Shakira’s Sons Hated ‘Barbie’ Because It’s ‘Emasculating,’ and She Agrees: ‘I Like Pop Culture’ That Empowers Women ‘Without Robbing Men of Their Possibility to Be Men’

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Mad Max” fans know that topping “Fury Road” is most likely an impossible task, but it sounds like the upcoming prequel “Furiosa” has a few action-packed tricks up its sleeve to deliver the goods. Speaking to Total Film magazine, director George Miller’s longtime producing partner Doug Mitchell let it slip that “Furiosa” contains “one 15-minute sequence which took us 78 days to shoot” and required 200 stunt people on set daily.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “The Sopranos” fans got thrown a curveball in 2021 when Edie Falco revealed for the first time on an Atlantic podcast that she once reunited with James Gandolfini to reprise Tony and Carmela Soprano for a bizarre clip set two years after the events of the series finale, which infamously ended with a cut-to-black that left Tony’s fate in the balance. The purpose of the clip was to help the New York Knicks basketball organization lure LeBron James to the team. Gandolfini and Falco shot the “Sopranos” reunion in 2010 as James was becoming a free agent after his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers expired.

Katcy Stephan Tim Meadows (“Mean Girls,” “Bob’s Burgers”) and Stephanie Beatriz (“Encanto,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) have been cast in key voice roles for the upcoming animated comedy/sci-fi feature film “Harry and the Mutant Mid-Century Furniture,” directed by Michael Skolnick (“The Gliksmans”). Mack Williams (“Archer,” “The Get Down”) of Pig Apple and Michael Bitton (“Gran Turismo,” “The Wheel of Time”) of 14th Street Music have also signed on as Animation Director and Composer, respectively.

Dua Lipa is making her mark on the big screen!

Becoming the highest-grossing film of 2023 and crossing the $1 billion mark, it’s hard to argue that “Barbie” wasn’t one of last year’s most significant cultural cinematic landmarks, even if it missed out at the most recent Oscars. Many actors have revealed they were part of the film, only to be cut, Olivia Colman, Saoirse Ronan, and possibly more, but there was another actually in the movie who didn’t really receive her moment.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Even Stevens” and “Kim Possible” actor Christy Carlson Romano revealed on “Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown” podcast (via Entertainment Weekly) that she is not going to watch the Investigation Discovery documentary series “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” because “it’s extremely triggering” and “I’ve made a choice for several reasons to opt out of watching that imagery.” She also said that she once turned down the network’s request for her to participate in a similar kind of doc. “Quiet on Set” explores misconduct and abuse allegations behind the scenes at Nickelodeon in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Ryan Gosling visited “The Tonight Show” ahead of his latest hosting stint on “Saturday Night Live” and was asked about his internet-breaking live performance of “I’m Just Ken” at the Oscars last month. Asked by host Jimmy Fallon if it was an immediate yes when the Academy called him up to request he perform the “Barbie” original song live during the ceremony, Gosling said his answer was “100% no.” “There’s a lot of ways that could go wrong,” Gosling said. But the performance went very right.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel‘s longstanding “Fast & Furious” feud came to an official end last year when Johnson shocked fans by popping up as the beloved Luke Hobbs in a “Fast X” mid-credits scene. Diesel had extended an invitation to Johnson in November 2021 to join “Fast X,” but Johnson said the following month that “I would not be returning to the franchise.” That turned out to be a bluff. The duo’s “Fast & Furious” co-star John Cena recently appeared on the “Armchair Expert” podcast (via People) and was asked by host Dax Shepard about the rumors concerning Johnson and Diesel’s on-set tussle.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jonathan Nolan said during a recent interview on the “Armchair Expert” podcast with Dax Shepard that it took some convincing to get his brother, Christopher Nolan, to agree to direct “The Dark Knight.” The filmmaker had already hit a superhero movie slam dunk with “Batman Begins” and was hesitant to make another comic book movie because he didn’t want his career getting pigeonholed. “I worked on ‘Batman Begins’ in this slightly arm’s length capacity, but it was the one comic book my brother ever given me as a kid, ‘Batman: Year One,’ for my 14th birthday, and 10 years later I was on the set working with him,” Jonathan said, remembering thinking “this is nuts.” “Chris was on the fence about making another one,” Jonathan continued, noting that Chris went straight from “Batman Begins” into helming the magician thriller “The Prestige.” “He didn’t want to become a superhero movie director.” Jonathan said that Chris was “very proud” of “Batman Begins,” but “to me, it was like we built this amazing sports car, and I’m like, ‘Let’s take it for a drive.

