|
Post by Ace on Oct 7, 2007 14:21:31 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by donnamcg on Oct 7, 2007 14:27:25 GMT -5
I know, Ace and I absolutely agree with you! Looks like they have some absolutely stunning photography that they did for this! Did you see the pictures of the church up on that mountain? Gorgeous!
Think you're right about the singalong at the end....didn't we see somewhere that the production number was going to be over the credits?
Donna
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Oct 7, 2007 14:34:32 GMT -5
The little white church on top of that cliff edge over the water is one of the most stunning things I've ever seen. They spent almost a month in Greece filming these locations and chose some spectacular places so I really hope the film does it all justice.
I hadn' heard about that but over the credits is great. They could do it like a split screen, production number to one side or on top with credits rolling along side or beneath or the credits weaving in and out and around the number . They've done that with a few animated films and it really works and then when the credits stop the number could then still be going and finish up alone.
Ace
|
|
|
Post by donnamcg on Oct 7, 2007 14:44:29 GMT -5
That's what I'm envisioning it would be. Would be a really entertaining way to end it. Otherwise, I can't imagine how it would fit! Hope they do a fantastic DVD with this...there's probably plenty of hysterical outtakes with the dancing and all! Donna
|
|
|
Post by xcully on Oct 10, 2007 8:31:57 GMT -5
Hope they do a fantastic DVD with this...there's probably plenty of hysterical outtakes with the dancing and all! Donna I hope too! It would be fantastic!
|
|
|
Post by Athens on Oct 17, 2007 0:55:13 GMT -5
:Pwill become the Premiere of Mamma Mia in Athens with Pierce Brosnan?
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Oct 17, 2007 3:11:36 GMT -5
:Pwill become the Premiere of Mamma Mia in Athens with Pierce Brosnan? ] Hi Sorry, I don't know. I doubt anyone does yet. Deciding on the promotion of the film is quite far away and it will depend on how close the dates and locations are to each other when it comes to premieres. Universal's marketing people will probably have more to say about it that the actors since they'll organize it all.
|
|
|
Post by sexypierce on Oct 21, 2007 12:51:14 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Oct 21, 2007 13:50:56 GMT -5
Ah you beat me to it. The photos come from this site: www.skiathosinfo.com/mamamia.htm and there's anice little write-up that goes with the filming on Skiathos. From 29 to 31 August, the harbour of Skiathos was buzzing with activity. The film crew for the movie Mama Mia was here to film a few scenes with Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth. Many of the islands inhabitants were cast as extras, to fill in the background of the harbour, that had undergone quite a make over. Hilarious scenes with old fashioned cabs racing through the harbour, a very overloaded kaiki that kept entering and leaving the set for every new take dominated the otherwise so peaceful harbour. The set attracted many tourists, all hoping to catch a glimpse of the movie stars. Whenever a new scene was to be filmed the set had to be emptied, and it cost quite some effort to make all the people move out of camera reach. The weather was good but very hot, and both actors must have suffered from the enormous heat. As true professionals though they didn't show any signs of fatigue. Pierce Brosnan is the man that really connects with his audience, he was always prepared to pose for a photo or shake hands. Between the sets, the whole crew would refresh themselves at the Bourtzi, where the summer theatre was changed into an enormous cantina. The small camera would be driving through the harbour on a red quad, which was capable of manoeuvring smoothly between the tables and through the narrow corridors. The bigger one that would do aerial shots from above was being moved from the one side of the harbour to the other to film the racing cabs under all different angles. quite a mission.
