Pierce Brosnan Was ‘Terrified’ of Singing in “Mamma Mia! ”Until He Noticed Colin Firth Looking ‘Equally Freaked Out’

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Pierce Brosnan admitted he was “terrified” to sing in Mamma Mia!
In an interview with Vanity Fair, the actor reminisced about his experience working on the beloved musical
Brosnan said seeing Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård “equally as freaked out” gave him peace

Pierce Brosnan admitted he was “terrified” to sing in Mamma Mia!, but two of his costars alleviated some of his worries.

Brosnan looked back on recording SOS, which he called “a warhorse of a song,” while speaking with Vanity Fair to promote his latest show, Mobland.

“It’s not an easy song to sing, and I was mildly terrified,” Brosnan shared. “I remember going out to Air Studios to record the songs.”

“The only thing that kind of gave me some solace and some peace was to see Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård look as equally freaked out as I was as we sat down with Benny [Andersson] and Bjorn [Ulvaeus] and went straight into recording the songs,” he added.

Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard and Colin Firth in “Mamma Mia Here We Go Again!”.

Collection Christophel/Legendary entertainment/ Universal/Alamy

It wasn’t just recording the songs that proved to be a challenge. While filming the actual movie, the 72-year-old actor said they had to sing out loud during the scenes to make it believable.

“So you record the songs, and then you sing back to the track, but you have to sing because you have to see the effort in the vocal cords, and you have to act the song out,” he explained.

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Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep in “Mamma Mia!”.

Alamy

However, he struggled to act and sing simultaneously, so the musical director had to “stand right beside the camera to count me in.”

“I could never really count in. I was no good,” Brosnan added. “I think you can actually see me look to the side of the camera at some point.”

Despite cringing at old clips from the film, Brosnan noted that he “got a platinum” and “a gold album for that.” Brosnan also sang in the 2018 sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.

The actor played Sam Carmichael in the films, which also starred Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep, Cher, Colin Firth and Christine Baranski.