Where Are They Now? Dominic Cooper

Mamma Mia! The Movie boasts two Jane Austen movie adaptation alumni: Colin Firth and Dominic Cooper.

The film is about a recently engaged young woman (Amanda Seyfried) who wants what every girl wants at her wedding: to be given away by her father. She reads her mother's diary and finds the names of three candidates (Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, and Stellan Skarsgard). All the men had a relationship with her mother (Meryl Streep) around the time she was conceived. And thus a plot was born. Throw in a few ABBA songs, and you have a musical. Dominic Cooper plays the fiancee, and from what I understand, his shirt is missing in over half the movie. In a recent interview, both Colin and Dominic made a few observations about their singing:

Firth said that the film had been “by turns delightful and mortifying”. He added: “Once I fully understood the script, which took a while, I did it on the basis that it was going to be fun. Then I got called in and found myself singing in front of Björn (Ulvaeus) and Benny (Andersson). It was sheer terror at that point.”

Firth had sung before, although almost all of his performances had taken place in the shower. “And I have never really sung as myself. When I’m singing Johnny Cash to myself, I’m really doing him.”

Cooper said that he had spent a lot of time pretending not to know any Abba. Then a former girlfriend sent him a VHS tape of himself singing Money, Money, Money, word perfect at the age of 13. “It’s sort of been the back-drop of my life,” he said. (Times Online)


Dominic has been a busy boy since he played Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility. According to IMbD, some of his upcoming movie projects include: David Copperfield (2008) (pre-production), Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2008) (post-production), An Education (2008) (post-production), and The Duchess (2008) (completed).

• Interview with Dominic Cooper
  

• Funny but scathing review of the movie in Living.Scotsman.com

• Click here for the worldwide release dates

• Update: A critical review of ABBA's music
  

Posted by Ms. Place

Disco Dancing Darcy in Mamma Mia Movie? Well, I Nevva!

I am all anticipation of the July 18th release of the movie Mamma Mia, staring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, and yes, Mr. Darcy - - well - - actually the actor formally known as Mr. Darcy - - Colin Firth!

If Firth has his way, we would forever forget the fact that he smoldered his way into our hearts in the 1995 mini-series of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice, a breakthrough role that he continues to be most remembered for. Being a romantic heartthrob has become a bit of a reluctant mantle to bear, and he has publically distanced his relationship with the archetypal hunk Mr. Darcy. In the thirteen years since he plunged into the Pemberley pond and into our hearts, he has tried hard to ditch the Darcy persona with a diverse array of acting roles in a variety of movies from the recent pensive When Did You Last See Your Father (2007), to the opulent Shakespeare in Love (1998), all to no avail.

When Mamma Mia hits the big screen in July, film goers will get a gander at his disco dancing moves and renditions of Abba 70’s pop ballads such as “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme”, and “I have a Dream”. In a recent interview with late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien, Firth deflected any future objections to his singing talent by owning up to the fact that he doesn’t really sing in his role as Harry Bright, just kind of talks his way through it, an old trick that Rex Harrison applied to his interpretation of Henry Higgins in the musical My Fair Lady. Fans of Firth will remember his singing “Lady Come Down” with Rupert Everett in the movie The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) and be grateful that he chose this talking technique for his songs!

Regardless of Colin Firth’s reluctance at being remembered as Mr. Darcy, he is extremely popular and has made ten movies in two years. We will not object in the least to his claim to being “the hardest working man in movies”, and be grateful that he chose to participate in the big-screen adaptation of one of our favorite 70’s retro musicals. He may very well shake off that Darcy stigma and charm our socks off with his disco dancing! Nah -- I prefer him in a quadrille any day!

Check out my other Darcy sightings when I blog about "Me and Mr. Darcy", at Austenprose

Cheers, Laurel Ann