The Critics Choice Association held its 5th annual Celebration of Latino Cinema & Television in L.A. on Friday, coming at a particularly fraught time for a community that is being specifically targeted by the Trump administration.
That was the subject of several of the luncheon’s acceptance speeches, as America Ferrera, Andy Garcia, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Ramos, Camila Perez, Dolores Huerta, Frida Perez, Gabriel Luna, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Dolores Fonzi and Tonatiuh were all recognized for their work.
Ferrera — presented her Trailblazer Award by The Lost Bus producer Jamie Lee Curtis — had a standout moment as she closed out the event by noting how “in a day and age where discourse and conversation are failing to create connection and empathy and understanding, the storytelling we do becomes more vital,” as TV and film “has the power to transport people outside of their entrenched logic and into their hearts.”
The star, who is also heavily involved in political activism, later explained how she was recently talking to a scholar on the history of authoritarianism who said the U.S. is “barreling towards a crisis point in our country and therefore in our world. And we [in Hollywood] are not a cute little side note to civil society — we are civil society. Artists and the stories we tell have a role to play in this moment.”
“We have an obligation to point not only to what we are against, but to create and to demonstrate the world that we are for and the world that we want to live in; and to not depict one another as charity cases, as people who need us to have dignity. We are born with our dignity, and no one will take that away from us,” Ferrera passionately continued. “Our opportunity as storytellers is to lift each other up, to give each other our humanity, to reaffirm the dignity that we all deserve — and in this moment, we have an obligation to preserve our rights as storytellers, as artists. And make no mistake, we are there, and it is time for us to find our courage, find our heroism, be as brave as the characters we write and as brave as the characters we play and stand up and use our voices and use our art — make art that inspires and calls forth the world we want to live in.”
Cristo Fernández, Anthony Ramos, America Ferrera and Tonatiuh
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Critics Choice Association
That call to action was present from the early moments of the event, which began with giving activist Huerta the Icon Award. She celebrated the entertainment community for creating “stories that are going to let the world know we are not criminals,” but rather “the people that really feed and really nourish this nation, the United States of America. And the other thing that we have to say — the majority of the people right now that are being harassed and tormented, they’re not immigrants, they’re the indigenous people of the continent.” To finish her speech, she led the room in a chant of her signature rallying cry “sí se puede.”
Throughout the event, Garcia was presented with the Vanguard Award, The Secret Agent filmmaker Filho with the Director Award, The Studio’s Frida Perez with the Showrunner Award (accompanied by a speech from Seth Rogen) and Ramos with the Supporting Actor, Film Award for A House of Dynamite. Isaac virtually accepted the Actor, Film Award for Frankenstein while Luna was presented the Supporting Actor, Film Award for Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy, Dolores Fonzi with the International Film Award, Camila Perez with the Breakthrough Actress Award and Kiss of the Spider Woman‘s Tonatiuh with the Breakthrough Actor Award.
Frida Perez and Seth Rogen
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Critics Choice Association
In his speech, Tonatiuh revealed how when the Jennifer Lopez musical came out two weeks ago, they gave away tickets across the country to people in financial hardship — including kids at the high school he had gone to, who he brought to a screening at The Grove.
“They got to see themselves on screen, and I held them in my arms as they cried and they said that they have never seen anything like this,” Tonatiuh said. “Some of them came out to me, some of them told me that they were carrying their passports in their pockets just in case, and that this film helped them process their pain.” He concluded with echoing Huerta’s call of “sí se puede” and adding, “Fuck ICE.”
The agitated, ominous vibration of giant power lines and quaking transmission towers feels like a Greek chorus throughout Paul Greengrass’s intense new wildfire thriller, The Lost Bus. Over the course of the film, Greengrass regularly cuts away to the churning cables and metal structures, as well as to the roaring flames of the 2018 Camp Fire, as the blaze makes its way across the mountains and cliffs of Northern California. This helps us follow the spread of this real-life disaster, and it also conveys the puniness and impotence of the mortals fighting it. Based on real-life stories from the Camp Fire (still the deadliest wildfire in California history), The Lost Bus, which just premiered at the Toronto Film Festival ahead of a short September theatrical release and an October 3 debut on Apple TV+, offers plenty of suspense and heroism. But it’s all tempered by the knowledge that these fires are inescapable, growing, and unstoppable.
At heart, The Lost Bus is a disaster movie — a great one — and it has some of the classic moves of a disaster movie, complete with the slightly on-the-nose narrative shorthand designed to introduce characters quickly and efficiently. Greengrass cuts across a number of arenas and people, including the various fire crews trying to deal with this rapidly deteriorating situation, but the central narrative belongs to Kevin McKay (Matthew McConaughey), a down-on-his luck school-bus driver in Paradise, California, who returned here after his life fell apart elsewhere. Kevin is already having one of the worst days of his life even before everything burns down: His dog is dying, his teenage son is home sick from school (and also hates him), his mom is elderly and out of it, and his ex-wife is berating him on the phone. He’s also missed his bus’s inspection appointments, he’s running out of money, and his supervisor thinks he’s a flake. Once the flames come roaring into town, however, Kevin will be the only one in a position to drive a busload of elementary-schoolers, along with their teacher, Mary Ludwig (America Ferrera), through the downright biblical flames and out to safety. It’s Speed meets the end of the world.
McConaughey was made for parts like this: the good old boy facing extraordinary circumstances. He knows exactly how to sell this character and his desperation — not with confidence, but with a “damn the torpedoes, I’ll try anything once” bravado. Honestly, they should cast him in every disaster movie. Plus, he makes a fine match with Ferrera, whose teacher must exude outward calm for the benefit of her kids while she’s not-so-secretly freaking out inside. (Both Kevin and Mary have their own kids elsewhere that they’re also worried sick about.) As everything falls apart around them in ways both big and small, we enjoy watching these two opposites butt heads and quibble and then learn to function as a team.
The film feels like a homecoming for Greengrass, who cut his teeth in the world of you-are-there television documentaries before helping redefine the modern action movie with the handheld urgency of hits like The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. The director also carried that approach over to docudramas like United 93, Captain Phillips, and July 22 (as well as his earlier, masterful Bloody Sunday, the movie that put him on the map back in 2002). But the “shaky cam” style ran its course some years ago; his last effort was the stately and old-fashioned Tom Hanks western News of the World, a beautiful picture whose release got swallowed up by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In The Lost Bus, Greengrass combines his thriller side with his reportorial side. He films Kevin and Mary and the schoolkids’ journey through hellfire as a no-holds-barred action spectacle full of immediacy and awe, complete with hair’s-breadth escapes and incredible visions of destruction. (It’s frankly a shame that The Lost Bus isn’t getting a wider theatrical release; it was clearly made to be a big-screen experience.) Some incidents have been a bit sensationalized, but Kevin and Mary’s heroism was very real, as evidenced in Lizzie Johnson’s exhaustively researched and absorbing 2021 nonfiction book Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire, on which the film is loosely based. To that end, the film also offers a more diffuse and heavily researched portrait of what goes into battling a wildfire, and Greengrass’s vérité style lends authenticity to the scenes of fire chiefs strategizing, of ground crews and air crews trying to combat the blazes and save lives. The picture thus combines the excitement of an old-school disaster spectacle with a fly-on-the-wall portrait of institutions struggling to function in the face of a calamity. The effect is singular: We enjoy the thrill ride immensely, but it’s the realism that sticks with us. Movies end, but the fires are here to stay.
