and writer Catherine Johnson - and they love him. But, just as importantly, so does Tom Hanks, another of the film's producers. Hanks worked with Dominic on the TV drama Band Of Brothers and the recent film Starter For Ten. Bill Nighy could also find himself in the film if dates work out. Pierce Brosnan and virtual unknown American actress Amanda Seyfried have already been cast. Ms Seyfried will play Sophie. Filming will begin at Pinewood Studios in late June and then move to Greece in September. But first the cast will work with Abba songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, laying down the tracks of all the numbers, from Honey, Honey to Waterloo.
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Post by IcyCalm on Mar 10, 2007 12:58:29 GMT -5
I know nothing about this play Mamma Mia but several of my colleagues here do. My question: do you think it possible that our guy DOESN'T have to actually sing ABBA songs as his role as Sam? I mean is it possible to adapt play-to-movie without the actors breaking into song? Perhaps just a sound track can do the job?
IcyCalm
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Post by Ace on Mar 10, 2007 14:10:28 GMT -5
If he's not singing, no one told him. He thinks he's going off to Greece to sing ABBA songs with Meryl. As the last article says the cast even before they start filming in June will be working with the members from ABBA who are producing and lay down some tracks. I don't know what the problem is, many non singers have done well singing on film. He's not singing live on stage at the Met or even Broadway. If Gene Kelly could get away with singing most anyone can. And have you seen Chicago? Only Queen Latifah was a professional singer. Joaquin and Reese in Walk The Line learned to sing for the film and neither were singers. It happens all the time. If they didn't think he could do it they wouldn't have given him the job. My concern is that'll it be too much like the musical which is supposedly practically a jukebox show with little acting in between. It would be a complete waste to have Pierce and Meryl in a film together and not have them actually ACT. There are 22 songs in the musical -- I wouldn't mind seeing that cut down to almost half or have some of them merged -- so the story and film gets opened up and it has a chance to breath as a film and be it's own entity and not some carbon copy of the musical which is a problem for many musical adaptations. Then again all those songs is what made the musical popular so they might just want the carbon copy but with moviestars. There's no doubting this is big casting news -- put PB and Mamma Mia into Google together and you'll get back 400,000 results. (about 20 times more than usual casting news) |
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Post by Barbara on Mar 12, 2007 14:55:40 GMT -5
Guys, I hate to play Devil's advocate, but someone has to do it....
When I heard about this I thought this was a big joke, you know April Fool's day comes early.
In the history of bad ideas, I gotta say, this has got to be one of the worst ideas I have ever heard. Meryl Streep can sing, she is a very good singer. Pierce can carry a tune, but he is not a singer. He is going to get CRUCIFIED in the press, and this may very well put his career on a halt, if he bombs in this.
The only way he is going to come out of this unscathed is if Marriage and Butterly on a Wheel do really well in the box office before MM comes out and TCA 2 does really well afterwards.
I don't mean to be this harsh, but there are a lot of people out there who have been sharpening their knives to put in Pierce's back. By being in this movie, Pierce just turned around and took off his shirt to make it easier to drive the knife in.
Again, I hate being this harsh, but I can't see this working out for him.
-- Barbara
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Post by donnamcg on Mar 12, 2007 16:24:50 GMT -5
Barb.... Thanks for sharing this. I've started to worry too a bit... though it also COULD be a fabulous thing if it's handled well, which is the goal, I do believe. They've got incredible people working on it. But also I have to say too as I think about it...... this part isn't a huge dramatic one. Have you seen "Momma Mia"? It's a light-hearted fun kind of romp ... and the part Pierce is playing is sweet and he's perfect for it in many ways. The singing is not like opera or anything and I'm sure they'll coach him well ... he'll be fine for that music. I have a feeling if it's done the way it could be, this could be a huge blessing for him. Momma Mia has done spectacularly around the planet because it's such a fun show. I just pray they do a fabulous job with the adaptation .....or it COULD be a nightmare for Pierce, as you say. But I'm curious ....and have been for a long time .... why exactly do people hate him so much? What IS the issue? Perhaps I am very naive or something ... but I've just never been able to figure that out. He is such a good actor ...and a great human being. What's the problem all the time? Thanks Donna |
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My mother already offered me her ABBA tape for "a sound check". It was interesting to consciously sit there and listen to it while imagining the SMA's interpretation...