HOLLYWOOD — While publicity-hungry politicians condemn the film “Barbie,” she’s cleaning up at the box office. “Barbie” recouped more than twice of its cost in the first three days of its release. “Barbie” definitely has legs!
Created in 1959 by Ruth Handler, Barbie thrived for 50 years as many little girls’ favorite doll. In 2009, her parent company, Mattel, signed a deal with Universal Pictures to produce a film, but they failed to come up with a screenplay. In 2014, Sony Pictures tried and also failed to come up with a script. In 2016, comedienne Amy Schumer was cast as Barbie, but dropped out a year later because what she described as “scheduling conflicts.” (Or was it no workable script?)
Two years later, Margot Robbie persuaded Warner Brothers to bring Barbie to big screens. Finally, in 2021, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Greta Gerwig, who wrote and directed “Lady Bird” (2017) and “Little Women” (2019), wrote a script for “Barbie” (along with her partner, Noah Baumbach) and signed on to direct.
When Robbie first read Gerwig’s script, she thought, “This is so good. What a shame it will never see the light of day because they are never going to let us make this movie.” Thankfully, she was wrong, and shooting started in early 2022. Ironically, even though Ken is anatomically incorrect, Ryan Gosling is receiving the Oscar buzz. The politicians were wrong … “Barbie” is now Billionaire Barbie!
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Greta Gerwig wrote the screenplay (with Erin Cressida Wilson) for Disney’s upcoming live-action film “Snow White,” due March 22, 2024. Twenty-two-year-old Rachel Zegler will star as “Snow White,” and Gal Gadot as her Evil Queen. The prince has been replaced with a character named Jonathan, being played by 32-year-old Andrew Burnap, who is a Tony Award winner for “The Inheritance.” Burnap recently played King Arthur in “Camelot” on Broadway as well.
Zegler, who was Maria in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story,” is Hispanic and native to New Jersey, and she will be the first-ever Latino actress to play Snow White. Zegler also took on playing Lucy Gray Baird in “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” which is due for release this Nov. 17.
“America’s Got Talent” judge Sofia Vergara (51) and “True Blood” star Joe Manganiello (46) have ended their marriage after seven years. Friends speculate some of the reasons for their divorce were because Manganiello has been practicing sobriety for 17 years, while Vergara still continued to be a social drinker. He wanted to start a family, but Vergara already has a 32-year-old son from her first marriage. Then, there was that lawsuit with ex-boyfriend Nick Loeb over their two fertilized embryos produced through in-vitro fertilization. But, after a long, drawn-out eggs-hausting trial, things came out sunny-side up for Vergara.
