Mamma Mia!

[Ace]

Reaction to his casting has actually been quite positive, surprised but positive. And the people who count (2 of them being members of ABBA) those that hired him think he can do the job.

I have to say you're completely overreacting and being a bit paranoid. There are people out there who are out to get everyone -- if you live your life worried about them then you're not living your life you're living theirs.

He's been in the business for over 30 years, he knows about his career and his place in the business more than anyone else does. No one film is going to make or break his career at this point. He also has people who's sole job it is to worry about what roles he does. Of course sometimes they worry too much, because if he'd listened to some of them he wouldn't have done The Matador. He's at the point in his career where he's trying new things and being adventurous, more so than he's been for a long time. Good for him. If you don't try new things as a performer you wind up doing the same old crap over and over and you become boring. Since he's left Bond so far he's done some of the best and most interesting work of his career and received career best notices.

I look forward to what he does next -- even if it's singing ABBA -- and I don't much like ABBA and since this news I've had those darn songs running thorugh my head! So if you're going to worry about anyone worry about me and my sanity! If I hum Fernando one more time I won't be held resposnible.

[donnamcg]

Great sharing, Ace!

Donna

[Lauryn]

I have to confess I'm not all that worried about the singing side of things -- and I'm the kind of sensitive-eared snob who tends not to like non "pros" doing musicals. As has been noted, though, Mamma Mia is a jukebox kind of show with some karaoke overtones. I haven't seen it but I might guess it's to be enjoyed in much the same nostalgic vein as something like the "Sing-along Sound of Music" was in theaters. It's ABBA and the 70's so you expect it to be a bit Velveeta-esque and playing to matinee crowds who wouldn't have much trouble singing along themselves. It's not as if he's taking on signature Broadway tunes that decades of song and dance types with more training have made famous. That sort of thing critics can get out the knives over, though it's not a hard and fast rule. If recent history tells and they can give Catherine Zeta Jones an Oscar for "Chicago" (oh, the interminable ear bleedin' wait for her to slide up to approximate pitch!) I'd say all bets are off, LOL!

If PB was attempting something more daunting or more exposed vocally then there'd be cause to worry. As it is, it's not live, and it'll be produced and tweaked within an inch of its synthetic life to simulate the ABBA sound that we all know and love. Well, on the latter end, some of us not named Lauryn and Ace, LOL! How hard are their songs to sing, really? As long as he's lead, on melody most of the time, and it sounds as though he will be, he should almost get by on his good looks. I think if they were that in need of showier vocal requirements you would probably have heard of another singer/actor/Hugh Jackman type being offered it first and on down the line before they chose a non-singer. I just hope that, like Ace suggested, they nix some of the everlovin' playlist so that Pierce and Meryl can have a ball acting as well as singing together.

As for his career, it's kind of a kick not knowing what to expect, and even more of one to know that he's finding good and challenging and variable roles at this stage and there seem to be more to come.

[sparklingblue]

Barbara, hard as it may be to imagine for us, but there are people out there who actually don't like Pierce (I think that is largely down to the fact that they don't seem to like anyone at all ). They are forever going to find something about him or his performances to be dissatisfied about. I didn't believe this news at first and was not too thrilled about it, like you, but as the reality of it has dawned on me, I (being no ABBA fan either, but able to sing along to almost every song due to childhood over-exposure) begin to see the fun in it. Pierce thinks he's going to have a ball with this, so lets go along with him on that.

Now that I spilled my words of wisdom, I think it's time to work on a strategy to get these ABBA tunes out of our heads. I caught myself singing Dancing Queen in the shower last night!

[donnamcg]

caught myself singing Dancing Queen in the shower last night!

since this news I've had those darn songs running thorugh my head! So if you're going to worry about anyone worry about me and my sanity! If I hum Fernando one more time I won't be held resposnible

Those songs are rather quite infectious, aren't they?

Donna

[icyvice]

We shouldn't be too concerned about this. Pierce is Irish and I trust that he can carry this with his Irish charm and swagger. His body movement is fantastic which is why I think he can do this effortlessly. Just playing himself as he did in Remington Steele would be fun enough...

Now me too would have to get the ABBA songs out my head. They won't stop and are driving me nuts... ;D

[Barbara]

Greetings all:

I think it would help things tremendously if you knew that I live by the phrase, "Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get me." :-D

Why do people hate Pierce? Why do people hate Tom Hanks? Or Meg Ryan? It's a matter of taste, I guess. I just know there are folks out there who think he ruined the Bond series, and would love to see him fail for the rest of his life because of that.