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Oct 25, 2007 10:49:14 GMT -5
Hello: Pierce and Meryl lead the 'Mamma Mia' crew a merry dance25 OCTOBER 2007 With Mamma Mia actors Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep clearly in the mood to let their hair down, the wrap party for the movie was an all singing, all dancing affair. Leading the revelry on the Greek island of Skopelos, the location for their version of the hit Abba stage show, the actors got in the groove and sang the night away. The merry group, including their co-star Colin Firth, boogied along as Pierce was followed on the mike by two-time Oscar winner Meryl. In a repeat of her performance on screen, the multi-talented actress belted out Dancing Queen. And the 58-year-old veteran has promised the scene will bring the house down. "Shooting (that song) was probably the most fun," she laughed. "It'll take your head off." Britain's most famous secret agent had a rather different mission on the idyllic Aegean isle of Skopelos - making sure his fellow cast members had a good time
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Oct 25, 2007 10:52:04 GMT -5
From ABBA NewsHere it (finally) is translated! Benny for Aftonbladet: I want to make a movie again - it´s much more fun than theatre!How much fun it was to put Mamma Mia! on big screen? It was so inspiring that Benny Andersson now wants to do more movies instead of theatre plays! **** Benny Andersson takes his notebook and he looks through the songs. Songs for three and half hour of dancing yet still it´s not enough; and there´s lack of space for all songs which he´d like to have there. In another digital folder there are stored the ABBA songs sung by Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård and others. - Have you seen a lot of shootings for Mamma Mia! ? "Yes; there is something surrealistic about Meryl Streep standing on a cliff above the sea in Greece and singing The Winner Takes It All. I have seen all of the shootings and preparations." - Did it give you a taste for more? "Yes, that would be much more fun to make a movie next time instead of theatre. I will produce it and see how it goes. And I will make the music. But how can one make a music film and avoid to get a musical as a result? Then one has to have brain, too."
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Oct 25, 2007 14:15:08 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Oct 26, 2007 12:36:48 GMT -5
Larger versions are up on my site from Isifa and their photo description as follows. The cast of the film 'Mamma Mia' celebrating the end of filming in Skopelos, Greece - Oct 2007 BROSNAN & STREEP'S BOOZY ABBA KARAOKE SESSION The thought of James Bond doing karaoke is one thing, but 007 belting out the hits of Abba? It sounds too bizarre to be true, but former Bond star Pierce Brosnan made the surreal scenario a reality in Greece this week. Pierce, 54, was the life and soul of the party as cast and crew celebrated wrapping filming on Mamma Mia, a film adaptation of the mega-hit stage musical. A fair few ouzos were consumed as the starry and very merry group danced, drank and sang the night away on the idyllic Aegean island of Skopelos. Meryl Streep, the film's female lead, shared the mic with co-star Christine Baranski as the pair belted out Abba hits like Dancing Queen, and bleary-eyed Brit actor Dominic Cooper swayed to the music between swigs of ouzo. Quite what Pierce's son Paris, six, made of it all, who knows? If the film is as much fun as the party clearly was, it looks set to be a feelgood classic. And with Tom Hanks and Abba legends Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus amongst the movie's producers, a worldwide box office hit seems assured.
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Nov 5, 2007 14:57:46 GMT -5
Sure, he was "angered" to the extent he praises her all the time. Still the gist of the story is funny because everyone thinks they know lyrics to songs they really don't so Meryl is *gasp* human!. Contact Music: STREEP: 'LYRIC CONFUSION CAUSED TENSION WITH ANDERSSON'Hollywood actress MERYL STREEP angered former ABBA member BENNY ANDERSSON while shooting the big-screen adaptation of MAMMA MIA! - because she did not know the words to his songs. Streep, who stars alongside Pierce Brosnan in the film version of the hit musical, thought she could remember the lyrics to the 1970s hits perfectly - until she realised the words were completely wrong. She says, "The funny thing is, I didn't even know I knew much about Abba before I met Benny Andersson and (bandmate) Bjorn Ulvaeus, but then when I thought about it, I realised that all of their music was stuck in my head without my knowing it, that I knew every word to every song. "Except that I got most of them wrong, which caused a little tension with Benny, because he's quite the perfectionist."
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Nov 5, 2007 20:41:18 GMT -5
THE EXPRESS: Oh Mamma Mia! 007 can dance. . .
11/05/2007
PIERCE Brosnan - due to surprise fans with an all-singing, alldancing part in the movie version of the musical Mamma Mia! - says he owes his moves to his Bond training.