Blake Lively has managed to pull off the impossible. It used to be rare for a television star to make the crossover to movie stardom. From George Clooney to Will Smith, few actors in the 90s pulled off that feat. And while it’s a bit more common now, only a select group have soared from teen drama to A-List status.
In recent years, we can point to stars like Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, and Charles Melton as proof that there’s life beyond the soapy high school drama. But let’s be honest: they’d be nothing and nowhere without the original cast of Gossip Girl.
The 2000s drama was ahead of the curve. Shows like Succession and White Lotus have taken up its mantle by commenting on the lives of the elite from the inside but those prep school kids blazed the trail. And leading the pack, forever changing what we think of Grand Central Station, is Blake Lively.
Decades later, she’s still on top. She’s a beloved A-Lister with an enviable marriage, an even more enviable friend group (Taylor, if you’re looking for more besties look no further), and a thriving career.
But how did she go from preppy headbands to Hollywood royalty? And, even more recently, why does her career feel like it’s always on an insane upward trajectory? Especially when, if we have to admit it, she’s not the greatest actress around. Likability and beauty can get you far — but Blake’s career is astounding. Is she really all that or is she just… really pretty?
Blake Lively’s Rise to Fame
Before she was Blake Lively: Hollywood Icon™, she was still the coolest girl on our screens. Her role in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was pivotal for millennials everywhere. Alongside America Ferrera (Hey Barbie!), Amber Tamblyn, and Alexis Bledel, this ultimate girl gang rivaled her current Swift squad. We all wanted to be them. We all wanted to wear her pants.
She retained that mantle of being unattainably cool in her pivotal role: Gossip Girl.
As Serena van der Woodsen, Lively became the ultimate It Girl. Just like her character, she was the epitome of elite 2000s girlhood. She was like Paris and Nicole with an old-money sophistication. She was all bandage dresses and blowouts both on screen and off. Who didn’t try to recreate at least one of Serena’s outfits — and with disastrous results! — in the show’s heyday?
Post Gossip Girl, Blake faced the stingy choices available to young female stars once their adolescent drama rolled its final credits. For women, the desire to grow up in the public’s eyes leads to a string of sexualized roles. Or, the need to branch out manifests in less-than-successful career pivots — sorry to Leighton Meester’s one song.
While Blake didn’t go any of these routes, she didn’t make the splash she yearned for, either. She did a string of subpar movies that are not worth the watch. She starred as a perpetually beautiful woman who didn’t age in The Age of Adaline — kind of a reverse Benjamin Button except her biggest problem was staying hot forever. Then she starred in the clunky, Gone Girl-esque thriller A Simple Favor alongside Anna Kendrick. Though critics panned it for its nonsensical plot, confusing characters, and flat acting, it found cult fans on streaming and is even an iconic role for many fans — even recently announcing a sequel (we’ll get to that).
She also had forgettable roles as the hot love interest in films like The Town, a cult Boston crime film for which she put on an okay Boston accent, and Savages, a movie recently revived by Netflix.
As her most notable works post Gossip Girl, this isn’t the most robust resume. Yet Blake has retained A-List status. I wouldn’t call her an It-Girl, she’s not out partying or having abrat summer, but every time she steps out, she makes headlines. At this point, she’s known as much for her idyllic marriage with Ryan Reynolds and her friendship with Taylor Swift. Her daughter even has a feature in Taylor Swift’s “Gorgeous” — probably a bigger career credit than anything Blake has appeared in since Gossip Girl.
Meanwhile, many of her Gossip Girl castmates have found success beyond the series. Penn Badgley stars as the creepy serial killer Joe in Netflix’s You. As one of the streamer’s biggest shows, Penn has been catapulted back into the hearts of audiences everywhere — even if his character isn’t the typical heartthrob. Chace Crawford is subverting his pretty-boy looks in The Boys on Amazon, another smash hit series. His character, The Deep, is disturbed and dumb, and played with a brilliant blend of criticism and compassion by Crawford, who doesn’t merely rely on his looks … though he definitely could.
Not to mention her Sisterhood co-star America Ferrera starring in Barbie, the hottest movie of last summer, and being nominated for an Academy Award. Not her first award buzz, never forget Ferrera’s Emmy-nominated turn as Betty Suarez in Ugly Betty, one of the most addictive shows of the 2000s.
With everyone else in her orbit going on to transcend their roots and prove their actual talent, why hasn’t Blake done the same? And however has she managed to stay the most relevant? So the question is: Is she actually a solid actress, or are we all just distracted by how outrageously gorgeous she is? It’s like when your crush says something and you laugh even though it wasn’t funny. Are we all just crushing on Blake Lively?
Blake Lively Is The Queen of the Met Gala: Why did she skip Met 2024?
Testament to her enduring A-List status, Lively is one of the people’s favorites at The Met Gala, which she generally attends with her husband year after year. As one of the biggest and most exclusive annual events on the planet, only a handful of celebrities are invited to the Met steps each and every year. Blake is one of the lucky few.
Usually, the invite list is determined by who was most relevant that year. Whose press tour dominated culture and fashion headlines? What musicians were everywhere? Who were the industry It-Girls? Lively hasn’t fit that bill since the 2010s, yet there she is, smiling on the Met Steps each and every year.
It makes some sense when you consider how viral Lively’s looks go every year. She’s an easy muse — so designers never miss when dressing her. Therefore her absence at the 2024 Met Gala was remarkable. Many were hoping she’d revive the success of her most memorable gown from the Heavenly Bodies exhibit. But alas, nothing. Some speculated a falling out with Anna. Others, another pregnancy. Or was Blake finally just … uninvited?
Turns out, she was just busy being a mom and working on her various projects. I’ll admit, I was skeptical when I heard this. What projects? Lively’s biggest projects are The Met and Kansas Chief’s games. Sometimes I think she’s as much of a nepo bestie as Travis Kelce is a nepo boyfriend. But I recently ate my words. Blake Lively has a stacked Q2 — proving we too can finish the year strong even if we were lagging in the first half.
Blake’s Been Busy: Everything Blake Lively has been up to in 2024
So what are all these projects Lively is so busy with? Surprisingly, a slate of blockbuster films and a brand new business. She’s already embarked upon various press tours, which is why she’s everywhere right now.
Her most prominent, and controversial, venture for the year: starring in the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s blockbuster It Ends With Us. This BookTok favorite is divisive to say the least. While Colleen Hoover’s genre of easy-to-read romantic fiction went viral, the literati aren’t a fan. The main point of contention: the writing is stinko. But to each their own. And on this particular book, Hoover’s critics are accusing of profiting from abuse and trauma because the film romanticizes an abusive relationship.
Yet, the power of BookTok compelled the studios to adapt this novel into a big budget movie starring Lively alongside Justin Baldwin, known for Jane The Virgin. For a minute, thanks to last year’s succession of strikes, it looked as though the movie might be scrapped. Call it Lively’s luck, but production continued against all odds and here we are: moments away from its big premiere.
