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Mamma Mia! gets the mother of all premieres
Gwladys Fouché and agencies
Tuesday July 1, 2008
guardian.co.uk
The name of the game was Mamma Mia! last night as the adaptation of the hit Abba musical had its world premiere in London's Leicester Square.
Hundreds of fans laid all their love on the movie's stars - including Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Julie Walters, Pierce Brosnan and Stellan Skarsgård - as they walked the azur blue carpet, a reference to the movie's mediterranean setting.
Leicester Square was further adorned with lemon trees, bougainvillea climbing over trellis arches and an orthodox-style church to recall Mamma Mia!'s Greek island setting, while the crowd waved Swedish flags and Abba songs were played on and on and on.
Some of the stars were more thankful for the music than others. "This film is very much about embarrassment," Skarsgård told The Times. "It's about surviving embarrassment in your life. This is the first time I have attempted to sing and dance." By contrast, Streep said: "Of course I can sing. My first Broadway show was a musical."
The film tells the story of a young woman, played by Amanda Seyfried, who wonders who her biological father is as her wedding day looms closer. Her mother, portrayed by Streep, invites the three possible candidates (Brosnan, Firth and Skarsgård) to the wedding in Greece.
The stage version, which opened in 1999 in London, went on to become one of the most popular musicals of all time.
Meanwhile, an early review reckoned that Mamma Mia! should avoid meeting its Waterloo when it hits UK cinemas next Thursday. "It's a delightful piece of film-making with a marvellous cast topped by Meryl Streep in one of her smartest and most entertaining performances ever," said The Hollywood Reporter, which believes that La Streep could bag yet another Oscar.
"Streep is sensationally good in rendering the whole yarn credible and in making dramatically moving songs such as Slipping Through My Fingers, sung to her departing daughter, and The Winner Takes It All to a lost love," it said. "It's no stretch to think of her performance in Oscar terms, ranking with previous musical winners such as Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand and Catherine Zeta-Jones."
Gwladys Fouché and agencies
Tuesday July 1, 2008
guardian.co.uk
The name of the game was Mamma Mia! last night as the adaptation of the hit Abba musical had its world premiere in London's Leicester Square.
Hundreds of fans laid all their love on the movie's stars - including Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Julie Walters, Pierce Brosnan and Stellan Skarsgård - as they walked the azur blue carpet, a reference to the movie's mediterranean setting.
Leicester Square was further adorned with lemon trees, bougainvillea climbing over trellis arches and an orthodox-style church to recall Mamma Mia!'s Greek island setting, while the crowd waved Swedish flags and Abba songs were played on and on and on.
Some of the stars were more thankful for the music than others. "This film is very much about embarrassment," Skarsgård told The Times. "It's about surviving embarrassment in your life. This is the first time I have attempted to sing and dance." By contrast, Streep said: "Of course I can sing. My first Broadway show was a musical."
The film tells the story of a young woman, played by Amanda Seyfried, who wonders who her biological father is as her wedding day looms closer. Her mother, portrayed by Streep, invites the three possible candidates (Brosnan, Firth and Skarsgård) to the wedding in Greece.
The stage version, which opened in 1999 in London, went on to become one of the most popular musicals of all time.
Meanwhile, an early review reckoned that Mamma Mia! should avoid meeting its Waterloo when it hits UK cinemas next Thursday. "It's a delightful piece of film-making with a marvellous cast topped by Meryl Streep in one of her smartest and most entertaining performances ever," said The Hollywood Reporter, which believes that La Streep could bag yet another Oscar.
"Streep is sensationally good in rendering the whole yarn credible and in making dramatically moving songs such as Slipping Through My Fingers, sung to her departing daughter, and The Winner Takes It All to a lost love," it said. "It's no stretch to think of her performance in Oscar terms, ranking with previous musical winners such as Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand and Catherine Zeta-Jones."
