‘Mamma Mia’s Jessica Keenan Wynn Talks About Working With ‘Legend’ Cher: ‘People Were Crying’

Courtesy of Paige Kindlick

Jessica Keenan Wynn, who plays the young Tanya in ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,’ opens up about working with the iconic Cher in the highly-anticipated musical movie!

Jessica Keenan Wynn had the incredible opportunity to not only star in the Mamma Mia 2 sequel, but to witness greatness in the making as the legendary Cher filmed her scenes for the film! The musical theater star took on her first feature film, that just so happened to have an all-star cast filled with icons, but she revealed that the most stand-out moment from filming was watching Cher sing “Fernando.” “The young cast (Jessica, Lily James and Alexa Davies) was backstage in the director’s tent, watching on the monitor as Cher was coming down the stairs and singing,” Jessica explained in an exclusive interview with HollywoodLife. “We were just frozen. It was the first time that we had seen her character on set, and so to watch her come down the stairs and sing ‘Fernando’…Really, people were crying.”

“She’s such a professional. She’s a legend,” Jessica continued. “It was like an intimate concert with Cher. Over, and over, and over, and over again for six to 10 takes!” We don’t think it gets much better than that! Jessica also gushed over working with the rest of the Mamma Mia 2 cast, revealing that she and her fellow young Dynamos, Lily James and Alexa Davies, became instant friends. “I’ve created these lifelong friendships with the young cast. We are all so close. It has truly been one of the most remarkable experiences of my life,” she enthused. The actress left her role in Broadway’s Beautiful, in which she played songwriter Cynthia Weil, to travel to London, and then Croatia, to film. Jessica added that beyond watching Cher’s performance, she had “pinch me” moments every day while working on the bright blue waters of Croatia.

“All of the days. Every day. When we landed in Croatia, that was wild. When we would take a boat to set. We’d take the boat back from set and watch the sunset. It was one of those moments, being in Croatia of all places,” she reflected. “It just blew my mind that this was possible…that we could be out here, all getting along as well as we did, doing an incredible, huge studio movie, and being on this gorgeous location. It just felt like the perfect storm with this. And I pinched myself every day in Croatia, to wake up by the sea. This was a once in a lifetime experience.”

You can see Jessica, Cher and the rest of the incredibly talented cast in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, in theaters Friday, July 20!