EXCLUSIVE: Judy Craymer would just love it if Barbie filmmaker Greta Gerwig could just make herself available to complete the Mamma Mia! movie trilogy.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Michael J. Fox‘s retirement from acting might not be permanent. The actor recently told Entertainment Tonight that he’d be open to returning to the profession bearing the right role.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Carla Gugino recently told BuzzFeed that her beloved role in Robert Rodriguez’s 2001 family action film “Spy Kids” was “physically totally impossible.” The actor was 27 years old when she filmed the movie and played Ingrid Cortes, the mother of two spies. By Gugino’s math, the character didn’t add up. “It is so funny because I was 27,” Gugino recounted.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Danny McBride has a bone to pick with movie theaters. With the popularization of theaters that now serve dinner and drinks in the middle of a movie (see Alama Drafthouse locations, for example), the “Eastbound & Down” and “Pineapple Express” comedian recently told GQ magazine that he is staunchly against the trend. “I hate it, I can’t stand it,” McBride said while addressing the theaters-that-serves-dinner trend.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Minnie Driver said during a recent interview on Jameela Jamil’s “I Weigh” podcast that producers on her 1998 disaster movie “Hard Rain” allegedly told her not to wear a wetsuit while filming with rain machines because “they wanted to see my nipples” (via Entertainment Weekly). The film, directed by Mikael Salomon, opened a year after Driver’s breakthrough in “Good Will Hunting,” which earned her an Oscar nomination. Morgan Freeman and Christian Slater headlined “Hard Rain.” “It’s set during this massive storm, there were huge rain machines.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Andy Cohen kicked off the April 1 episode of his SiriusXM radio show by sharing regret over fueling conspiracy theories about Kate Middleton‘s public absence (via Vanity Fair). It was Cohen’s first show back on the air since Middleton revealed her cancer diagnosis. “I just want to say, I am heartbroken by the news about Princess Kate, and I think someone on Sky News called me a numpty during that whole conversation and they were right,” Cohen said, later adding: “And of course, I wish I had kept my mouth shut and we are all praying for Princess Kate and King Charles.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Ang Lee is moving on from 3D filmmaking after a trio of hit or miss releases: “Life of Pi” (2012), “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” (2016) and “Gemini Man” (2019). The former title was an acclaimed blockbuster that won Lee the Oscar for best director, while the latter two releases, also distributing in high-frame rate at 120 frames per second, were mostly critical misfires and big financial disappointments. Lee hasn’t made a movie since “Gemini Man.” “I tried higher frame rate and I tried 3D,” Lee recently told IndieWire.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jon Stewart made headlines in February when he appeared on “CBS Mornings” ahead of his return to hosting Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and said that Apple canceled his previous talk show, “The Problem With Jon Stewart,” because “they didn’t want me to say things that might get me in trouble.” On the April 1 episode of “The Daily Show,” Stewart went into greater detail about Apple’s concerns over the direction of his now-axed talk show and corresponding podcast. Stewart was interviewing Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan on “The Daily Show” and told her that he once pitched to have her as a guest on “The Problem” podcast.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “The X-Files” creator Chris Carter is not involved in the upcoming reboot, which is being shepherded by “Black Panther” filmmaker Ryan Coogler. In a new interview with Inverse, Carter said he has no reservations about letting someone else put their stamp on his beloved franchise. “It’s interesting, people say, ‘Aren’t you possessive of it?’ And I say, ‘No, I’m looking forward to seeing what somebody else does with it,’” Carter said, adding that he had a “really nice conversation” with Coogler when the latter first pitched his idea for an “X-Files” reboot to Fox.

Shakira has shared her thoughts on Barbie, revealing that her two sons “hated it” because “they felt that it was emasculating”.The artist was asked in an interview with Allure if she had seen the Greta Gerwig-directed film, which came out last summer, to which she said that she had.“My sons absolutely hated it. They felt that it was emasculating,” she said. “And I agree, to a certain extent.

Kristen Stewart has said she will “most likely never” do a Marvel movie because they’re “a fucking nightmare”.The actress recently appeared on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, where she spoke about her dissatisfaction with the Marvel moviemaking system.“I will likely never do a Marvel movie … it sounds like a fucking nightmare, actually,” she began. Whilst she clarified she wasn’t opposed to starring in big movies, “because I like people to watch them when I’m in them,” she said the “the system would have to change” for her to be in a Marvel movie.“You would have to put so much money and so much trust into one person … and it doesn’t happen,” she continued.