MAMMA MIA! WILL IT WORK AGAIN?
Mamma Mia! sequel to hit the big screen ten years on but will stars Dominic Cooper and Amanda Seyfried find magic again
Can the pair find that magical spark ten years on in the film's sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again — which opens this week?
By Grant Rollings
Updated: 16 Jul 2018, 11:31
THEY were the lovers whose off-screen romance created the winning chemistry for movie musical Mamma Mia!
When Dominic Cooper and Amanda Seyfried gazed adoringly into each other's eyes, the passion was real.
Dominic Cooper and Amanda Seyfried, pictured, dated on and off for two yearsCredit: ��20th Century Fox / Supplied by LMK
Their performance as the bride- and-groom-to-be helped make the 2008 film — inspired by the songs of Abba — the biggest box office hit in British history and turned the couple into overnight stars.
But their real-life fling was to be turbulent and short-lived — also ending Dominic's relationship with his then partner.
So can the pair find that magical spark ten years on in the film's sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again — which opens this week?
The movie's success could depend on their magnetism — and it is a success they both desperately need after a string of high-profile flops, including Red Riding Hood for Amanda and Need For Speed for Dominic.
Amanda Seyfried with her husband Thomas SadoskiCredit: BackGrid
When Dominic, 40, first fell for Amanda, he was in a 12-year relationship with Joanna Carolan, PA to playwright Harold Pinter.
After the cameras stopped rolling he tried to get his relationship back on track — and Amanda moved on with hunk Alexander Skarsgard, from vampire TV series True Blood.
But Amanda and Dominic could not keep away from each other and their tumultuous romance continued on and off for two years.
Dominic said: "It was a very turbulent, but enjoyable, happy time and part of life."
Dominic dated co-star Ruth Negga from Amazon series PreacherCredit: Camera Press
It was a case of opposites attract — then combust.
While Amanda has confessed to suffering from issues with anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder, Dominic is more spontaneous, wild and loves a party.
After they finally broke up for good in 2010, Amanda, 32, said: "It would never have worked long-term. I'm too uptight for him. Or he's too relaxed for me."
But she described leaving him as "heartbreaking".
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Dominic and Amanda in Mamma Mia! 10 years go
Dominic went on to date Oscar-nominated actress Ruth Negga, his co-star in the film Warcraft and AMC TV series Preacher.
In 2012 Amanda admitted she found it difficult seeing them together. She said: "He was my last real boyfriend. We still joke about having kids, like, 'If it doesn't work out with other people, we might as well just have a child'.
"And there's a part of that that feels . . . possible.
"I don't ever want to be in the same room with Ruth because I would have such mixed feelings. I'd want to yell at her, but then I would want to be friends with her.
Dominic ended a 12 year relationship after meeting AmandaCredit: Rex Features
"For him to date her, she must be awesome. I'm mad at her."
Dominic had appeared settled with Ruth, but the couple split earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Amanda dated a string of Hollywood men before finally getting married in 2017.
Her former flames include Reese Witherspoon's ex-husband Ryan Phillippe, Pearl Harbor star Josh Hartnett and comic actor Justin Long. Last year she married actor Thomas Sadoski, 42, and gave birth to their daughter.
Amanda says her and Dominic would never have workedCredit: Splash News
Dominic, who has a reputation for enjoying the nightlife, is now single again.
Before heading off to shoot the new Mamma Mia! movie, Dominic said: "I think it will be fine working with Amanda again, though it will be odd gazing into each other's eyes and singing an Abba song."
Godfather to best pal James Corden's son Max, he is the self-confessed "bad uncle" who likes to stay out.
He joked recently: "There is this look of terror on the wives' faces when their husbands say they are going to spend the evening with me because they know he won't be back for three days, and the police are going to call."
Dominic's feel Stratton flopped in the UKCredit: Vertigo Releasing
Dominic will have to get used to working with his exes.
Despite his split with 36-year-old Ruth, they will both continue to star in controversial drama Preacher, which Amazon has commissioned for a fourth series.
The show has been a welcome source of regular income for Dominic, who appeared unable to capitalise on the fame and recognition from the first Mamma Mia! film.
His last movie, Stratton, made just £72,450 worldwide, receiving a miserable zero per cent rating on film website Rotten Tomatoes.
Amanda's film The Clapper didn't do so well at the box office
It was slammed by the Los Angeles Times as a "stale espionage thriller".
Another film, Reasonable Doubt, was so bad its director took his name off what Variety called "a turgid Yuppie paranoia thriller" that went straight to video.
The Devil's Double recouped just £2.5million of its £14million budget and his only hit was the widely panned flick Warcraft, inspired by the fantasy computer game, which made most of its money in China.
Dominic admitted: "I can get quite frustrated with the kind of work I've done, feeling I haven't necessarily been doing the sorts of things that I'd really like to be doing, independent film, but I need to take responsibility for that."
The couple were loved up on the set of the first Mamma Mia!
He added that he hates being asked, "What have you been in?" by strangers in the street.
His recognition is sure to go up after Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again — which also stars Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth — makes its premiere in London tonight.
Amanda's career has been similarly woeful, with a string of instantly forgettable flops. Her sci-fi venture Anon had a budget of £15million yet earned less than £500,000 at the global box office.
Gringo took a disappointing £432,000 at the UK box office, First Reformed had a very limited release here, The Clapper went straight to video and The Last Word raked in a measly £24,000 in the UK.
Amanda with ex boyfriend Justin LongCredit: Splash News
Widely panned as a "horrible mess" and "a sorry excuse for a Christmas movie", Christmas With The Coopers was the last piece she did that resembled any kind of success, taking £2.6million at the UK box office three years ago.
Off screen, she has spoken openly about taking anti-depressants during her recent pregnancy, having first been prescribed them as a teen for her OCD.
Describing the birth, she said: "It was just perfect. It was quiet and beautiful, and it was the best moment of my life for sure. And I would do it again in a heartbeat."
Certainly for fans, the return of Mamma Mia! is a beautiful and perfect moment.But it is hard to believe filming those intimate scenes was quite as beautiful for Dominic and Amanda.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again opens in cinemas on Friday.
His Flops
2011 The Devil's Double
UK takings: £870,000
"More wearying than entertaining" – Los Angeles Times
2013: Summer In February
UK takings: £74,898
"Dreary Downton-on-Sea" – Metro
2014: Reasonable Doubt
Straight to video.
"Contrived and predictable" – LA Times
UK takings: £6million
"Don't race to see it"– Rolling Stone
2016: Warcraft
UK takings: £6.7million
"Dreadfully boring" – Times of India
2017: Stratton
"Pedestrian and indistinct" – Variety
Her flops
2013 Lovelace
"Head-slappingly superficial" – Time Out
The Big Wedding
"Silly comic contrivances" – The Hollywood Reporter
2017: The Last Word
"Lead-footed" – San Diego Reader
The Clapper
"The sheer awfulness of The Clapper stands out" – New York Times
2018: Anon
"A tepid crime movie" – The South China Morning Post
UK takings: £432,000 (UK) "a flimsy piece of pulp fiction" said Detroit News.