Meryl tunes up for big 'Mamma'
Actress to topline bigscreen musical
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Littlestar's Judy Craymer will produce with Playtone's Gary Goetzman. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson will exec produce with Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, the Abba songwriters whose tunes drive the musical.
Phyllida Lloyd, who directed the original "Mamma" in London as well as its Broadway incarnation, will make her feature directing debut on the pic.
Pic will shoot in London and Greece.
Catherine Johnson, who wrote the book for the musical, penned the screenplay, about a bride-to-be who never met her father and was raised bya formerly rebellious single mother (Streep). The daughter invites three likely paternal candidates to her wedding, and the ensuing conflict triggers the performance of 22 Abba hits including "Dancing Queen," "Take a Chance on Me" and "The Winner Takes It All."
While the musical may not be a favorite of theater snobs, it is a wildly profitable crowd-pleaser that has played in 130 cities around the world and had grossed $1.6 billion from its 1999 opening to the moment Playtone's Goetzman and Hanks made a rights deal with Craymer (Daily Variety, April 19).
Casting of Streep adds a level of prestige and comes at a time when the actress is coming off a the boffo mainstream pic playing the boss from hell in Fox 2000's comedy "The Devil Wears Prada."
"She was always at the top of our wish list, and she encapsulates the spirit and energy and has the powerhouse qualities that character requires," said Craymer, who hatched the concept for the musical and persuaded the Abba duo to take part.
An accomplished singer, Streep had been wooed for musical adaptations including "Evita," but "Mamma Mia" is her first full-blown musical. She sang in films including "Postcards From the Edge" and last year's "A Prairie Home Companion."
The CAA-repped actress also stars this year alongside Tom Cruise and Robert Redford in the Redford-directed "Lions for Lambs," the Matthew Michael Carnahan-scripted drama that relaunches United Artists under Cruise and partner Paula Wagner.
