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MAMMA MIA! The Movie - Set Visit Prize By Patrick O’Donnell
Friday 14th September “I must have opened my front door at eight o’clock or so…”
I checked my email after getting home from a busy day at work. There in my inbox was an email from Universal Pictures informing me I had won the “MAMMA MIA! set visit prize”. MAMMA MIA! set visit prize?? I couldn’t quite register what it was until I remembered the internet competition I had entered a few weeks before. I was surprised, shocked and just a bit excited to say the least - I never win anything! I re-read the email which said I’d be flying out to Greece the following Tuesday with a friend and everything would be arranged for us.
After ringing the representative at Universal who confirmed it wasn’t a hoax, the first thought that went through my mind was, ‘Better ring my boss - I’ll need next week off!’ I then proceeded to text my friends to inform them of my lucky win and invited my friend George to accompany me on the trip to the island of Skopelos.
Tuesday 18th September “Flying high”
Skopelos is quite difficult to reach as it doesn’t have its own airport. We flew out of London Heathrow to Athens in the morning, Club Class (very nice - thanks Universal!) We then had to wait for a connecting flight to the island of Skiathos and then take the hydrofoil to Skopelos. When we arrived it was dark and Cherry, our rep for our time on the island, met us at the port. We were then driven to our hotel overlooking Skopelos town and the harbour. We sat by the hotel pool with a beer in the warm evening air, wondering what the next few days held in store for us. We were about to find out!...
Wednesday 19th September “Dream world”
The day of our set visit. Stacy, the PR Manager who was organising everything rang to tell me we would be collected at 11am from our hotel and taken to the set. Filming would involve scenes involving the “three dads” Sam (Pierce Brosnan), Harry (Colin Firth) and Bill (Stellan Skarsgård) as well as Sophie (Amanda Seyfried). George, being a big James Bond fan, was particularly looking forward to meeting Pierce. I couldn’t believe we would get to meet so many of the actors and started to wonder which scenes and songs they would be shooting.
Skopelos town and harbour – from our hotel and from the sea
A car collected us and drove us over the cliffs to the MAMMA MIA! Base Camp. We felt like VIPs as we were driven along the winding coastal roads. The reason for choosing Skopelos for location filming was immediately apparent – the island is breathtaking with beautiful pine-clad hills overlooking a crystal clear turquoise sea. Stacy met us and we walked down the steep cliff top path down to the cove where they were filming. On the way down I suddenly noticed Björn from ABBA was climbing the hill towards us! “Hello” I said automatically as he approached us. “Hello” he replied in a cheery voice, and continued up the hill. Being a huge ABBA fan, I was very happy to have seen and spoken to Björn, even if was only a one-word conversation!
We arrived on the set and we were greeted by the production crew who were all down-to-earth, friendly and made us feel at ease. They were filming “The Name of the Game”, my favourite ABBA song! The scene involved Amanda and Stellan. I was really interested to hear a preview of the soundtrack which I had read had been recorded using many of the musicians who worked on the original ABBA recordings. Amanda’s voice is excellent - strong and clear - and she carries the song brilliantly. I thought, ‘I hope the other actors are as good!’ After multiple takes of the scene we were introduced to Amanda and Stellan, who were really friendly and spent quite a while talking to us about their experience of working with Bjorn and Benny and asking how we had won the competition. Amanda told me she had cried when she got the call telling her she had landed the role! We had lunch with the crew, and Amanda came over to us offering chocolate bars – just one example of the warm reception we had from both the crew and stars of the movie.
Next on set were Pierce and Colin, who had arrived to film a scene which involved jumping into the sea from a 20ft high ledge with Stellan and Amanda, after singing a line from “Our Last Summer” (!) Stacy introduced us and we joked with Pierce that it would be a piece of cake for him as we had seen him jump off the Hoover Dam in Goldeneye! After they had filmed the scene three times (rather reluctantly I might add!) Pierce called over to us and said, “OK, I think it’s time that George and Patrick did it now”. Well, when you are set such a challenge by James Bond, you have to rise to it!.... We scrambled up to the rocky ledge and Pierce sang out the line from “Our Last Summer” across the cove: “It was the age of no regret – oh yes!” after which we jumped into the sea to a round of applause from the crew! Pierce was such a good sport and a real laugh – he made the day on set a really fun experience.
Next we were taken out onto the boat that will feature in the movie, The Fernando, where scenes with Pierce and Amanda were filmed for a montage to be screened during Our Last Summer. This was a fantastic experience as we were so close to all of the filming – I was hanging on to a mast right next to Phyllida Lloyd as she directed the scenes! When the lighting meant that we had to film at the other end of the boat, we helped move the vast amount of recording equipment along the deck – “Maybe we’ll get a credit in the film”, I joked with George...