Even though the role is a far cry from the fast-living Bond, Brosnan reckons that it's thanks to his 007 days that he's able to shine in the new film.
"Well, I'm really very nimble on my feet, " he reports.
"When you do fight scenes it's also choreography so it's not dissimilar." Whatever next? Daniel Craig on Strictly Come Dancing?
|
|
|
Post by icyvice on Nov 10, 2007 2:56:56 GMT -5
Found a video of Pierce filming Mamma Mia in Greece at YouTube. Not very clear, it was probably recorded using a mobile phone. But still better than nothing and Pierce was taking his shirt off then later signing autographs....
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Nov 12, 2007 19:48:16 GMT -5
A fun blog entry about meeting the cast when filming in Greece as part of a Universal prize package. MAMMA MIA! The Movie - Set Visit Prizewww.mamma-mia.com/movie_blog.aspBy Patrick O’Donnell Friday 14th September “I must have opened my front door at eight o’clock or so…” I checked my email after getting home from a busy day at work. There in my inbox was an email from Universal Pictures informing me I had won the “MAMMA MIA! set visit prize”. MAMMA MIA! set visit prize?? I couldn’t quite register what it was until I remembered the internet competition I had entered a few weeks before. I was surprised, shocked and just a bit excited to say the least - I never win anything! I re-read the email which said I’d be flying out to Greece the following Tuesday with a friend and everything would be arranged for us. After ringing the representative at Universal who confirmed it wasn’t a hoax, the first thought that went through my mind was, ‘Better ring my boss - I’ll need next week off!’ I then proceeded to text my friends to inform them of my lucky win and invited my friend George to accompany me on the trip to the island of Skopelos. Tuesday 18th September “Flying high” Skopelos is quite difficult to reach as it doesn’t have its own airport. We flew out of London Heathrow to Athens in the morning, Club Class (very nice - thanks Universal!) We then had to wait for a connecting flight to the island of Skiathos and then take the hydrofoil to Skopelos. When we arrived it was dark and Cherry, our rep for our time on the island, met us at the port. We were then driven to our hotel overlooking Skopelos town and the harbour. We sat by the hotel pool with a beer in the warm evening air, wondering what the next few days held in store for us. We were about to find out!... Wednesday 19th September “Dream world” The day of our set visit. Stacy, the PR Manager who was organising everything rang to tell me we would be collected at 11am from our hotel and taken to the set. Filming would involve scenes involving the “three dads” Sam (Pierce Brosnan), Harry (Colin Firth) and Bill (Stellan Skarsgård) as well as Sophie (Amanda Seyfried). George, being a big James Bond fan, was particularly looking forward to meeting Pierce. I couldn’t believe we would get to meet so many of the actors and started to wonder which scenes and songs they would be shooting. We arrived on the set and we were greeted by the production crew who were all down-to-earth, friendly and made us feel at ease. They were filming “The Name of the Game”, my favourite ABBA song! The scene involved Amanda and Stellan. I was really interested to hear a preview of the soundtrack which I had read had been recorded using many of the musicians who worked on the original ABBA recordings. Amanda’s voice is excellent - strong and clear - and she carries the song brilliantly. I thought, ‘I hope the other actors are as good!’ After multiple takes of the scene we were introduced to Amanda and Stellan, who were really friendly and spent quite a while talking to us about their experience of working with Bjorn and Benny and asking how we had won the competition. Amanda told me she had cried when she got the call telling her she had landed the role! We had lunch with the crew, and Amanda came over to us offering chocolate bars – just one example of the warm reception we had from both the crew and stars of the movie. Next on set were Pierce and Colin, who had arrived to film a scene which involved jumping into the sea from a 20ft high ledge with Stellan and Amanda, after singing a line from “Our Last Summer” (!) Stacy introduced us and we joked with Pierce that it would be a piece of cake for him as we had seen him jump off the Hoover Dam in Goldeneye! After they had filmed the scene three times (rather reluctantly I might add!) Pierce called over to us and said, “OK, I think it’s time that George and Patrick did it now”. Well, when you are set such a challenge by James Bond, you have to rise to it!.... We scrambled up to the rocky ledge and Pierce sang out the line from “Our Last Summer” across the cove: “It was the age of no regret – oh yes!” after which we jumped into the sea to a round of applause from the crew! Pierce was such a good sport and a real laugh – he made the day on set a really fun experience. Next we were taken out onto the boat that will feature in the movie, The Fernando, where scenes with Pierce and Amanda were filmed for a montage to be screened during Our Last Summer. This was a fantastic experience as we were so close to all of the filming – I was hanging on to a