Mamma Mia! @ Agios Ioannis

Several wedding scenes for the “Mamma Mia!” movie were shot in Agios Ioannis, back in 2007. The location was heavily modified to make it look taller and more colourful in post-production, but the minuscule church loses none of its magic in real life.

The Winner takes It All

One of the most touching songs from the movie –”The Winner Takes It all”, written by Abba– was performed beautifully by Meryl Streep here. This most moving scene of the film, and one that reduced most of the audience to tears, is when Meryl’s character Donna sings the emotional ballad to Pierce’s character Sam.

Pierce recalled: “It was a magical scene. It’s forever in my heart, indelibly imprinted in my mind. It was a tough day, the weather was a bit fluky but we had this beautiful, poetical, lyrical background -the raging sea. And Sam says to Donna, ‘We’ve got to talk, don’t let her do this, and listen to me.’ Then she just nails him with this song, this aria. It was very, very moving. And all I had to do was just stand there and listen and enjoy it. I was just a member of the audience, this guy in a suit, watching this beautiful performance, this gorgeous song. It was really magical.”