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The musical producer makes every effort "Mamma Mia! Here we go again as she talks about casting decisions, Cher, costume design and more.
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World Music Sensation Mamma Mia! – the original idea of the British producer Judy Craymer – started as a simple idea. An idyllic Greek island, three potential fathers, a pair of overalls and a soundtrack made up of songs from the ABBA pop band.
Inspired by the theatrical potential of ABBA's emotional ballad "The winner takes everything", Craymer uses his production talents to compose a story built around the Swedish band's biggest hits.
It was almost 20 years ago when Mamma Mia! hit the scene for the first time in the West End of London in 1999. Since then, Mamma Mia! is imposed as the eighth-longest show in the history of West End, with a total of over $ 2 billion.
Today, the cherished characters of the fictional island of Kalokairi are back – this time joined by a new group of characters to play their youth, including Lily James as a 20-something version Donna de Meryl Streep's thing. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again released July 20, explores the rich backstory that originated in Donna Sheridan's diary from the first film.
The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Craymer to discuss all things Mamma Mia! Here we go again!
After the first film, was a sequel still in progress?
It was something that I had explored and talked to composers Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. I do not think any of us could decide what it was all about and I also talked to the original architects, Phyllida Lloyd who directed the first film and the show, and Catherine Johnson who wrote it. I think it was just a question of what and when, and I think they felt that they were too close to the topic and did not want to venture down that path. Of course, the stakes are high when you are going to make a follow-up film. But Universal has always supported me. They supported us a lot. But then, "How do we get the magnificent original rejected if we make a prequel? So, it was a phone call that I made to Richard Curtis to ask him for his thoughts. I like his work and I thought he might like to shed some light on it, and [the prequel] is what he imagined, to come and go in time. So it was the moment of light bulb about two and a half years ago.
How important was it that you stay true to the original story that Donna's diary tells in the first film?
It was incredibly important to literally mimic the origins of history. We have something I like to call the postman " Mamma Mia! " and I think the purpose was to sort of find that while exploring the back story and to go into the present, while giving serious nods last film. The location, the island, the sense of the place, the feeling that you want to join old friends and be back there. Everything was important.
Tell me about the decision that was made regarding Donna's character, and Meryl Streep, in the sequel. Why did you decide to kill his character?
Well, she was not good enough, you know? [Laughs] To be honest, she was always part of it. Would we have made another film without her? She was so glorious in the first film and has so much affection for Mamma Mia! So, she has always been part of a conversation of another movie. I think for her it was a question of what and how, and we also occasionally discussed about it. It was a question of the good script. In addition, Meryl loves to conquer new things and she played Donna Sheridan and sang a dozen ABBA songs in the first film. I think she felt that she liked the idea of leaving that to the younger ones and that she wanted to get involved, but she was not going to play such a big one role. So, I think it helped to explore the emotional weight of what Ol Parker wrote in the fact that it's a story of life and marriage and loss and love, but it's also very important for Meryl what song she makes. If she was going to sing, "My Love, My Life" is a very, very strong song like "The Winner Takes It All". It's a huge story that tells a song, she has a big emotional punch and, of course, she has that amazing voice. So, I think there were a lot of decisions out there, but that was mostly because Meryl was part of all the decisions.
How did you choose the new ABBA songs based on the story of the new movie?
Well, I still have ABBA songs in my head and I knew the songs that we used in the show and not in the show, and in the movie and not in the movie that still had a great ability narration. In the creation of Mamma Mia !, for me, it was always about the more emotional songs that ABBA wrote as "The winner takes everything" and "Me know, know you "which tells the story of a breakup. So the songs somehow wrote the script and the script wrote the songs.
What about the decision to bring Cher as Donna's mother? Was it always something you were hoping for in the casting?
It was always a little on the big dream list when we started working on it. I always knew we were going to write the character of Ruby Sheridan, Donna Sheridan's mother. Who was the mother? Because she was mentioned in the original show, and in the last movie, you never really knew who she was. So, I always thought we were doing a musical and aiming high with the cast to have someone like Cher. Of course, I like the idea of Cher and the idea that the character would sing "Fernando". The songs always had to win their place. They have to be outside the narration, and I think we realized that with "Fernando". This really created the story of Ruby Sheridan, so there was really only one choice that was Cher and she said yes. And I know that she's a musician, so she loves ABBA and I knew that she had loved the show. I must say however that, once again, she's not just a great voice but a great actress and a great actress. She is quite legal in her work and thought process.
What about the distribution of younger characters? How did you find the right actors to accurately represent such well-known roles?
It was just fun to try to find them. They sort of jumped at us, and, in fact, their elders would laugh at how their younger kids could sing and dance. You know, for the young Colin Firth, Hugh Skinner, we needed someone with comedy bones that could bring that kind of feeling of innocence and pleasure. With Josh Dylan, playing Bill Anderson, we always imagined we were going to leave Sweden, not Scandinavia, and we did some research. In fact, he came to audition as Young Sam and said that he wanted to try to read the Young Bill part, and he did it so brilliantly with his Scandinavian accent. So, it became our hot scandal. And then, Jeremy Irvine (Young Sam) is incredibly handsome and you know that Donna is falling in love with him. Interestingly, none of them personified.
I love all the 70s outfits of Donna and Dynamos. Tell me about fashion.
Well, I hope the combinations will become very fashionable now. It's funny because in the first movie, you know, there was everything. "Oh my God, Meryl Streep is going to wear combinations." And now, literally, it has become a kind of fashionable fashion. Michele Clapton was our costume designer. I think what Lily James wears, and what they all wear, when they go back to the 70s is very, very smart. This is not cliché, it is really what any twentieth would want to wear. Just like any twenty-something would want to be on this holiday romance. Well, I hope. I would like
What do you like most about seeing Mamma Mia come to life on the big screen, in comparison to something like a performance on stage?
Well, I think the challenge was, and it was always the case in the first film, that is, people were saying "Well, are you sure you're going make a movie? Can you still capture the pleasure that the audience has in the theater? This has always been an ambition and I hope it is part of the connection that the audience feels that they are there, that they could sing and dance these songs. But I love the fact that it just takes you on this trip. It's empowering. There are roles of three generations of women. I think Cher is a source of inspiration and inspiration in the fact that it is Cher who gets the guy and has his own novel in the end.
He celebrates women, but he celebrates friendship and men too. You feel with all those guys coming back – Pierce and Stellan and Colin – that they're really friends. The story that we left in the first film was about Sophie discovering her three possible fathers, and now I think you really think that they have a family unit. So, it's like saying that there are all kinds of families. This does not matter. You can be a little unconventional, but family and friends are important.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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