Pierce Brosnan: Mamma Mia remake ‘an antidote to the times we live in’

Ten years after unexpectedly making cinema history, Mamma Mia is back with a prequel that looks like it could be both as camp and successful as the first time around.

With an all-star cast including Meryl Streep, Colin Firth and Cher, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is released on 20 July, and has been touted by lead actor Amanda Seyfried as a “better” movie with “more heart”.

It follows an original that became a popular classic and the highest grossing film at the UK box office of all time – despite being widely panned by critics on release.

At the Premier to Mamma Mia Here We Go Again Pierce Brosnan, who plays a past love interest of Meryl Streep’s character Donna, told Sky News he wasn’t bothered by bad reviews.

“The critics could have a good old field day with us, but I think at the end of the day the people are going to enjoy it even more then the last one,” he said.

Mamma Mia, which was a hugely successful stage musical first, made more than $600m (£453m) worldwide.

It features a notorious rendition of SOS by Brosnan which was described as “the sound of a man gargling TCP” by one reviewer, but is arguably now a classic movie moment.

The new film is a prequel to the original and pivots on daughter Sophie, played by Seyfried, who returns to the Greek island of the original, where her mother Donna runs a hotel, to announce that she’s pregnant.

The return opens the door to her learning about her mother’s past, and the film bounces back and forth in time, detailing the love affairs and adventures that preceded the young Donna bringing up Sophia and running a guesthouse.

Brosnan called the film ” a great antidote to the times we lives in”.

The assessment was echoed by Cher, who plays Sophie’s grandmother in a much-hyped cameo role, and said it was “fun at a time that we need fun… It’s nothing more.”

Actors from the original film said that after ten years they had not expected a remake to be produced, while Abba star Benny Anderson insisted that the remake had “nothing to do with money”.

“The first one was a good film, we were all happy about that,” he said, adding that the studio had long pushed for another film to be made.

“Finally after eight years there was a script that everyone agreed on so we said OK then, let’s do it,” he said.

The band has additionally recorded two new tracks coinciding with the film, and ahead of a digital avatar tour later this year.

(c) Sky News 2018: Pierce Brosnan: Mamma Mia remake ‘an antidote to the times we live in’