I still love Abba.
ABBA was a direct influence on me.
I quite like ABBA.
A life of very, very serious, po-faced films would drive me nuts. I need - and I'm fortunate to have - a fairly varied menu in that respect. I mean, I was shooting 'Mamma Mia!' at the same time as I was doing Michael Winterbottom's 'Genova'. That was a very, very bizarre summer.
ABBA: The Movie; I got a lot of grief for working on that.
I think ABBA have a pure joy to their music and that's what makes them extraordinary.
I'll tell you how it happened. The phone rang. Paul, my agent, goes, 'Would you like to play Meryl Streep's?' I said, 'Yeeees! I'll do it, whatever it is.' He said, 'It's Mamma Mia!.' I said, 'Oh no, which character? The fat friend?
I used to go to musicals every birthday - that was my birthday present. We'd go to London, me and my two brothers and mum and dad. I think I saw 'Mamma Mia' about five times.
I don't even know Amanda Seyfried or whatever - they're all the same!
OMG, I have my 'Mamma Mia!' playbill framed in my bedroom. It was magical! I totally cried... a lot! I remember collecting playbills my entire life, and then to be in one... I have no words.
