Here’s an early Christmas present to you. On December 05, British ITV1 had a 90 minutes television special on “The Nation’s Favourite ABBA song”, a countdown of the Swedish group’s music hits, as voted by the British public. The programme was accompanied by interviews with Bjorn and Frida, collaborators, celebrity fans – as well as Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Julie Walters, reflecting on shooting the movie version of the musical “Mamma Mia” (Meryl’s remarks were filmed back in 2008 for “The South Bank Show”). With many thanks to the great Alvaro, a video excerpt as well as captures from the programme have been added to the site. Enjoy watching!
Meryl Streep has won this year”s Pantene Best International Actress Award for her performance in Mamma Mia! at the IFTAs which are due to be be held tomorrow in The Burlington Hotel in Dublin. The awards also will be broadcast on RTÉ One tomorrow night. The category is voted for by the general public and celebrates the outstanding female talent in the film industry. The other nominees in the category were Kristin Scott Thomas (“I loved You So Long”), Angelina Jolie (“Changeling”) and Emma Thompson (“Brideshead Revisited”). Stars of film and television are expected to attend tomorrow”s ceremony which will be hosted by RTÉ”s Ryan Tubridy.
Meryl Streep has won a People’s Choice Award at yesterday’s ceremony, not for her acting skills but for her singing talents. She won in the category Favorite Song from a Soundtrack for Mamma Mia (from “Mamma Mia” ;-). Meryl did not attend the ceremony herself. Regarding her acting accolades, she has been also recently named Best Actress for “Doubt” by the Kansas City Film Critics Association.
Consumers said “Gimme Gimme Gimme” to Mamma Mia! The Movie, the most successful film musical of all time worldwide, as first day domestic DVD and Blu-ray™ consumer spend totaled over $30 million. Universal Studios Home Entertainment sold over 2.25 million units of the Golden Globe® -nominated blockbuster on December 16, 2008. An unprecedented worldwide box office phenomenon, Mamma Mia! The Movie has already been proclaimed the fastest selling DVD of all time in the U.K. after first-day sales reached 1.6 million units, surpassing the previous decade-long record holder Titanic on November 24, 2008 by over a half-million units, or 50 percent of total sales.
Congratulations to Meryl Streep for receiving not one but two nominations for the Golden Globe. She’s nominated as Best Actress in a Drama for “Doubt”, alongside Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married), Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Kristin Scott Thomas (I’ve Loved You So Long) and Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road) – and as Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical for “Mamma Mia”, alongside Rebecca Hall (Vicky Christina Barcelona), Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky), Frances McDormand (Burn After Reading) and Emma Thompson (Last Chance Harvey). Meryl’s two films are prominently featured at this year’s Golden Globes with “Doubt” receiving a total of 5 nominations for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress (Amy Adams and Viola Davis), Best Supporting Actor (Philip Seymor Hoffman) and Best Screenplay (John Patrick Shanley) – and “Mamma Mia” with 2 nominations for Best Picture Muscial/Comedy and Best Actress. The Golden Globes will be handed out in a ceremony on January 11, 2009.
With the announcement of the 66th Annual Golden Globe Award nominations and Meryl receiving not one but two nominations, the actress surpassed Jack Lemmon’s count of 22 nominations and is now, besides holding the record for most Oscar nominations, the actor with the most Golden Globe nominations of all time with a total of 23 nominations.
The cast of “Doubt” has been awarded by the National Board of Review in the Best Ensemble category. Further, Viola Davis received an honour for the Breakthroguh Performance by an Actress. Also, earlier today Meryl received a Grammy nomination as the starring singer on the “Mamma Mia” soundtrack, in the Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media category. A full list of all Grammy nominees can be found here.
The film has made £66,995,224 in the UK, beating Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Casino Royale moves down a place to number three with the top 10 completed by other Harry films, The Full Monty, Bridget Jones’ Diary and Love Actually. Worldwide, the film is already one of the most profitable movies ever, recently crossing the $500m box office mark. The film, based on the 1975 ABBA hit song and the musical stage play, stars Meryl Streep, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan. Universal Pictures International president David Kosse told The Hollywood Reporter: “Since its release in July we’ve seen people around the world coming back to see the film again and again.” Last month it was reported that the financial crisis had resulted in the best summer cinema attendance in almost 40 years. Mamma Mia! was widely credited with helping make it the best for British cinema admissions since 1972. “Mamma Mia! has really tapped into the public’s desire for feelgood escapism. An absolute phenomenon.”
According to ITV, Mamma Mia! has been named best musical with leading lady Meryl Streep winning best actress at the second National Movie Awards in London. Accepting her award for her role in Abba-centric film, Streep told the Royal Festival Hall audience: “I loved the movie, I’m so glad you did.” Mamma Mia! beat competition from fellow nominees Enchanted and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Streep triumphed over Amy Adams for Enchanted, Helena Bonham-Carter for Sweeney Todd and Ellen Page for US comedy Juno.
Mamma Mia!, The Golden Compass and St Trinian’s lead the field for the National Movie Awards, picking up four nominations each. Mamma Mia! cohorts Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth are up for Best Male for their roles in the Abba musical film. Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie and Sarah Jessica Parker are also in the running for the award. The winners, voted for by the public, will be unveiled in London on September 08 at London’s Royal Festival Hall and in a live ceremony screened on ITV1. You can vote for Meryl by submitting your vote here.