Watch the Trailer for It Ends With Us here:
But that’s not the only press tour Blake is on. She joined her husband Ryan Reynolds on the press tour for Deadpool and Wolverine, even upstaging Reynolds and his co-star Hugh Jackman with her look for the final premiere.
Alongside Gigi Hadid, she appeared on the red carpet at Lady Deadpool. Little did we know, this was a hint of things to come. In case you forgot (I definitely did) Lively had a brief role as Lady Deadpool in the canonically awful Green Lantern films. She kind of reprised the role as the voice of Lady Deadpool in this new movie — just one of many cameos and Easter eggs in Marvel’s latest bloated action flick.
When not campaigning for wife-of-the-year, bestie of the year, or promoting It Ends With Us, she’s been filming the much-awaited sequel to A Simple Favor. She and Anna Kendrick have reprised their roles: mysterious Hot Mom (Lively, obviously) and Bored Mommy Blogger (Kendrick in an abundance of floral sundresses and wedges).
This sequel comes so long after the original because, despite the initial bad reviews, it found another life on streaming platforms. So, get ready to comfort-watch or hate-watch when it comes out — I’ll be doing both.
But Blake isn’t only trying to pump some much needed life back into her acting career. She’s enetered her Business Mogul Era. She’s already founded the brands Betty Buzz and Betty Booze and now she’s branching into beauty. Known for her scorching flowing locks, why wouldn’t she make a haircare brand?
The collection is called Blake Brown Beauty after her maiden name — which Reynolds joked he only just found out. Priced at $25 and under, Blake Brown Beauty is launching exclusively in Target to corner the affordable haircare market. The line consists of shampoos, masks and styling product. If there’s one thing the world needs more of, it’s celebrity beauty brands, right?
Promising to give the world that Blake Lively shine, the brand is a departure form many DTC celebrity beauty ventures, such as Cecred by Beyonce, Rate Beauty by Selena Gomez, or Hailey Bieber’s rhode. Instead, Blake is doing what she does best: going for mass appeal. It’s worked so far, might as well bet the house (or the hair) on it. But let’s be real, unless her shampoos come with a personal stylist and a Hollywood paycheck, we might just be setting ourselves up for disappointment.
This approach is similar to another celebrity whose success Blake takes major cues from: Jennifer Aniston. Before there was Serena, there was Rachel. From inspiring trends to becoming the people’s princess, Aniston and Lively have a lot in common. Namely that they’ve built gigantic careers on an average amount of talent. Pretty privilege is really kind to some.
Now, I’m no hater. I love looking at beautiful people as much as the next person. But as we brace ourselves for a Blake resurgence, someone has to say it: she’s prettier than she is talented.
The truth is, Blake Lively, like Jennifer Aniston, has found her niche. She’s good at being likable, at being the girl next door (if the girl next door lived in a mansion and was married to Deadpool). And in Hollywood, that’s a skill in itself.
So, is Blake Lively overrated? Maybe. Is she the second coming of Meryl Streep? Probably not. But is she good at what she does? Absolutely.
At the end of the day, Blake Lively is like that really pretty, really nice girl from high school who you want to hate but simply can’t. She’s not changing the world, but she’s not trying to. She’s just out here, living her best life, making us all wish we could pull off headbands and making Ryan Reynolds Instagram posts slightly more tolerable.
So here’s to you, Blake Lively. You may not be perfect, you may not be revolutionary, but damn it, you’re doing your thing. And sometimes, that’s enough.
So while I won’t be tuning into her latest slate of films or buying her beauty brand, I’ll be enjoying her press tour simply for the opportunity to decide which of her looks hit, and which of them miss.
“Oppenheimer” won best picture during the 2024 Academy Awards Sunday, dominating seven categories throughout the night. Emma Stone, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Ryan Gosling and Jimmy Kimmel also shined bright during this year’s ceremony. Nigel Smith, a senior movies editor at People, joins CBS News with a look at the highlights.
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There’s a reason why we’re still talking about America Ferrera’s “Barbie” monologue months after the blockbuster was released. While presenting the Best Supporting Actress award during the 2024 Oscars, Rita Moreno gave an emotional speech about Ferrera, who was nominated for her role of Gloria in the pink-filled film. While Ferrera didn’t wind up taking home an Oscar — the award instead went to Da’Vine Joy Randolph for her role in “The Holdovers” — Moreno’s speech left folks in the audience trying to understand why.
“America. Your powerful Barbie monologue is perhaps the most talked-about moment in the most talked-about movie of the past year,” Moreno said. “Your words and the passion with which you delivered them about the most impossible standards females must try to live up to galvanized not only women but everyone with a pulse.”
Even the way Moreno pronounced “America,” with a Spanish accent and in a sing-song-y voice referencing her iconic role in “West Side Story,” was powerful. It made the statement that women like Ferrera are just as American as anyone else living in this country.
By now, many people have seen Gloria’s impactful speech in which she tells Margot Robbie’s Barbie the truth of what it means to be a woman. She breaks down all the impossible and contradicting expectations that are constantly placed on women.
The moving monologue pulled at the audience’s heart strings because it put in plain terms what women have had to endure for centuries and in today’s still very patriarchal society. The fact that this speech was delivered by a Latina actress playing a Latina character made it resonate that much more for me. For any woman who holds intersectional identities, society’s impossible expectations become that much more impossible.
As Latinas, we’re told we need to be thin regardless of if we’ve had children or not and regardless of any health issues we might have. But we also need to have big boobs, a big butt, and wide hips — hence why plastic surgery is so popular in our communities. We have to be strong but we also are expected to be submissive, especially with our partners. We’re told we need to lead and carry everyone from our spouses to our children, but if we pour into ourselves, we’re selfish. We’re supposed to be beautiful and sexy enough to make any man lust over us, but if we’re too sexy, we’re sluts and we deserve whatever disrespect men throw at us.
While we still very much live in a patriarchal society, I am proud to be a Latina living in a time where we are finally encouraged to love ourselves and recognize that despite the unrealistic expectations that are constantly placed on us, we are in fact, enough. I am proud to be living at a time when women are finally throwing those oppressive expectations out the window and giving less f*cks about existing to please the male gaze. We are loving ourselves regardless of our body shape or size. We are embracing aging and recognizing our worth, even if that means being “boy sober” or refusing to allow the biological clock dictate our lives.
Ferrera ends her powerful speech saying, “I’m just tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. And if all of that is also true for a doll representing women, then I don’t even know.”
While the patriarchy has continued to exist since the “Barbie” movie came out and since Ferrera’s monologue went viral, I am proud of the impact it has had on so many girls and women. Sometimes all it takes is having our experiences explained right back at us for us to decide we’re no longer giving in to the pressure.
Ferrera might not have taken home an award Sunday night, but like the true artist and changemaker she is, she left a mark with that speech that is already creating shifts in our culture. Her performance is just one step forward toward future generations of girls and women not having to experience the impossible expectations that have given us so much grief for centuries. That’s worth more than any Oscar in my book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBqlDWHkdHk
Johanna Ferreira is the content director for POPSUGAR Juntos. With more than 10 years of experience, Johanna focuses on how intersectional identities are a central part of Latine culture. Previously, she spent close to three years as the deputy editor at HipLatina, and she has freelanced for numerous outlets including Refinery29, Oprah magazine, Allure, InStyle, and Well+Good. She has also moderated and spoken on numerous panels on Latine identity. .
