A new oral history on “Mamma Mia!” from Vogue magazine ends with the cast and crew all in support of making a third installment in the Universal Pictures franchise, which kicked off in 2008 with a film adaptation of the musical and continued in 2018 with “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.” Combined, the two musical films grossed over $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
“Universal would love to make a third movie, and I’ll leave it at that,” Universal Pictures chairman Donna Langley said point blank when the discussion turned to a potential “Mamma Mia 3.”
Amanda Seyfried, who leads the franchise as Sophie, added, “I dare you to show me one person who doesn’t want a third Mamma Mia!” But she also cast a bit of a doubt on a third movie since, according to her, its existence would most likely depend on Universal paying the cast what they are worth, which is far more now than when the franchise started.
“Nobody is saying no, but nobody is saying yes either,” Seyfried said. “The powers that be probably can’t afford us to be honest. I hate to say it, because would I do ‘Mamma Mia 3’ for free—of course I would—but that’s not the business we’re in. What’s fair is fair, and I feel like a third film is gonna come down to something stupid like whether or not Universal wants to pay the money.”
“I will be in an urn by the time there’s a script for ‘Mamma Mia 3,’” cast member Stellan Skarsgard quipped, “but I will gladly participate as a pile of ashes.”
Meryl Streep, who co-headlined the original film and whose character was killed off for the sequel, also expressed interest in another movie.
“I’m up for anything,” she told Vogue. “I’ll have to schedule a knee scoping before we film, but if there’s an idea that excites me, I’m totally there. I told [producer Judy Craymer] if she could figure out a way to reincarnate Donna, I’m into that. Or it could be like in one of those soap operas where Donna comes back and reveals it was really her twin sister that died.”
The Oscar winner also joked, “We may have to call it Grand-Mamma Mia! by the time we make it!”
Streep was interested in joining 2008’s “Mamma Mia!” because she was a huge fan of the musical, which she first saw on Broadway shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“It was an extremely traumatic event for everyone in the city, and ‘Mamma Mia!’ became an important piece for me and my family at the time,” Streep said. “When I had five little girls to entertain for my daughter’s birthday, I decided to take them all to see the show, and it was just the most glorious thing. People were standing on their seats and dancing in the aisles. It was fantastic, and anything that can deliver that much joy always deserves a place in the world.”
“I remember my agent calling me to discuss three offers that he thought were quite interesting,” Streep continued. “They all sounded very heavy and serious, and then at the end of the call he said, ‘Oh. and I almost forgot to mention—you’re probably gonna laugh—but the people from :Mamma Mia!” want you. I’ll let them know it’s a pass.’ I perked up and said, ‘Oh, God, no, I wanna do that!”
Vogue’s oral history is jam-packed with information about the making of the 2008 film, including the many names that were considered for Sophie before Seyfried won the part. The list included Amy Adams, Brittany Murphy, Busy Phillips, Evan Rachel Wood, Jessica Biel, Kirsten Dunst, Leighton Meester, Mandy Moore, Zooey Deschanel, Natalie Dormer, Michelle Dockery and more.