I haven't seen Mamma Mia, though I am familiar with their music. I am sure *acting* wise Pierce is perfect for the role, and I am sure he can dance the dances too, but singing...who knows. I hope it all works out for him. That's all I can say. :-D

Love...B

[donnamcg]

I'm somewhat curious why Pierce's website hasn't been updated with the announcment about Momma Mia!! And again ... those same old tired pictures in the "pic of the day" selection are running repetitively ad nauseum! For a while they were all new ... then lapsed back again.

I know this has been an ongoing complaint about his website ... but you'd think his webmasters would keep up with it better than this!!!

Just venting, not that it's important.

Donna

[Ace]

From the BBC:

James Bond stage 'back in action'
Pinewood fire

The 007 stage at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire has been rebuilt less than a year after it was destroyed by fire, reports trade paper Screen Daily.

The structure was demolished last year after the fire caused the roof to cave in, damaging a set from Casino Royale.

Its replacement is the same size as before, but with more usable space.

According to Screen Daily, Pinewood is talking to Bond producers about hosting the next 007 film. The studio was not immediately available for comment.

The paper says former Bond star Pierce Brosnan will be the first to use the newly rebuilt stage, as he stars in a big screen version of the hit Abba musical Mamma Mia.

Pinewood is due to launch a 007 stage website with information about current productions and images from the rebuilt set early next week.

[sparklingblue]

Wouldn't that make a great tag line for a trailer: "From the ashes of Bond comes the movie version of the international hit musical Mamma Mia!"

[Ace]

Maybe they'll put it on the DVD -- it's right along the line of "Before he Was Bond"

Really, I wonder how strange it will feel to go there and be doing not Bond but a musical.

[sparklingblue]

He might find himself frantically looking for his gun. ;D

[Ace]

sparklingblue said:

He might find himself frantically looking for his gun. ;D

He must almost feel naked without a weapon of some kind on a movie set.

"I don't care how I kill. As long as the cheque doesn't bounce."

[sparklingblue]

admin said:

"I don't care how I kill. As long as the cheque doesn't bounce."

He did keep the big knife from Seraphim Falls, didn't he? He could carry that around.

[Ace]

From the wires (aka repeated in 50 different publications):

Pierce Brosnan is thrilled to be working with Meryl Streep

March 26, 2007

Pierce Brosnan is thrilled to be working with Meryl Streep.

The former Bond actor is due to start shooting a film adaptation of the hit ABBA West End musical 'Mamma Mia' with the US actress later this year and he can't wait.

He is quoted by Britain's Daily Express newspaper as saying: "I'm more excited about this project than anything I have done in some time. The opportunity to work with Meryl Streep is amazing."

According to friends, Brosnan is also looking forward to showcasing his relatively unknown singing talent.

One friend said: "Earlier on in his career, Pierce actually had a quite good singing voice and performed on stage. He also sang in a film called 'Evelyn' a few years back, so he isn't going to have to need major vocal training for the part. The critics could be in for quite a surprise when they hear him."

The movie focuses on a bride-to-be and her rebellious mother, played by Streep, who refuses to disclose the identity of her father.

Brosnan is to play one of three men the bride has found who could be her possible father.

[Ace]

Some earlier articles from January when Meryl was cast.


TT Spektra in Sweden has some quotes from Björn on the casting announcement :

"It means a great deal. It gives the project a stamp of quality.

It feels good, of course. We hadn't dared to consider her because we didn't know if she can sing. But about a month ago when we heard her singing in an old film, we made contact with her.

And when she got the enquiry asking if she wants to be involved she said "Are you kidding? I AM Mamma Mia!".

Björn talked about further casting news.

"We will announce them [other names of the film cast] in the spring. I can't give you any other names today, but we do have big and interesting names.

Mamma Mia! will be the new Sound of Music. At least that's where our ambitions lie," says Björn Ulvaeus and laughs.

Björn and Benny will now re-record the music, but with the same band as in the 70's and 80's. We won't change the music but we will give it a 2007 quality sound. The film will be shot in London and the Greek Isles.