LOS ANGELES — “Barbie” took the summer by storm, leading at the box office and receiving nine total Oscar nominations, including two that will compete for original song.
Jimmy Kimmel calls out Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie Oscar snubs in opening monologue
Jimmy Kimmel opened the Academy Awards by inserting himself into a scene from “Barbie” and addressed the summer sensation immediately in his opening monologue.
He noted that the movie, written and directed by Greta Gerwig – who was passed over for a Best Director nomination – turned Barbie from a doll “nobody even liked anymore” into a “feminist icon.”
“Now Barbie is a feminist icon thanks to Great Gerwig, who many believe should have been nominated for best director,” he said.
When the audience responded with raucous applause, he held up a hand.
“Hang on a second,” said Kimmel. “I know you’re clapping, but you’re the ones who didn’t vote for her, by the way. Don’t act like you had nothing to do with it.”
Watch Jimmy Kimmel’s Oscars monologue below.
Hosting the Oscars for the fourth time, Jimmy Kimmel went full out “Barbie” in his opening monologue.
“Barbie” cast hits the red carpet at the Academy Awards
The cast of “Barbie” hit the red carpet in full force and full glam at the Oscars.
WATCH: America Ferrera, nominated for “Barbie,” speaks to George Pennachio on the red carpet
America Ferrera, who is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Barbie,” speaks to George Pennacchio on the red carpet.
While Ferrera opted to sparkle in Barbie pink for her red carpet moment, Robbie and Gosling took a different (though in Robbie’s case, no less glittering) path, appearing on the red carpet in all black.
America Ferrera arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
Margot Robbie arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Ryan Gosling, left, and Mandi Gosling arrive at the Oscars on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Margot Robbie poses at the premiere of the film ‘Barbie’ in London wearing a pink gown and white gloves similar to that of Enchanted Evening Barbie.
(Scott Garfitt/Invision/AP, File)
Margot Robbie, Greta Gerwig passed over in Oscars nominations
Margot Robbie, who played the protagonist Barbie, did not receive an acting nomination. Director Greta Gerwig also did not receive a directing nomination. Both Robbie and Gerwig are up for producer and adapted screenplay nominations, respectively.
Margot Robbie, left, and writer/director Greta Gerwig pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film ‘Barbie’ on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, in London.
(Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
Billie Eilish and brother Finneas will compete with Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt for best original songs. Billie will perform her song, “What was I made for.” at the Academy Awards ceremony.
Here is every Oscar nomination for “Barbie.”
Performance by an actress in a supporting role — America Ferrera
Performance by an actor in a supporting role — Ryan Gosling
Achievement in costume design — Jacqueline Durran
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song) — “I’m Just Ken” – Music and Lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song) — “What Was I Made For?” – Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
Best motion picture of the year — David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, Producers
Achievement in production design — Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
Adapted screenplay — Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach
Best motion picture of the year — David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, Producers
America Ferrera, Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film ‘Barbie’ on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, in London.
Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP
It’s Oscar Sunday! The 96th Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, begins at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, an hour earlier than past years.
The Oscars are followed by an all-new episode of “Abbott Elementary.”
Once all the awards have been handed out, it’s time to party! Watch “On the Red Carpet: After the Awards” for a look into the most star-studded parties of the night.
On Monday, it’s America’s best after party! “Live With Kelly and Mark: After the Oscars” is live from the Oscars stage at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood at 9 a.m.
Source YouTube: Megyn Kelly Show, Warner Bros. Pictures
Earlier this week, we reported that liberals like Hillary Clinton were melting down over Barbie director Greta Gerwig and star Margot Robbie being snubbed by the Oscars. Now, the former Fox News host Megyn Kelly is firing back to slam the “new feminists” who are upset about Gerwig and Robbie not being nominated.
“It’s so ridiculous now that women – now that we’re considered equals of course, and are getting treated like – 1706358373 we deserve all the awards,” Kelly said on her eponymous SiriusXM talk show. “All the women we choose need to be nominated for the positions we think otherwise, the f–g patriarchy. That’s literally what they’re tweeting out that … ‘they made a movie about the patriarchy and then the patriarchy kept them down.’”
Kelly went on to point out that while Gerwig and Robbie were not nominated in the categories that they were expected to be recognized in, Barbie actress America Ferrera scored an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her work in the film.
“Did they keep America Ferrera down because she seems really thrilled that she got this nomination for Best Supporting Actress and Greta got a nod as best screenwriter, but it’s never enough,” Kelly continued. “Barbie didn’t get enough nominations. Alright, so the new feminists are very, very angry that Margot Robbie did not get nominated for Best Actress and Greta Gerwig did not get nominated for Best Director because, you see, they were entitled to. That’s pretty much what I understand is the argument.”
“The best supporting actress, America Ferrera who was in that movie, she got the nod. And for best screenplay, Greta Gerwig was nominated with the man with whom she co-wrote the movie,” she added. “But that’s not enough, you see. You’re a misogynist unless you actually make Margot Robbie the nominee for Best Actress and recognize Greta in her directing role. And that’s just how life works.”
Check out Kelly’s full comments on this in the video below.
This came after Ferrera responded to her Oscar nomination by whining about Gerwig and Robbie being snubbed.
“I was incredibly disappointed that they weren’t nominated,” Ferrera told Variety. “Greta has done just about everything that a director could do to deserve it. Creating this world, and taking something that didn’t have inherent value to most people and making it a global phenomenon. It feels disappointing to not see her on that list.”
“What Margot achieved as an actress is truly unbelievable,” Ferrera continued. “One of the things about Margot as an actress is how easy she makes everything look. And perhaps people got fooled into thinking that the work seems easy, but Margot is a magician as an actress in front of the screen, and it was one of the honors of my career to get to witness her pull off the amazing performance she did. She brings so much heart and humor and depth and joy and fun to the character. In my book, she’s a master.”
America Ferrera is on the phone live on TODAY to chat about her #Oscars nomination, where she was when she found out she was nominated, who her first calls were and reacts to #Barbie’s Margot Robbie and director Greta Gerwig not being nominated. pic.twitter.com/euKnTD7za8
Even the two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton got in on the action by comforting Gerwig and Robbie on social media.
“Greta & Margot,” Clinton began, “While it can sting to win the box office but not take home the gold, your millions of fans love you.”
“You’re both so much more than Kenough,” she continued, borrowing a phrase from the film. She concluded her post by adding the nauseating hashtag, “#HillaryBarbie.”
Greta & Margot,
While it can sting to win the box office but not take home the gold, your millions of fans love you.
The liberal meltdown over the Barbie Oscar snubs has been nothing short of ridiculous, and we’re glad that Kelly had the guts to call them out on it. What do you think about what Kelly had to say? Let us know in the comments section.
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Actor Ryan Gosling Tuesday expressed his gratitude for his Oscar nomination for best supporting actor for his performance as Ken in the global phenomenon “Barbie,” but questioned Academy voters for passing over his “Barbie” costar Margot Robbie for best actress, and the film’s director, Greta Gerwig, in the best director category.
