Cher in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again | Photo: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
Everyone has to deal with nerves sometimes – including, it seems, international superstars like Cher.
The Believe singer has admitted she was ‘terrified’ about joining the cast of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
The prequel to the 2006 movie featuring the music of ABBA is out in the UK and the US this week.
‘I was terrified’ admitted Cher at a press conference for the movie in London on Saturday. ’Because everyone had been together. And also, my character wasn’t very liked! By anybody! So, I was really nervous.’
‘But everyone was so nice to me,’ she furthermore continued. ‘And Meryl was behind a piece of scenery watching me do my number, so that made me feel good after the fact, because I didn’t know it!
‘It was hard to go on set where you’re a stranger to everyone. I knew some of the people, but to have such a “mean grandmother” thing and then work your way into the story and be friends with everybody… but I felt really kind of loved and kind of a great grandmother!’
In the movie, Cher plays Ruby Sheridan, the mother to Donna, played by Meryl Streep in the last film. In the new film, the younger Donna is played by Cinderella actress Lily James.
‘My mother and I watched all old movies together’
Indeed, a major theme in the Mamma Mia! movies is the relationship between mothers and daughters.
As such, Cher was asked what movies she used to watch with her own mother, Georgia Holt, 92.
’My mother is an old movie buff,’ said Cher. ‘Early on in my life my mother started me watching old black and white films. And of course, I still love them.
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‘We watched musicals. I remember seeing Mildred Pierce… That wasn’t a musical, it was kind of a down movie! But it was really good! And I liked the fact Joan Crawford had been let go by the studio, and the next movie she made got her an Academy Award.
‘So my mother and I watched all old movies together. I appreciate that now more than I can say.’
Asked what her last guilty pleasure was, Cher said: ‘I ate three candy bars!’
The last Mamma Mia! movie, based on the hit musical of the same name, is one of the highest-grossing films of all time in the UK.
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again (featuring Cher singing Fernando!) is released in UK and US cinemas on 20 July.