Interview with Björn in Svenska Dagbladet on Sunday:
www.svd.se/dynamiskt/kultur/did_14654222.asp

Now there will be a Mamma Mia movie, with Meryl Streep in the leading part and Tom Hanks, who has seen the musical 8-10 times, as a producer. Björn and Benny are at the moment writing the soundtrack. The music will be recorded once again, and some songs that aren’t in the musical will be added, for example “When all is said and done”. A new movie script has been written by Catherine Johnson, who also wrote the stage version of Mamma Mia!

- We’re shooting in London and in the Greek archipelago, which gives us very beautiful pictures that we couldn’t get in a theatre. The plot and the story are quite intact, and the movie will hit the screens in the summer of 2008. A short while ago Benny Andersson was in New York together with Meryl Streep to pick the keys.

[Ace]

Variety: Breaking into the boys club
Female directors stake claim on British stages[/url]

Apr. 5, 2007

By DAVID BENEDICT

What links current or upcoming productions of "Dying for It," "Kiss of the Spider Woman," "Equus," "A Fine Balance," "A Matter of Life and Death," "Attempts on Her Life," "Mamma Mia!," "Leaves" and "The Jewish Wife"?

Not only are they all at major London addresses -- among them the Almeida, Donmar, National Theater, Royal Court and Young Vic -- they're all directed by British women.

In common with most traditionally male-dominated professions, when it comes to power positions, women in theater have suffered beneath the glass ceiling. They have reached senior administrative posts, and casting has long been a largely female preserve but, with notable exceptions, women rarely have been entrusted with artistic directorships. No woman has yet run the National , the Royal Shakespeare Company or the Royal Court.

As Twyla Tharp, one of few women Broadway helmers, may have said, the times they are a-changin'.

Three of RSC's mainstage productions this year were by women. One of those, the highly praised "Much Ado About Nothing," was helmed by Marianne Elliott who, on the strength of her NT debut, "Pillars of the Community," was promptly made one of a.d. Nicholas Hytner's associate directors.

Despite being the daughter of a director -- Michael Elliott, founder of Manchester's influential Royal Exchange Theater -- she initially found the profession daunting.

"It took me until I was 27 to realize it was possible to do it as a woman," says the director, now 40. "I think it's getting easier, but it will never reach full parity because the hours mean it's difficult to do with children. I don't want to generalize, but to a degree that's easier for men because there's a tradition of it. My father was a fantastic dad, but he really was away a lot of the time."

With nine NT productions this year helmed by seven women, including Melly Still's Broadway-bound "Coram Boy," it's easy to see why Elliott believes Hytner has made a conscious effort to create further opportunities for women. So is he implementing positive discrimination?

"Absolutely not," insists Hytner. "Ever since coming here in 2002, I've argued that running this building is about recognizing that this is a nationaltheater. The consequence of that has not been to be representative of every race, gender, sexuality, but to use that idea as a kind of creative spine. It's not about political necessity, but making exciting creative choices. If that means more women, great."

No one disagrees that beyond the safety net of subsidy, women face a distinctly colder climate in the commercial sector, putting them in a double-bind.

"In commercial theater the primary concern is safety: what will work to make the bucks," offers Elliott. "If women don't have the West End on their CV, they won't look safe."

The most recent figure to buck that trend is Thea Sharrock. Her first production, a revival of Caryl Churchill's "Top Girls," won the James Menzies-Kitchin Young Director award and made headlines by transferring into the Aldwych Theater in 2002. She was 25. Since then, she has helmed "Blithe Spirit," "Heroes," "A Voyage Round My Father" and now "Equus," all in the West End.

But in terms of hard cash, the trailblazer was Phyllida Lloyd. The 49-year-old helmer's resume spans award-winning work throughout the U.K.'s leading subsidized theaters, European opera houses and the West End, hitting paydirt with "Mamma Mia!" worldwide. (She's about to direct the film adaptation of the ABBA tuner, starring Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan.)

Lloyd is under no illusions about opportunities for women directors. "In the U.K., we still have -- just -- that crucial bedrock of state-subsidized theater, and women are given chances in those institutions," she says.

The commercial sector, she argues, is more of a boys' club. As she puts it, "I am the only British girl to have been let loose on a West End musical in recent years."

Even on that, Lloyd points to having found herself in a unique position. Her observation is distinctly double-edged: "I was lucky that my producer was a woman and my composers felt a female director might be more pleased to collaborate."

No other British female director can boast a production of that scale. But in terms of international arts reputation, Lloyd is matched by Deborah Warner, 47.

