Theater director Phyllida Lloyd is in negotiations to make her feature directorial debut on Mamma Mia!, an adaptation of the popular ABBA musical, created by Judy Craymer and Catherine Johnson, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The musical adaptation will be produced by Universal Pictures and Tom Hanks’ production company Playtone. Lloyd directed the stage version of the musical in London and New York, and she’s well known in theater and opera circles for helming productions in London, Paris and Toronto of shows like “Six Degrees of Separation,” “The Taming of the Shrew,” “La Boheme,” “Carmen” and “Ring Cycle.”
The musical, which features 22 songs by ABBA, follows a bride-to-be — raised on a Greek island by a formerly rebellious mom who never disclosed the identity of her father — who locates three men who might be her father and invites them to her wedding. Since opening in London in 1999, the show has grossed more than $1 billion with productions running around the globe.
The movie’s screenplay was written by Johnson, who wrote the show’s book, and it will be produced by Playtone’s Gary Goetzman and Craymer, who produced the show via her Littlestar banner. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson are executive producing along with ABBA members and songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus.