Sailing on Bill’s Boat, nicknamed “The Fernando”
We reached Skopelos town at about 7pm, and moored up in the harbour. We were then treated to a complimentary meal at one of the island’s busiest restaurants overlooking the harbour. Dancers from the production were drinking in the restaurant and the talk on the other tables was of MAMMA MIA! and the filming taking place on the island. There was a real buzz in the air that was exciting and quite surreal.
We spent the night on the boat which was a fun experience, despite the storm that blew in at three o’clock in the morning, rocking the boat almost away from the harbour side!
Thursday 20th September “Like a roller in the ocean”
Luckily the storm settled and after a champagne breakfast on the boat that was kindly delivered by Stacy, we were taken sailing for the morning on The Fernando. We sailed for a couple of hours, past beautiful coastline, including a location called Amarandos that will feature in the film. We then travelled round to Agnondas, a small, pretty port on the south side of the island, passing Benny Andersson’s magnificent, classic motor yacht that he was staying on. I tried to take a paparazzi shot from a distance but the zoom on my camera wasn’t up to scratch!
Benny’s yacht – my paparazzi shot
Amarondas
We had lunch with the sailing crew and bumped into Catherine Johnson, the MAMMA MIA! show and screenplay writer! She seemed genuinely interested to meet us and we chatted about our shared hometown of Bristol and the set visit experience. She was tickled by the possibility that the previous night’s storm could have sunk the boat while we were on it, which I said wouldn’t have made the best publicity for the film! Catherine’s friend suggested we take a photo but I realised I had left my camera on the boat. “No problem”, Catherine said and suggested she take one with her camera and would then email it me. So there I was, writing my email address on the screenplay page for Money Money Money that Catherine was writing! True to her word, Catherine sent the photo through to me a couple of weeks later:
Meeting Catherine Johnson,
MAMMA MIA!’s writer
Me in Agnondas
Stellan and Colin arrived after lunch and we watched them film some more scenes on the boat. We chatted to the people from continuity, props, special effects and lighting to name a few, and began to appreciate the amount of work that goes into filming just a short scene.
Stacy arrived from another shoot late afternoon and drove us back to our hotel. In the car she told me Benny had visited the set and had asked after us, as he was aware that Universal had arranged for competition winners to visit the set. I was disappointed not to have met Benny, but was pleased to learn Stacy had told him my favourite ABBA song is “The Name of the Game”! Luckily I know from interviews that Benny thinks it’s one of ABBA’s strongest recordings too!
Friday 21st September “I watch the ship leaving harbour…”
We spent our last day exploring the maze of picturesque, winding streets of Skopelos town and had lunch on the harbour side. A strong wind had picked up which meant we had to travel over to the more sheltered port of Agnondas to catch our boat back to the mainland. However, this extra journey proved to be quite a fortuitous…
When our coach pulled up in Agnondas, Benny’s yacht was moored up in the harbour and we could see him sitting on the deck using his apple laptop! Cherry, our rep, who had also been used as an extra during filming, was a little excited and shouted out “Benny!!” to which he responded by waving and then moving out of sight into the boat! I didn’t blame him – Cherry’s call had created quite a bit of attention! Benny was waiting for his family and friends to join him and a while later came down to the side of the boat to greet them as they arrived. I really wanted to meet Benny, being such a fan of the music he has written, so took the opportunity to speak to him whilst he was waiting. Wary not to appear rude and not wanting to come across as a crazed fan, I introduced myself as the competition winner. He was very friendly and seemed pleased that I had spoken to him. I wished him luck with the movie to which he thanked me and shook my hand, after which I departed – I wanted to leave with a good impression of Benny and not out stay my welcome!!
Then I noticed some commotion behind and there was Pierce Brosnan waiting at the port! A few people were milling around him, pointing and generally gawping. He noticed me and George at the edge of the harbour and said “George! Patrick! How are you?!” I was chuffed and impressed he had remembered our names. We had a little chat with Pierce and he retold the story of our competition win and our jump into the sea to the friend who was with him. He was happy to have a picture taken, and suggested we take one with Benny’s boat in the background. Our boat arrived so we had to depart. “See you at the premiere!” Pierce called out as we prepared to board…
Boats used for the movie in Skopelos town harbour
Our boat “The Flying Cat” arrived and we sailed off to mainland Greece where a car awaited us and whisked us off to the 5* Sofitel hotel in Athens. A great end to a fantastic experience….
