Trivia for
Mamma Mia! (2008) More at IMDbPro »

• Based on the hit Abba single of the same name. "Mamma Mia!" first opened in London on April, 6th, 1999 at the Prince Edward theater. It had its North American debut at Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre on May 23rd, 2000. The original Toronto cast then moved on to Mamma Mia!'s pre-Broadway tour starting in San Francisco, moving on to Los Angeles, then Chicago. It was while the original Toronto cast was performing in Chicago that Louise Pitre (Donna) and Tina Maddigan (Sophie) were invited to play their same roles in the original Broadway cast, which opened on October 18th, 2001, directed by Phyllida Lloyd at the Winter Garden Theater, the former home of Cats. The play was nominated by the 2002 Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Score, and Pitre was nominated for Best Actress in a Musical. The play has exceeded 3100 performance on Broadway by April 2009. It now has toured in over 140 cities across America. As of April 2007, Mamma Mia! has open run productions in: New York, London, Las Vegas, Madrid, Moscow, Stuttgart, Fukuoka (opened May 19, 2007) Gothenburg (opened May 9, 2007) Essen, also has an US tour and an International tour traveling to cities all over the globe. Mamma Mia! has also played in Melbourne, Australia and Utrecht, The Netherlands, and in Copenhagen and Horsens, Denmark. According to Variety, the play's original producer and writer "were broke when they first tried to put the show together and were even snubbed by the Swedish pop group whose music formed the basis for the show. They are now two of the wealthiest women in England."
  
  
• Phyllida Lloyd also directed the original ‘Mamma Mia!’ Broadway Play.
  
  
• ‘Mamma Mia!’ was the first film to be shot on the new 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios following a fire after Casino Royale (2006) wrapped. The new 59,000 sq ft stage was used for song and dance numbers that could not be filmed in the sun in Greece.
  
  
• Benny Andersson, former Abba member and co-composer of the songs, calls Meryl Streep "a miracle". Meryl Streep came to Stockholm to do her vocal for the song "The Winner Takes it All". She finished it in one take.
  
  
• Meryl Streep first saw the musical in October 2001 with her daughter Louisa and her daughter's friends in Manhattan. Streep wrote to the producers to praise them for bringing a little happiness and fun to the lives of New York's people following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
  
  
• Cameo: [Benny Andersson] playing piano during the 'Dancing Queen' sequence
  
  
• Early in preproduction the producers suggested including a newly written original song for the movie to be eligible for the Academy Awards' Original Song Category. However, former Abba members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus refused to do so. Though Andersson composed some additional score for the movie, the film will likely be ineligible for any Academy Award in the music categories because all songs were already published.
  
  
• According to Meryl Streep, Julie Walters injured herself whilst filming the "Dancing Queen" musical sequence (by tripping over some rocks on a cobbled street), but "soldiered on".
  
  
• Mandy Moore, Amanda Bynes, Rachel McAdams, and Emmy Rossum were all considered for the part of Sophie. Olivia Newton-John and Michelle Pfeiffer were considered for the part of Donna. Bill Nighy was considered for one of the "father" parts.
  
  
• Set a new mark for the biggest weekend premiere ever for a movie musical with $27.6 mil. Former record holder was Hairspray (2007).
  
  
• Cameo: [Björn Ulvaeus] dressed as a Greek god during the closing credits sequence
  
  
• The musical numbers differ in some way from the stage version. The songs 'Under Attack', 'One of Us' and 'Knowing Me, Knowing You' were removed from the movie's script. The song 'The Name of the Game' was filmed, but removed from the final cut; it is included as an extra on the DVD release. 'Thank You for the Music' is not part of the film's narrative as it is in on stage but instead placed over the closing credits. The song 'When All is Said and Done' is presented in the movie, but was never part of the stage show. "Fernando," one of Abba's biggest hits, wouldn't fit in the story because it is about war. To placate the Abba fans, you can hear Donna humming a few bars of the song as she walks into the old goat house while the fathers are hiding upstairs. Additionally, all songs presented in the film were more or less re-orchestrated for the film version and thus differ from the stage version as well as the original arrangements.
  
  
• Stellan Skarsgård [on why he flashed his behind]: "We decided I should be cooking on the boat. I thought I should have an apron on. The director (Phyllida Lloyd) did not know I would be naked under there and have those butt tattoos. So when the camera rolled, I turned around right in front of it. The cameraman jumped and screamed, while Phyllida keeled over laughing."
  
  
• Pierce Brosnan had no idea what the project was about when he signed on: the producers told him it was being filmed in Greece and Meryl Streep was starring and he agreed. Brosnan declares that he would have signed on for anything involving Meryl. He described her as "that gorgeous blonde I fancied terribly in Drama School."
  
  
• An undercurrent of the film is to structure the story as a Greek comedy (like Aristophanes), including patterns of strophe and anti-strophe, a chorus representing the common people, and costumes matched to moods of the characters, including masks and the phallic props typical of Greek comedy.
  
  
• In the stage musical (and soundtrack of), Bill has the last name Austin instead of Anderson.
  
  
• When the stage show was performed in Edinburgh, during 'Lay All Your Love On Me', the male dancers included a 'Highland Fling' in their routine. In the film, one dancer can be seen performing the same steps during the song.
  
  
• The picture on Donna's (Meryl Streep's) mirror in the bedroom at the start of the Dancing Queen scene is actually Amanda Seyfried's professional head shot which can be seen on her IMDb profile. At the end of 'Our Last Summer,' Donna is holding a collection of photos, including an actual baby picture of Seyfried.
  
  
• In the scene with 'Slipping Through My Fingers' we see a short clip of Meryl Streep's and Amanda Seyfried laughing, according to Phyllida Lloyd the crew blasted out heavy metal music to get the pair to laugh so much.
  
  
• In December 2008, Mamma Mia! became the highest grossing film of all time in the U.K., smashing the previous record held by Titanic (1997).
  
  
• Dawn French was originally cast as Rosie in this film, but after her character being described to her by the creators as 'the fat, funny one' and the musical director being openly unimpressed with her singing she declined the offer. Dawn states in her autobiography 'Dear Fatty' that, while she is a fan of ABBA, she is not a fan of 'Mamma Mia!' and only originally agreed to do the film because Meryl Streep was starring.
  
  
• All the cast performed their own singing.
  
  
• The boat Bill sails to the island (with Harry and Sam) is flying the Swedish flag. The group Abba is from Sweden, as is Stellan Skarsgård.
  
  
• The beginning of the song "Super Trouper" is sung live a cappella by the actresses.
  
  
• Several night scenes, including I Have A Dream, were actually shot during the day, then treated in post-production.
  
  
• Pierce Brosnan won a Worst Actor Razzie for this film.
  
  

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