“To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement,” Gosling said of the snubs in a statement provided to CBS News. “Against all odds with nothing but a couple of soulless, scantily clad, and thankfully crotchless dolls, they made us laugh, they broke our hearts, they pushed the culture and they made history. Their work should be recognized along with the other very deserving nominees.”
The blockbuster hit brought in more than $1.4 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing movie of the year. It was nominated for eight awards Tuesday, including best picture. Along with Gosling, America Ferrera also received a nod for best supporting actress.
(L-R) Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig on the red carpet promoting “Barbie” at the Warner Bros. Pictures Studio in Burbank, California.
Greg Doherty/WireImage via Getty Images
“I am extremely honored to be nominated by my colleagues alongside such remarkable artists in a year of so many great films,” Gosling’s statement read. “And I never thought I’d being saying this, but I’m also incredibly honored and proud that it’s for portraying a plastic doll named Ken. But there is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally-celebrated film.”
He added that he was “so happy” for Ferrera and the other “incredible artists” who helped make the film.
Ferrera said she was “stunned” and “moved” by her Oscar nomination. She echoed Gosling’ statement, telling Variety that she “was incredibly disappointed” Robbie and Gerwig did not receive Oscar nods.
“Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie made history and raised the bar with Barbie,” Ferrera told CBS News in a separate statement. “The cultural and industry impact they’ve achieved will be felt for generations and I’m so thankful to them for asking me to be a part of it.”
“Barbie” was also nominated for nine Golden Globes, including best director. It won two — for best original song for Billie Eilish‘s “What Was I Made For?” — and for cinematic and box office achievement.
In 2018, Gerwig received a best director Oscar nomination for her film “Lady Bird.” Guillermo del Toro won that year for “The Shape of Water.”
Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics.
Host Chelsea Handler was among those responsible for bringing Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie to the stage at Sunday night’s Critics ChoiceAwards to accept the best comedy movie award for Barbie in an unplanned moment.
The award was announced early in the night as a roundup of several categories before a commercial break, with the camera cutting briefly to the Barbie table, where Margot Robbie, Greta Gerwig, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera (who was honored with the SeeHer Award) and others cheered the news. While the film won a total of six awards, only one of those categories (best song for “I’m Just Ken”) was presented onstage with the winners able to give an acceptance speech.
Later in the show, Handler surprised attendees and viewers — and the Barbie folks — by rectifying that.
“Earlier tonight, Barbie was awarded best comedy, but it wasn’t onstage, so I’m gonna go rogue because I feel like Greta and Margot deserve the opportunity to make an acceptance speech,” Handler said toward the end of the show, with about 30 minutes left in the three-hour ceremony. “So ladies, would you mind coming up here and accepting the award for best comedy?”
Gerwig and Robbie appeared surprised at the move and unaware that it was happening.
“Oh, this is so unexpected,” Robbie told the crowd from the stage. “You know, when everyone’s like, ‘Oh, this is so unexpected,’ this is actually unexpected. This was not a part of the show, but we’re very grateful nonetheless.”
Gerwig added, “Thank you so much for letting this happen. We were just very excited in our chairs, and it’s very nice to be up here.”
Before Handler brought Gerwig and Robbie onstage, James Mangold also made a reference to the fact that the best comedy award winners were not allowed to come onstage. While introducing the career achievement award winner, Harrison Ford, the Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director noted as an aside: “Why don’t they get to come onstage for comedies?” before continuing his speech.
A source close to the show told The Hollywood Reporter that Handler, along with her writers and the show producers, made the call during a commercial break to bring the Barbie duo up onstage. Because the show was running ahead of schedule, they made the decision collectively to bring them up onstage rather than add another bit or joke.
Barbie also won best original screenplay for Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, best production design for Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, best costume design for Jacqueline Durran and best hair and makeup.
Actress America Ferrera was awarded the SeeHer Award at today’s 2024 Critics Choice Awards, and delivered an acceptance speech that could rival her iconic “Barbie” monologue.
The SeeHer Award is a non-competitive special award that was established in 2017. It honours women in film who advocate for gender equality in the industry, and portray authentic, boundary-pushing characters.
Margot Robbie Presented the 2024 SeeHer Award to America Ferrera
Getty Images
Margot Robbie presented the award to America Ferrera. In Robbie’s introduction, the actress and Barbie producer highlighted some of Ferrera’s career highlights, including “Real Women Have Curves”, “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”, and “Ugly Betty”. Robbie also noted that Ferrera became the first Latina woman to win an Emmy for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series when she won for “Ugly Betty”, and remains the only Latina woman who has won in this category.
“First, and only,” Robbie reiterated. “I imagine being the first in any field can be isolating. I imagine it puts an enormous amount of pressure on you to be perfect, to play it safe, but what I admire most about America is how she has handled that pressure, while never being afraid to speak the truth when it counts the most.”
America Ferrera Delivers Powerful Speech on the Importance of Representation
On stage, Ferrera delivered a powerful and heartfelt acceptance speech with effortless charm.
“I’m just waiting for the teleprompter to show my speech, there it is!” she began, bursting into a grin.
Accepting the award, Ferrera spoke about her experience being a “first-generation Honduran-American girl in love with TV, film, and theatre who desperately wanted to be a part of a storytelling legacy that I could not see myself reflected in”.
“Of course, I could feel myself in characters who were strong and complex, but these characters rarely, if ever, looked like me,” Ferrera said. “I yearned to see people like myself on screen as full humans.”
Ferrera went on to recall her start in the industry, noting that at the time, “it seemed impossible that anyone could make a career of portraying fully-dimensional Latina characters”. She credited the writers, directors, producers and executives behind the scenes who have been “daring enough to rewrite outdated stories” over the years, and “to challenge deeply entrenched biases”.
She also gave a shout out to Ariana Greenblatt — who plays Ferrera’s daughter in “Barbie” — as well as Jenna Ortega and Selena Gomez, for making their mark in Hollywood as Latina actresses, and playing characters she “could not have seen growing up”.
“To me, this is the best and highest use of storytelling,” she continued. “To affirm one another’s full humanity, to uphold the truth that we are all worthy of being seen. Black, Brown, indigenous, Asian, trans, disabled, any body type, any gender, we are all worthy of having our lives richly and authentically reflected.”
America Ferrera Thanks “Barbie” Family
Ferrera went on to say that she would not be receiving the award if it weren’t for her role in Barbie, and took time to thank Robbie for seeing the “value” in “an entirely female idea that most would have dismissed as too girly, too frivolous or just too problematic”.
To Robbie, who produced the film, she said: “You had the courage and the vision to take it on. Thank you for gifting the world with ‘Barbie’.”
Next up was “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig, who Ferrera thanked for her “incredible mastery as a filmmaker” and for proving “that women’s stories have no difficulty achieving cinematic greatness and box office history at the same time”. She also thanked “the Kens” — Noah Baumbach, Tom Ackerley, David Heyman, and Ryan Gosling.
Ferrera’s final thanks was to her husband Ryan, who she clarified was “not Gosling”.
“You see me and my dreams, and you believe and support them as if they were your own. I love you,” she said.