mast right next to Phyllida Lloyd as she directed the scenes! When the lighting meant that we had to film at the other end of the boat, we helped move the vast amount of recording equipment along the deck – “Maybe we’ll get a credit in the film”, I joked with George... We reached Skopelos town at about 7pm, and moored up in the harbour. We were then treated to a complimentary meal at one of the island’s busiest restaurants overlooking the harbour. Dancers from the production were drinking in the restaurant and the talk on the other tables was of MAMMA MIA! and the filming taking place on the island. There was a real buzz in the air that was exciting and quite surreal. We spent the night on the boat which was a fun experience, despite the storm that blew in at three o’clock in the morning, rocking the boat almost away from the harbour side! Thursday 20th September “Like a roller in the ocean” Luckily the storm settled and after a champagne breakfast on the boat that was kindly delivered by Stacy, we were taken sailing for the morning on The Fernando. We sailed for a couple of hours, past beautiful coastline, including a location called Amarandos that will feature in the film. We then travelled round to Agnondas, a small, pretty port on the south side of the island, passing Benny Andersson’s magnificent, classic motor yacht that he was staying on. I tried to take a paparazzi shot from a distance but the zoom on my camera wasn’t up to scratch! We had lunch with the sailing crew and bumped into Catherine Johnson, the MAMMA MIA! show and screenplay writer! She seemed genuinely interested to meet us and we chatted about our shared hometown of Bristol and the set visit experience. She was tickled by the possibility that the previous night’s storm could have sunk the boat while we were on it, which I said wouldn’t have made the best publicity for the film! Catherine’s friend suggested we take a photo but I realised I had left my camera on the boat. “No problem”, Catherine said and suggested she take one with her camera and would then email it me. So there I was, writing my email address on the screenplay page for Money Money Money that Catherine was writing! True to her word, Catherine sent the photo through to me a couple of weeks later: Stellan and Colin arrived after lunch and we watched them film some more scenes on the boat. We chatted to the people from continuity, props, special effects and lighting to name a few, and began to appreciate the amount of work that goes into filming just a short scene. Stacy arrived from another shoot late afternoon and drove us back to our hotel. In the car she told me Benny had visited the set and had asked after us, as he was aware that Universal had arranged for competition winners to visit the set. I was disappointed not to have met Benny, but was pleased to learn Stacy had told him my favourite ABBA song is “The Name of the Game”! Luckily I know from interviews that Benny thinks it’s one of ABBA’s strongest recordings too! Friday 21st September “I watch the ship leaving harbour…” We spent our last day exploring the maze of picturesque, winding streets of Skopelos town and had lunch on the harbour side. A strong wind had picked up which meant we had to travel over to the more sheltered port of Agnondas to catch our boat back to the mainland. However, this extra journey proved to be quite a fortuitous… When our coach pulled up in Agnondas, Benny’s yacht was moored up in the harbour and we could see him sitting on the deck using his apple laptop! Cherry, our rep, who had also been used as an extra during filming, was a little excited and shouted out “Benny!!” to which he responded by waving and then moving out of sight into the boat! I didn’t blame him – Cherry’s call had created quite a bit of attention! Benny was waiting for his family and friends to join him and a while later came down to the side of the boat to greet them as they arrived. I really wanted to meet Benny, being such a fan of the music he has written, so took the opportunity to speak to him whilst he was waiting. Wary not to appear rude and not wanting to come across as a crazed fan, I introduced myself as the competition winner. He was very friendly and seemed pleased that I had spoken to him. I wished him luck with the movie to which he thanked me and shook my hand, after which I departed – I wanted to leave with a good impression of Benny and not out stay my welcome!! Then I noticed some commotion behind and there was Pierce Brosnan waiting at the port! A few people were milling around him, pointing and generally gawping. He noticed me and George at the edge of the harbour and said “George! Patrick! How are you?!” I was chuffed and impressed he had remembered our names. We had a little chat with Pierce and he retold the story of our competition win and our jump into the sea to the friend who was with him. He was happy to have a picture taken, and suggested we take one with Benny’s boat in the background. Our boat arrived so we had to depart. “See you at the premiere!” Pierce called out as we prepared to board… Our boat “The Flying Cat” arrived and we sailed off to mainland Greece where a car awaited us and whisked us off to the 5* Sofitel hotel in Athens. A great end to a fantastic experience….
