This year’s Cannes Film Festival kicked off with a tribute to Meryl Streep, who received the prestigious Palme d’Or at the opening ceremony, 35 years after her first appearance on the festival’s red carpet. Throughout her six decade career, Streep has starred in countless successful films, while Mamma Mia stands out as one of her iconic works, where she showcased her singing skills in several memorable songs. After receiving the special award in the French Riviera, a clip surfaced online where Streep went back to her early days and recalled a hilarious moment when her teacher asked her whole class to sing. Streep left the audiences thrilled after she revealed singing Lonely at the Top by Randy Newman in front of her classmates.
The Devil Wears Prada star explained, “One of the greatest teachers I had was the singing teacher because she would make the whole class sing. She addressed 12 of us in our class, she said, ‘All of you will get up and sing in front of the class. You’ll sing something that means something to you and you will make us cry.’ The boy said, ‘Yeah but they’ll die laughing,’ and she said, ‘No no no, you’re going to do it,’ and they said, ‘No I’m not going to do that, I don’t sing.’ But the teacher said, ‘No no, when you sing you open something’.”
“It’s a direct line, your head isn’t involved, it’s just the melody and this sentiment and she was right. She got every one of those guys up and one sang to his, ‘Oh my mama to me you are so beautiful.’ It was fantastic, it was a great lesson and I sang Lonely at the Top by Randy Newman. I did wow, that’s weird I meant it ironically you know because I was broke,” Meryl Streep added while holding her laughter.
Meanwhile, during her appearance at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Meryl Streep hinted that Mamma Mia 3 is in works and she might return as Donna Sheridan. Talking to Deadline, the actress said, “I don’t know how they’re going to do it. They have an idea. I haven’t heard it yet but it’s in [my diary] and I’m going to hear about it pretty soon. Of course I want to do it. I think folks love it.” While her agent, Kevin Huvane mentioned, “We’re optimistic about it.”
While there’s not much revealed about Mamma Mia 3, rumours suggest that Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard and Colin Firth, might return for the franchise.