“This is for every kid yearning to break in — I see you, and you go this,” she finished.
The 29th Critics Choice Awards are streaming in full on Stan.
This article was originally published on The Latch. Click here to read the original.
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Harrison Ford is nominated for best supporting actor in a comedy for his turn on the Apple TV+ series Shrinking at Sunday’s Critics Choice Awards. But even if he doesn’t win, the 81-year-old actor won’t go home empty-handed.
The organization announced Tuesday that Ford will be feted with the Career Achievement Award at the 29th annual event, which will be hosted by Chelsea Handler and broadcast on The CW. The news comes during a busy spell for Ford who also stars opposite Helen Mirren in the Yellowstone spinoff series 1923. He will next be seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World opposite Anthony Mackie and Liv Tyler. Last year, he reprised his role as Indiana Jones in James Mangold’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
That film had a glitzy premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, and in conjunction with the premiere, a teary Ford accepted a surprise honorary Palme d’Or for lifetime achievement. He’s been similarly honored with career prizes from with the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ Albert R. Broccoli Britannia Award, the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award, an Honorary César Award and the National Association of Theater Owners’ Box Office Star of the Century award in 1994.
His acting career dates back to the late 1960s. Major credits over the decades include a breakthrough role in 1973 in George Lucas’s American Graffiti followed by, of course, playing Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation and Apocalypse Now, Mike Nichols’ Working Girl, Philip Noyce’s Tom Clancy adaptations Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, Andrew Davis’ The Fugitive, Wolfgang Petersen’s Air Force One, Robert Zemeckis’ What Lies Beneath, Kathryn Bigelow’s K-19: The Widowmaker, Brian Helgeland’s 42 and Gavin Hood’s Ender’s Game.
The Critics Choice Awards show will be executive produced by Bob Bain Prods. and Berlin Entertainment. As announced, the ceremony will also see America Ferrera honored with an eighth annual SeeHer Award. Sponsors of the awards include Verizon, Delta Air Lines, Fiji Water, Cold Stone Creamery, Milagro Tequila, Champagne Collet, d’Arenberg and Maison L’Envoyé wines.
It was a Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants reunion in New York City on Friday night.
When SAG-AFTRA hosted a Barbie Q&A with star America Ferrera at the Robin Williams Center, her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants co-stars Alexis Bledel, Amber Tamblyn and Blake Lively came out to support and took photos with her at the event.
“The Sisterhood came through all in pink to celebrate my performance in Barbie last night,” Ferrera wrote in a video of her and her co-stars posing together and greeting each other at the midtown venue. “I love these women with all my heart.”
The Q&A marked a string of public appearances by the film’s ensemble. The previous time the women shared that they had reunited was in 2018 when Ferrera welcomed her first child.
That same year, Bledel told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that she and her co-stars had pitched a third Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie and that she was hopeful it could happen, adding, “I would love it. It would be the best thing.”
In 2022, Tamblyn explained that there were complications in getting a third installment made, primarily that the four women have families to consider when taking on any new projects, joking that between all of them, they had like “870 children.”
“There’s a lot going on with the project,” Tamblyn said on SiriusXM’s Pop Culture Spotlight with Jessica Shaw. “We’ve been working on it for, I don’t know, it feels like a decade at this point. My hope is that it’ll get made at some point.”
She continued, “It’s hard. Family makes it hard. Life makes it hard. … To me, it feels like the ultimate grift where I’m like, ‘Wait a minute, we’re gonna get paid to hang out when we do that in real life anyway? Cool. I’m in.’”
America Ferrera hasn’t yet come face-to-face with any of the women who have memorized her stirring Barbie speech about the complexity of modern femininity—but she expects that such encounters are coming.
“I’ve seen lots of videos online of people learning the monologue and doing the monologue,” Ferrera told Vanity Fair at the Women in Film Honors gala on Thursday, where she received the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award. “The only person I’ve heard do it verbatim was Ariana Greenblatt, the actress who played my daughter. She had heard it so many times by the end of filming it that she repeated it back to me—and it actually made me cry!”
Ferrera may not have expected that before the night was over she’d witness Fonda herself recite a few choice snippets from that zeitgeist-tapping monologue written by Greta Gerwig, as the icon presented Ferrera with her namesake award.
Alluding to Ferrera’s breakout role in Real Women Have Curves, Fonda also proclaimed that “real women stand up and speak for what’s right, even when it makes the powers that be—usually men—uncomfortable, maybe especially when it makes the powers that be uncomfortable. She’s there for climate change, for women’s rights, reproductive rights, democracy, voting rights, immigrant rights, and always human rights. I’ve never been happier to say the words on a stage: I love America!”
Female empowerment was downright palpable in Hollywood’s Ray Dolby Ballroom during WIF’s 50th annual celebration, a sensation Ferrera’s gotten increasingly used to.
“It has been amazing to sit back and watch Barbie land in the culture, not just here but globally. And to see what it means to women to be celebrated, and to talk about some hard realities but through joy and through the color pink, and intelligent storytelling that is about women and by women. But it’s for everybody,” she said. “The incredible success of Barbie and the genius of Greta and Margot [Robbie] is a win for all of us. It’s a win for the argument that we have to make all the time: that women storytellers should be empowered and given creative power to tell stories the way that they want to tell stories, and that it’s enough for women to tell stories about women for women the way that men have told stories about men for men.”
Flamin’ Hot director Eva Longoria, who shared the Crystal Award for Advocacy with screenwriter Linda Yvette Chávez, told Vanity Fair that she views her behind-the-camera success less as a victory lap and more as a way to tell more stories about the underrepresented Latino community.
“I think I’ve always had confidence and I’ve always believed in my talent. But to have the opportunity to aggregate the team that I did and the actors that I did for this story, that was the magic,” said Longoria. “We have a very important job in Hollywood: Hollywood defines what heroes look like. And they never look like us in the Latino community. So to be able to put a hero up on screen that looked like my dad and sounded like my uncle, that’s important for our culture.”
Toward the end of 2020, the only thing more pervasive than COVID-19 was “WAP” by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. A song whose prowess carried over into early 2021, just as coronavirus did. At that time, TikTok was also blowing up more than ever. In large part thanks to “at-home culture” “thriving.” When corona first hit at the beginning of 2020, Megan Thee Stallion was having a moment all her own thanks to the “Savage” challenge that went viral on the app. A detail that also comes into play during Dumb Money, when a GameStop employee named Marcos Barcia (Anthony Ramos) trolls his boss, Brad (Dane DeHaan), after the latter tells him that while he can’t give him an advance on his paycheck, he can compete to win “ten labor hours” (presumably, that means ten hours’ worth of wages) by participating in a TikTok lip sync contest.
This, of course, happens after “WAP” soundtracks the intro to Dumb Money, as Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen) frantically runs through his multimillion dollar property upon being told to “dial in” by fellow hedge fund CEO Steve Cohen (played by an ever-mutating Vincent D’Onofrio). It is Cohen who informs Plotkin that, “They’re holding” (in other words, they’ve got “diamond hands”). The “they” in this scenario being the proverbial “little guy.” The David to Wall Street’s Goliath. And the representative for all the Davids of the U.S. at large is Keith Gill (Paul Dano) a.k.a. Roaring Kitty a.k.a. Deep Fucking Value. Although a financial analyst at MassMutual by day, Keith’s real passion appears to be his post-work life as a “recreational YouTuber.” And it’s one he ostensibly disappears deeper into after the death of his sister, Sara (the cause of which we’re made to assume was from Covid).
