Christine Baranski says ‘Mamma Mia!’ threequel will happen
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Christine Baranski says there will be a third Mamma Mia! movie.
In a chat with The Hollywood Reporter, The Gilded Age star revealed she and producer Judy Kramer recently got together, and the filmmaker revealed Mamma Mia 3 is a go. “She gave me the narrative plotline of how it’s going to happen,” the actress said.
However, Baranski added, “That’s all I can say! But, it’s not like, ‘Oh, I wish it could happen!’ Judy Kramer makes things happen. She made number two happen, and it was a phenomenal hit. I wouldn’t put it past [her] to get everybody back together.”
Indeed, the sequel to the 2008 original Abba-drenched musical, 2018’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, grossed more than $480 million worldwide against a budget of $75 million.
Getting the gang back together is no small order: The multigenerational cast also included Meryl Streep, Cher, and Colin Firth, as well as Amanda Seyfried, Andy Garcia, Lily James and Pierce Brosnan.
That said, Baranski added, “People are drawn to happiness and to joy, not doom and gloom. Mamma Mia! made so many millions of people around the world happy. Is it a little dumb, a little campy? That’s part of its charm.”
Baranski mused of a third installment, “We’ll all be on some fabulous Greek or Croatian island having a blast, I hope.”
Netflix’s new series The Perfect Couple is a dark tale indeed, but its title sequence sees its cast, including Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber and Dakota Fanning, in a flash mob-style dance, set to Meghan Trainor‘s “Criminals.”
It was the brainchild of director Susanne Bier, but Variety has discovered that most of the cast was so opposed to it they started a text chain on WhatsApp that Schreiber called a “mutiny.”
The show centers on a wealthy family whose plans for a glamorous Nantucket wedding by the beach runs aground when a body washes up onshore, exposing the fam’s dark secrets.
Kidman admitted to the trade that she was initially opposed to the opening, because she didn’t think her matriarch character Greer would dance. “I felt like Greer would watch.”
That said, she was happy about it in the end. “I danced as Greer. I think it’s great and I’m so glad they got us all to do it. ‘Cause there’s some joy in it.”
Schreiber, who plays Kidman’s husband, was all in. “I wasn’t in that [text] chain. The entire cast had a mutiny about this idea except for me, I was already in my trailer practicing the dance moves.”
He added, “I just like dancing and I was kinda disappointed when it came out that I’m not in it more because I thought I did it really well.”
Bier explained she felt viewers needed a pick-me-up from the “gloomy” times we’re living in. “I felt I wanted to do something which had a lot of life and a lot of fun. And I wanted to see all the characters having fun.”
Kris Kristofferson, the singer, songwriter and actor whose songs were among the most admired not just in country but music in general, has died, according to a post on his official Facebook. He was 88.
“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news our husband/father/grandfather, Kris Kristofferson, passed away peacefully on Saturday, September 28 at home,” reads the message. “We’re all so blessed for our time with him. Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he’s smiling down at us all.”
Kristofferson’s resume was eclectic: Rhodes scholar, U.S. Army veteran, pilot, Golden Gloves boxer and award-winning actor. But it was his famous songs — including “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night” — that made him a music legend. No less a luminary than Bob Dylan was once quoted as saying about Kristofferson, “You can look at Nashville pre-Kris and post-Kris, because he changed everything.”
Born Kristoffer Kristofferson in the border town of Brownsville, Texas, on June 22, 1936, he earned a master’s from Oxford, moved to California, joined the Army and became a helicopter pilot — and began writing songs on the side. Inspired by Dylan, he rejected an Army assignment to teach literature at West Point and instead moved to Nashville.
After struggling for several years, and even working as a janitor at the same studio where Johnny Cash and Dylan recorded, Kristofferson got his break when established stars like Tom T. Hall, Ray Price, Roger Miller, Ray Stevens and Cash recorded his songs. Cash’s hit rendition of “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” helped it win the Country Music Association’s Song of the Year trophy in 1970, the same year Kristofferson released his debut solo album.
That album featured “Me and Bobby McGee,” which Janis Joplin recorded before her death in October 1970. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971 and is now known as her signature song.
In 1971, Kristofferson launched his acting career, and over the years he appeared in films like A Star Is Born, which won him a Golden Globe, and Semi-Tough, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, Lone Star and Blade.
In 1985, Kristofferson joined his old pal Johnny Cash in the supergroup The Highwaymen, which also included Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. He also continued his solo career and toured nonstop until 2020. He was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and won multiple Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Grammy.
When Nelson was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2023, he advocated from the stage for Kristofferson’s induction, as well.
Kristofferson, who dated Joplin and once wed fellow singer Rita Coolidge, is survived by his wife, Lisa, as well as eight children from three marriages and seven grandchildren.
As soon as news broke that legendary actor and voice over artist James Earl Jones died Monday at 93, Hollywood took to social media to mourn.
Jones, who famously voiced Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise and Mufasa in the 1994 and 2019 Lion King films, died on Monday morning at his home in Dutchess County, New York, surrounded by his family, his rep confirmed to ABC News.
Here are just some of those tributes from his famous friends/fans:
His Star Wars co-star Mark Hamillposted in part “#RIP dad 💔.” In the films, Hamill played Luke Skywalker, son of Darth Vader.
Kevin Costner, who starred with Jones in Field of Dreams, took to Instagram to share, “If you’ve seen it, you know that this movie wouldn’t be the same with anyone else in his role. Only he could bring that kind of magic to a movie about baseball and a corn field in Iowa.”
“Rest in peace, friend,” Costner concluded.
Rob Minkoff: Minkoff, the director of the 1994 Lion King film, shared, “His portrayal of Mufasa was perfection. What a powerful man and actor. Gone but will never be forgotten. Rest in power.”
Octavia Spencer: The Oscar winner Instagrammed she is “incredibly saddened” by the news, adding, “Legendary doesn’t even begin to describe his iconic roles and impact on cinema forever.” She added, “His voice and talent will be remembered always. Sending love to his family, friends and countless fans in all galaxies, far, far away. 🤍🕊️”
LeVar Burton: Burton, who starred in the 1980 film, Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones with Jones, posted, “There will never be another of his particular combination of graces.”
Colman Domingo: “Rest. Thank you for everything. Everything. Everything,” the Rustin Oscar nominee wrote on Instagram. “We all looked to you. Thank you King James Earl Jones. Rest well.”
Yvette Nicole Brown: “Besides #StarWars, the first film I remember ever seeing was #Claudine,” Brown said in an Instagram post. “#JamesEarlJones is a part of my cinematic DNA. Heartbroken doesn’t begin to cover it.”
Bob Iger: The CEO of ABC News’ parent company Disney highlighted Jones’ career in a moving tribute shared on Disney’s Instagram page, saying in part, “From the gentle wisdom of Mufasa to the menacing threat of Darth Vader, James Earl Jones gave voice to some of the greatest characters in cinema history.”