The latter's highly praised 2002 production of "Medea" on both sides of the Atlantic was merely the most visible commercial outing in a resume that has seen Warner helming in major theaters and opera houses for more than two decades. Her large-scale productions, most recently "Happy Days" at the National, regularly attract multiple co-production partners.

Alongside Lloyd is Katie Mitchell, 43, the NT's leading experimental director. "About three years ago, I made a conscious decision to put something back," says Mitchell, "so I do a lot of teaching of young directors." The gender split in the teaching groups is inspiring. "The ratio is normally 70% women to men."

But despite an accelerating breadth and depth of achievement, it would be naive to suggest the battles are over.

As successful freelancer Anna Mackmin, 42, points out, "It's still largely men who judge the work, and you're only taken seriously as a director when you direct classics written by dead old men. Women directors tend to be offered new plays by women."

Indhu Rubasingham, whose production of George Bernard Shaw's "Heartbreak House" just opened at Watford Palace, agrees. "There's still a long way to go in terms of the economic power given to women in big spaces and commercial theater," she observes. "From some of the dealings I've had, it's clear that the more supposedly masculine qualities you display -- directness, brashness, ruthlessness -- the more commercial producers are likely to trust you."

Their views are echoed by another successful freelancer, Paulette Randall, 46.

"I'm optimistic. If I weren't, I'd have given up long ago," she says. "But I'm a realist, too. It's tough because theater is still largely run by men and, most simply, they communicate with each other much more easily."

Randall also pinpoints the most problematic area alluded to by many women in the business.

"Some women in positions of power fall into the trap of employing lots of men in order to prove they're equal and not anti-men," she suggests. "That leaves us back where we started. I'm not angry, but it's good to know what it is you have to fight against."

[Ace]

Daily Mail: Mamma Mia, Meryl gets to snog Bond!

04/13/2007

MAMMA Meryl Streep starts learning the lip lock with Pierce Brosnan soon.

The Oscar-winning actress will begin crooning with the former 007 star in London at the begining of vocal rehearsals for the movie based on the mega-hit stage musical Mamma Mia!, featuring the songs of Abba, in which Meryl plays free-spirit Donna, whose daughter, Sophie, decides to get married.

One of the musical's main strands involves Donna's three former suitors, each of whom could be Sophie's father.

Brosnan will play rugged Sam and, I'm told, the film will focus more on his romance with Donna.

Colin Firth has been confirmed to play 'headbanger' Harry, while Stellan Skarsgard, a popular actor thanks to his Bootstrap Bill in the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies, is in final negotiations to play Bill.

Interestingly, the part was earmarked for his Pirates co-star Bill Nighy, but he has other plans.

An executive on the picture observed: 'You'll certainly be able to tell that Donna slept with all of them.' Meryl, a trained singer, will sing SOS with Brosnan, before going on to warble numbers with her character's close friends, and onetime pop group members, being played by Julie Walters (Rosie) and Christine Baranski (Tanya).

By the way, Ms Baranski played the harddrinking Maryann in the Nineties TV sitcom Cybill (opposite Cybill Shepherd) and I recall Mamma Mia! boss Judy Craymer, who is also producing the film, telling me how Maryann was the inspiration for some of Tanya's character traits.

Three songs from the stage show - still enjoying a moneymaking run in the West End, now with Linzi Hateley - have been dropped - Thank You For The Music, Under Attack and Knowing Me, Knowing You, although the movie introduces another Abba number, When All Is Said And Done.

Later this month, the whole cast of the film, including Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper, as the engaged couple, will be in London to record the score, then full rehearsals begin with director Phyllida Lloyd in May before ten weeks of filming at Pinewood in June, followed by five weeks' location shooting on a Greek island.

[sparklingblue]

Ohhhh, that seems very promising. My mind reels imagining what PB will sound like singing SOS.

[donnamcg]

I truly get dizzy with excitement every time I think about him doing this! I have this feeling that this movie will just be an incredible vehicle for him ..... sounds like they've revamped it and made it even better! I adored the show ... this can only be better! And with PB and Meryl both in it .... do doubt about it!

Wait till the deluge of media! This will not be another SF with no advertising ... no promotion....no publicity!!! It will be ALL over the place, guaranteed.

I look forward to the DVD with the rehearsals, bloopers, interviews, commentary etc etc etc. And the soundtrack too!

EWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!

Donna