It’s the so-bad-it’s-good movie that’s back for a second round ten years after the original graced our screens.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is back to get you singing out loud, cringing at Pierce Brosnan’s singing voice and dreaming of a getaway to Greece, (well technically Croatia..) so here’s everything you need to know.
The story
The new movie, Sophie (played by Amanda Seyfried), returns back to her childhood home, this time pregnant and single, and she learns about her mother’s past.
Watch the trailer below:
The cast
Amanda Seyfried is back as Sophie, as well as other cast favourites including Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Dominic Cooper and Julie Walters. This time around there are a number of new faces too, with marie claire’s August cover star Lily James – who plays a young Donna (Meryl Streep) – as well as Cher.
It wasn’t actually filmed in Greece
Just like the first movie, this one is set on the fictional Greek island if Kalokairi but unlike the first one, this time around it was actually filmed in Croatia on the island of Vis.
The songs guided the storyline
ABBA’s iconic songs once again help form the plot for the movie, which sees different ones used from the first time around – some of them include ‘Angel Eyes’, ‘I Wonder’ and ‘When I Kissed the Teacher’.
“We both know their music so well, sometimes we’d consider using a song as a way to get into a scene, others we’d find a way to put a song into a scene,” writer and director Ol Parker explained of how they integrated them into the script.
However don’t be surprised if the songs aren’t exactly as you know them, as the writers had to slightly tweak the lyrics to make them fit the narrative. Thankfully with the blessing of ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson who were involved in the entire process.
The cameos
Speaking of Benny and Björn, both band members have small parts in the new film, with Björn appearing as an Oxford professor in the opening number, ‘When I Kissed the Teacher’, and Benny playing the piano in a Paris café for ‘Waterloo’.
“Björn was baffled by how long it all took and how boring it was,” director Ol Parker told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s always tricky when someone who’s not used to it volunteers to be an extra and you want to go, ‘Listen, you’re going to be sitting there for a long time.’ It’s alright to be Benny in ‘Waterloo’ sitting at the piano because we’re only pointing the camera that way briefly.
“But Björn was in for two whole days, sitting there reacting to Lily [James], which I don’t think he quite budgeted on.”
Mama Mia! Here We Go Again is in cinemas now.