|
|
|
Post by sparklingblue on Nov 13, 2007 6:44:08 GMT -5
It's probably been posted before, but in case it wasn't, here's Greece Pierce:
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Nov 25, 2007 17:23:48 GMT -5
BRISTOL EVENING POST: Thank you for the musical
11/25/2007 12:53:48 AM EST
Natalie Hale talks to the Bristol-based playwright who, against all the odds, wrote one of the world's biggest shows Catherine Johnson was a single mother of two who'd left school at 16 and, when it came to money, often struggled to keep her head above water.
Today she is a multi-millionairess, acclaimed playwright and author of one of the best-loved musicals of all time.
Since opening, the phenomenon that is Mamma Mia! has been seen by millions of people all over the world. Now, the smash hit show will be returning to the city in which it was conceived, appearing at Bristol Hippodrome for a nine-week run from next Friday.
Catherine, who's warm, funny and a pleasure to talk to, says she is delighted that the show she shed blood, sweat and tears over is finally opening in her home town.
"I'm very much looking forward to it coming to Bristol," says Catherine, who grew up in Wickwar, Gloucestershire, and now lives near Leigh Woods. "Quite a few of my friends are coming along, and a lot of people who were around when I first started writing the show will be there.
"I used to go to an aerobics class in Bristol and we did our routines to Abba Gold, and a lot of the girls I did that with will be there, too, so I'm sure that will bring back a lot of happy and amusing memories."
Inspired by Abba classics such as Dancing Queen, I Have A Dream, Voulez-Vous, and Take A Chance On Me, Catherine's tale of family and friendship unfolds on a Greek island paradise. On the eve of her wedding, a daughter's quest to discover the identity of her father brings three men from her mother's past back to the island they last visited 20 years before. It is a universal tale of love and life that has proved popular in so many cultures.
Catherine developed an enthusiasm for writing at an early age, but her passion didn't become her profession until much later.
She says: "I found a love of writing very early on. I remember back in primary school I adored writing essays. Then teachers and other people said I was good, and I liked that feeling of enjoying something and actually being able to do it well.
"But I didn't write for anything other than fun until much later on."
Many of us imagine playwrights to be middle-class, university educated and, sometimes, out of touch with real life, but with Catherine that couldn't be further from the truth.
"I actually left school at 16 and worked in various jobs around the city, including working in a record shop," she says.
"I didn't follow the traditional route of going to university, studying English literature and things like that, so I thought something like writing for a living was beyond me. I didn't even consider it."
It was only when Catherine was almost 30 years old and pregnant with her second child that she decided to put pen to paper.
"The Bristol Old Vic and HTV announced a play-writing competition," she recalls.
"They announced it in the Evening Post, actually. It was open to all writers, both experienced and new writers, and you could write under a pseudonym.
"So I decided to enter to see if I could write a play - it really wasn't about winning it. I wanted the challenge of writing something for a reason, rather than something that would just get locked away in a drawer. So I wrote this full-length play and sent it off."
Catherine beat her fellow wordsmiths to win the prestigious competition. But while she tells me that winning was "the most fantastic feeling", it didn't mean that she had agents and producers suddenly knocking at her door.
It wasn't until Catherine wrote her second play, which was set in Weston-super-Mare, that she really got noticed.