This is what the viewer sees when the film cuts to six months earlier, smack-dab in the middle of 2020. Meeting with his friend and financial colleague, Briggsy (Deniz Akdeniz), Keith tells him about his decision to double down on investing in GameStop stock. Which Briggsy bills as “penny stocks” (but hey, those were good enough to make Jordan Belfort a rich man, n’est-ce pas?). Keith insists 1) GameStop is not that and 2) it’s highly undervalued. The obvious metaphor tying into how the “average joe” is consistently undervalued, too. And what business could be more tailored toward such a demographic than GameStop (apart from, say, Home Depot)? He then lays into Briggsy about how “Wall Street gets it wrong all the time. Look at ‘08. These guys, they have all the money, and the fancy degrees, and the political juice in the world and they get it wrong all the time.” Briggsy still warns, “You never bet against Wall Street.” Wall Street, too, is well-aware of its rigged system. The one that everybody on the inside benefits from, including men like Plotkin, Cohen and Ken Griffin (played to perfection by Nick Offerman), the eerily stoic (like, Dick Cheney-level) CEO of Citadel.
These are the men who refer to people like Keith as “dumb money” (the asterisk given with said title card of the movie being: “*individual investors often derided as ‘dumb money’ by Wall Street”). But Keith, at six months into 2020, is about to show these fucks just who, exactly, is the dumb one. Rallying his ever-burgeoning Reddit following, co-screenwriters Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo easily render Gill into a modern-day Robin Hood (and, to be sure, the app of the same name plays heavily into the narrative), taking money from the rich prematurely offloading their GameStop stocks (i.e., “shorting”) and putting it into the “pockets” of the everyman. Including essential health care workers like Jenny (America Ferrera, who is having her best year ever in the mainstream thanks toBarbie and this film, to boot). Among others like Marcos and college students Riri (Myha’la Herrold) and Harmony (Talia Ryder), these are the “subreddits” of the movie that thread together a larger point/theme. A point/theme that should be fairly overt to everyone by now, especially the rich (*cough cough* Wall Street finance bros). Then again, denial isn’t just a river in a hedge fund manager’s backyard.
And yet, although ignoring the contempt of the poor (read: everyone except the rich at this juncture) was relatively easy to do before 2020, this was a year when the internet became an echo chamber of unprecedented rage (markedly propelled by the filmed murder of George Floyd in late May—itself given a nod to in Dumb Money when Marcos passes a wall of graffiti that reads, “Fuck the Cops,” “Black Lives Matter” and “I Can’t Breathe”). A platform for expressing the extreme dissatisfaction that has been percolating for decades vis-à-vis capitalism and the lie it continues to sell about “everyone” having an “equal” chance to “get ahead” (this, of course, alluding to amassing as much money as possible, because that’s all we’ve been conditioned to believe really matters—and yes, people like Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion only perpetuate that message with their money-worshiping lyrics).
Never had it been made more patently clear that that simply wasn’t the case when coronavirus came to roost, and the accompanying lockdowns that classified the lowest-paid workers as essential compared to the richest “workers” who were told to “stay home, stay safe” made it laughably apparent just how unfair this whole game has been. While the fat cats were allowed to safely shelter in place in their posh homes, those paid in peanuts and balcony applause to risk their lives were made to suffer more than ever. And all without any promise of higher pay. So what is being “essential” really worth to he who controls the market? Because, in the end, no matter what, the Goliaths will be able to get what they want out of the Davids of the world, somehow managing to push them into submission one way or the other. In Gill and his acolytes’ case, that came in the form of shutting off access to the r/WallStreetBets forum under the guise of espousing “hateful and discriminatory content” that “violated Reddit’s code of conduct.” Ha! So it’s okay for the rich to make an entire affluent existence out of discriminating and being hateful toward the have-nots, but when the latter group tries to take a stand only then can it be called what it is? Oh hell no.
And when Keith commences his “thesis” on GameStop, he’s right to say, “The value is overlooked. Wall Street just doesn’t see it. Why?… The hedge funds are overlooking the value of the company just like they overlook the people who shop there.” The same kind of people who will continue to be overlooked now that the GameStop “fiasco” is “over.” And, in effect, it is. For the consequences, as usual, did not fit the crime (the SEC made no charges, not even against Ken Griffin). And people like Marcos, although slightly vindicated, continued to get the fuzzy end of the lollipop. Just as he does in having to ride the bus to work during the pandemic (GameStop found a loophole for staying open by declaring itself a purveyor of “essential products” to keep people connected while “working from home” [read: playing video games]). And when he finally gets off the bus to enter a deserted Detroit mall that houses, among other shops, a GameStop, the viewer can then see the ad on the side of the bus that reads: “Money burning a hole in your pocket? We’ll get you some more.” It’s only too appropriate when applied to the stock market as an American casino. Not to mention the way Americans in general are “incentivized” to operate on credit, to incur a negative balance that will keep them constantly on some lender’s hook. This ceaseless, propagandizing encouragement in the U.S. to borrow money and effectively gamble on yourself (knowing full well the system doesn’t want you to be a winner) is what’s at play in Dumb Money as well. Except the hedge fund fucks “in charge” were never banking on the everyman’s “deluded” self-confidence to actually pay off.
Never seeing the short squeeze on the horizon at all, despite how clear it was becoming throughout 2020. And yes, those reminded of The Big Short by the term “short squeeze” wouldn’t be wrong to make the correlation. After all, said 2015 movie also relates to rigged market fuckery and is based on a book: Michael Lewis’ The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. Just as Dumb Money is based on Ben Mezrich’s 2021 tome (that’s right, the book came out the same year as the “incident” itself), The Antisocial Network: The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders That Brought Wall Street to Its Knees. While The Big Short was released almost a full decade after the debacle it addresses, Dumb Money is yet another prime example not just of the possibilities when “the plebes” are united in a cause, but also of the collective’s more recent obsession with looking back on the immediate past as though enough time has gone by to truly grasp the impact of what happened.
In the directorial care of Craig Gillespie (of Cruella and I, Tonya repute), that “grasp” becomes automatically comedic…even if it isn’t able to fully comprehend, so soon after it happened, the full weight of what occurred. The same goes for coronavirus itself, which most people have opted to sweep under the rug in terms of not wanting to remember “that time.” Preferring, instead, to pretend it never existed. In many respects, the attitude taken is tantamount to the cliche of everyone masturbating on a plane as they think it’s about to crash, only to realize the aircraft has righted itself and life will continue on for the time being. Afterward, everyone pretends that no one whipped it out in what they thought would be their final moments. That’s what coronavirus and its lockdown behavior mirrored.
As 2020 came to a close and corona continued to rage on, the sequestering required of people created an unprecedented online environment. A cauldron, if you will, for something like the subreddit of Wall Street Bets to brew into an entire movement. One that was, needless to say, a movement geared toward taking down the rich. Who had only gotten richer during the pandemic while the rest of the working-class “schmucks” lost their already paltry livelihood.
