Mamma Mia 2 director says stars ‘made t**ts of themselves’ with dance scenes
Actor Christine Baranski added it was ‘rocket science’ getting Colin Firth to dance properly in the film
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Ol Parker, the writer-director of Mamma Mia 2, has reflected on filming the dancing and singing scenes with Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård and Pierce Brosnan.
The actors all reprised their roles from the 2008 film Mamma Mia in the 2018 sequel, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, and they did not exactly take naturally to the dancing.
“If you watch them, f*** me, you can see how arrhythmic they all are. Stellan, I think we digitised his mouth, because he went, ‘Oom-pah-pah,’ at the wrong time. How hard is it to do that? It’s a disaster, every shot,” Parker said in a retrospective on the film in Vulture.
“But we just get away with it. Part of the fun is watching these guys make absolute t**ts of themselves with complete abandon. Watch it again, and you’ll see how much they all suck.”
“I don’t think the three actors would mind my saying – Colin and Stellan and Pierce – just to get them to sing the song and put one foot in front of another and raise a glass of beer together, it was like rocket science,” actor Christine Baranski added.
For the film’s chaotic ending, the cast all got together for an improvised dance. “It was thrown together,” Baranski said. “And I must say, it was brilliantly thrown together.”
Skarsgård admitted: “When they cast me and Colin for the first film, we knew we weren’t cast because we would sing and dance. We were cast just as, like, the bimbos that should be cute and funny.
“It really was like a community theatre project. Some things that you’ve come up with are accepted and some are not, and you feel absolutely safe and free.”
Parker said Firth was “not a natural mover” who was “just totally freaked out not to be choreographed, not to be told what to do”.
In his three-star review of the film for The Independent, Geoffrey Macnab wrote that it is “only for fans of ABBA, spandex, and glitter” and that “thankfully, there is a sizeable enough part of the audience with a high tolerance for just such a mixture”.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments