Amanda Seyfried on Working With Her Ex, Dominic Cooper, on Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again

It might seem crazy, but after almost 20 years in the industry, Amanda Seyfried still gets star-struck. “Andy Garcia just walked by… no big deal, this is just my life,” she exclaims to me over the phone from London, where she’s doing press for the Mamma Mia sequel. However, just one minute later, when our conversation turns to Cher, she shouts over to her co-star, “Hey!—[back to me] Cher just came over—I’m talking about you!” This really is her life.

For some, summoning enthusiasm for a press tour after two decades in Hollywood—she started in the late ’90s as Lucy Montgomery on As the World Turns before her breakout in 2008’s Mamma Mia!—might prove challenging to say the least. Not for Seyfried, who admits she’s been feeling ill that day and is still excited for our chat. That’s because filming Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again was one of the most rewarding experiences of her life. Mamma Mia, both the first film and the sequel, really boils down to a story about the relationship between a mother and her daughter. This time, Seyfried relates on a whole different level.

“When I filmed the first movie I was in my twenties, falling in love, and just really frivolous. Now I have a daughter of my own and I just relate to Donna (Meryl Streep) that much more.”

The love Amanda Seyfried referenced was with her co-star Dominic Cooper, who played her love interest Skye. The actors dated for three years after filming Mamma Mia. Now 32-years-old, Seyfried is married to actor Thomas Sadoski, the father of their one-year-old daughter. Now, Seyfried and Cooper are reunited on screen for the first time since their breakup… as lovers, again.

So, does Seyfried have any advice for women who must face their ex at work? “The number one, most important thing is setting boundaries,” she shares. “You can’t call each other by the pet names you have for them.”

“You know, it’s very strange having to not be intimate with someone you’ve had an intimate relationship with,” she confesses. “It can be hard but you have to step back and be professional. Dominic and I have such a good relationship that it was easy… but if you don’t like your ex, just try to get them fired,” she jokes.

Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper, and Cher in Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again

Universal

But back to Cher, who plays Amanda’s on-screen grandmother. The two may be press junket buddies now, but when the film began would you believe it wasn’t just the rest of the cast that was intimidated by Cher? Apparently, there’s no star too big to feel apprehensive when meeting a new group of people who already click. “We were all so nervous Cher’s first day on set,” Seyfried tells me. “But when I finally had my first scene with her she told me how nervous she was to meet all of us. I ended up going up to the rest of the cast and crew and told them all to introduce themselves…to Cher!”

Yea, this is just Amanda Seyfried’s life.