"I sent it off to various theatres on spec," says Catherine, "and The Bush Theatre in London liked it so they produced and performed it there.
"From this, I got an agent and people started asking me to write for them, and since then I've just worked to commission for both stage and television.
"It was a long time ago now, but I still remember how exciting it all was and that sense of finally getting to where I wanted to be in life."
Despite her success, times were still tough for Catherine. By then, she was a single mother of two struggling to keep on top of doing the school-runs, caring for her children and writing to deadlines for TV episodes of Casualty, Love Hurts and Linda Green.
"There were stressful times," Catherine concedes. "Deadlines were looming and people forget you have a homelife and demand rewrites while you're supposed to be cooking tea."
But Catherine's life was about to change forever when, in 1997, she was made an offer she couldn't refuse.
"A producer called Judy Cramer approached me exactly 10 years ago," she says.
"She had worked on the musical Chess with Benny and Bjorn and she felt that Abba's songs really lent themselves to a musical.
"Benny and Bjorn didn't want to do a show based on Abba themselves, so it was agreed that Judy could produce a show using Abba songs provided she came up with the right writer and story. My name was suggested to Judy by Terry Johnson, who had directed my first play - the one that had won the Bristol Old Vic competition. Judy and I met, hit it off straight away, and that was that."
Catherine's brief was that the lyrics could not change, the story should be a contemporary, ironic, romantic comedy and that if she listened carefully to Abba's songs, she would notice how they fell into two different generations - the slightly younger, playful songs like Honey, Honey and Dancing Queen and the more mature, emotional songs such as The Winner Takes It All and Knowing Me, Knowing You. From this, Catherine devised the idea of a cross-generational love-story.
Driving her neighbours to despair, Catherine listened to Abba's catchy songs night after night until she had finally completed the first draft of a script.
"It was a real journey at times," she admits. "There were times when I just thought 'I can't do this - this is a ridiculous idea'. But I persevered and got there in the end.
"Bjorn and Benny really liked the first draft. I met them both very early on as the show was never going to get off of the ground unless I had their approval.
"I flew over to Sweden where I met up with them and their wives and we went out for a nice meal together.
"I don't know if it's a Swedish thing or if it's just them, but they are both very kind and very down to earth.
"There is no ego about either of them. They are both perfectly nice and comfortable about who they are. They are still hard workers as well. They don't sit back and coast on their former success."
On April 6, 1999, Mamma Mia! had its world premiere and the audience was charmed. People were up dancing in the aisles and one British critic said "Mamma Mia! could put Prozac out of business".
And now the musical has recently been adapted into a film starring such A-list stars as Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Julie Walters.
"The film is now in the can and will be released next summer" Catherine confides. "Phylida, who directed the original stage show, has also directed the movie. It's her first movie, and she has done a brilliant job.
"We have a phenomenal cast. They are all so magical on screen. Some of the moments between Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan just make you gasp.
"I've only seen rough cuts, but it looks like it's going to be a film that I'll be very proud of."
The musical's success has been truly extraordinary, and a life-altering experience for Catherine. But 10 years on from writing it, has the shock factor worn off for Catherine? "Not completely," she laughs. "Sometimes you'll be in the midst of something and Mamma Mia! will turn up somewhere unexpected. For example, it recently got mentioned in an episode of Family Guy and I was completely taken aback. Then someone mentioned it on Jon Stewart's Daily Show in America and the audience cheered, which shocked me. I love that it has become a cultural reference in some way, but I just find it really weird.
"I'm also still terribly proud about having done it. I'm very happy that so many people have responded to the story and to the characters.
"I always just write about the people and the places that I know. So what we really have here is a Bristol show. It may be based on Swedish music, but it's very much a Bristol show."
l Mamma Mia! appears at The Bristol Hippodrome from Friday, November 30, until Saturday, February 2. Tickets cost GBP12.50-GBP37.50 - call 0870 607 7500
|
|
|
Post by xcully on Nov 28, 2007 9:56:00 GMT -5
I'm so thrilled! I hope this movie will be release in Italy!
|
|