Perhaps what’s most striking of all about Dumb Money (even more than the hubris of the rich) is how it forces viewers to remember that “period” not so long ago. Capturing a moment when complacency had subsided, in large part, thanks to having so much “free time” to actually rail against the oppressor. And the last thing an oppressor wants is for his serfs to have too much free time to think about what a fucked system this is (glorified feudalism, in case you couldn’t guess). Hence, the urgency with which the masses were ferried back to “normal.” With nobody seeming all that concerned about acknowledging the shellshock of what transpired. Just as no one is with acknowledging the (enduring) lack of fairness in the stock market (“fair market” being an especial oxymoron here). No matter what kind of “movement” Keith may have started.
Per the film’s title card epilogue, that movement is summed up as follows: “Because of the GameStop rally, 85% of hedge funds now scour the internet to see where retail traders are investing. Fearing another short squeeze, funds have dramatically reduced their short positions. Wall Street will never be able to ignore the so-called ‘dumb money’ again.” Though that remains debatable.
And then there is the matter of refusing to acknowledge that what actually needs to change isn’t “leveling the playing field” so that broke asses can become just as cunty as richies, but blowing up the entire system, including its major capitalist trappings. I.e., the stock market.
It’s among the few mononyms that invoke an immediate visceral reaction—whether reverent or contemptuous—within people. God. Madonna. Barbie. And, like the aforementioned Italian-American pop star, Barbie, too, is a baby boomer, “born” (just a year after Madonna) in 1959—and yet another girl who would change “the game” for all of womankind irrevocably. And that game, of course, is the one called Patriarchy. The system that’s set up to make sure pretty much everyone without a (congenital) white dick will fail. Or at least have a much more arduous time succeeding. And for those who say that’s just “a copout” “now,” one need only refer to a pointed line in Barbie from a white male Mattel employee: “We’re still doing [patriarchy], we just hide it better now.”
This admission echoes something Seymour (Steve Buscemi) from Ghost World tells Enid (Thora Birch): “I suppose things are better now, but…I don’t know, it’s complicated. People still hate each other…but they just know how to hide it better.” In Barbie Land, no one hates anyone. Except maybe Ken (Ryan Gosling). The “man” who becomes the surprising (yet somehow totally expected) antagonist as the narrative of Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach’s script goes on. Because, as it is for many an incel, a latent resentment toward a woman who won’t “put out” starts to brew and bubble to the surface within Ken as he not only competes with the other multi-ethnic Kens for Barbie’s attention, but also deals with the brutal realization that Barbie is never going to 1) let him stay the night at her Dreamhouse or 2) look at him as anything other than ultimately platonic background to her Technicolor dream life.
As for the Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) he’s after, she’s starting to feel a few cracks in the pristine veneers of her world. It starts with unwanted thoughts of death as she interrupts her usual nightly dance party with the question no one wants to hear, “Do you guys ever think about dying?” When the reaction results in deafening silence and horrified glances, Barbie saves the mood by rephrasing it as, “I’m dying to dance!” Even on those pointed-toe feet of hers. Or at least, they were pointed—until the thoughts of death came. That turns out to be the harbinger for cold showers, burnt plastic toast, imaginary milk that’s expired and, yes, flat feet.
Sharing this news with the other Barbies, they not only shriek in disgust, but also inform her that she’s going to have to see “Weird Barbie” (Kate McKinnon) about this. Weird Barbie is the only one who knows how to fix “weird” things, after all. She’s sort of the Shakespearean answer to the Weird Sisters in Macbeth like that. And also the answer to Barbie’s dose of a The Matrix allusion—except rather than offering her a blue pill, red pill scenario, Weird Barbie offers her a high heel, Birkenstock scenario. The latter, obviously, meant to represent knowing the truth about the Real World—where nothing is nearly as effortlessly glamorous or pretty as it is in Barbie Land.
Although Barbie picks the high heel—stay in Barbie Land and know nothing of the Real World—unfortunately, she’s told that the shoes were only meant as a ceremonial way for Weird Barbie to present her with the “illusion” of choice. But actually, she doesn’t really have one if she wants to get her pointed feet back and remove the blatant cellulite that’s started to form on her thighs. Weird Barbie also imparts her with the knowledge that, to “restore order” (a.k.a. “be perfect” again), she must find the sad girl who’s been “playing with her” (“We’re all being played with,” Weird Barbie adds) and reconnect so that the sadness goes away and stops infecting Barbie’s body and mind.
“Leaving Oz,” as it were, is no easy feat though. Far more difficult than simply “following the yellow brick road,” let’s put it that way. And yet, there’s no challenge Barbie can’t surmount—even when she’s no longer feeling quite as powerful in her “lusterless” state. “Lusterless,” in this case, being a lot like what Jennifer Check (Megan Fox) in Jennifer’s Body describes as, “My skin is breaking out, and my hair is dull and lifeless. God. It’s like I’m one of the normal girls.” And Barbie was never meant to be “normal.” Even if that’s what “normal” girls have been indoctrinated to believe is normal. She’s supposed to be extraordinary (effortlessly so), precisely because Barbie is Woman. Everything to everyone, everything all the time. And it is in this spirit of how the doll is meant to represent “women” that sets off Gloria (America Ferrera), an illustrator who works at Mattel and rescues B from the execs who want to literally put her back in a box, on a tirade not unlike what Camille Rainville explored with her “Be A Lady They Said” text.
A text that, just as Gloria’s speech does, expounds on all the ways in which women are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. “Be sexy, but not too sexy…” or, to use a portion from Rainville’s statement on how women can never live up to the impossible and conflicting standards (let alone the standards of a “Barbie body”) they’re held to by a merciless patriarchal society: “Be a lady they said. Don’t be too fat. Don’t be too thin. Eat up. Slim down. Stop eating so much. Order a salad. Don’t eat carbs. Skip dessert. Go on a diet. God, you look like a skeleton. Why don’t you just eat? You look emaciated. You look sick. Men like women with some meat on their bones. Be a size zero. Be a double zero. Be nothing. Be less than nothing.” Be whatever he wants you to be at any given moment. And yet, because Barbie Land is actually that rare thing—a matriarchy—the Kens who exist within it have never known anything like what the men of the Real World get to “enjoy” (if subjugating is what you’re into): total power and control. When Ken sees how Real World “functions” upon crashing Barbie’s “Restore Barbie Body” mission, he can hardly believe his eyes and ears. That, all this time, he could have been using his “Kenergy” to “make” Barbie his.
The thing he doesn’t account for—as so many men do not—is that no one can really “make” a woman do anything she doesn’t want to (though, not to be crass, the Taliban tries). Not when her heart isn’t really in something. And as we’ve seen happen in many a fairytale/Disney movie, when a woman is figuratively and/or literally locked up against her will (à la Rapunzel or Belle in Beauty and the Beast) by a man who didn’t get the message (she’s not interested), she’ll do whatever it takes to set herself free. And it is Gloria’s speech about the impossible nature of what it is to Be A Woman in Real World that becomes a means to deprogram the Barbies who have fallen prey to Ken’s “message of patriarchy.” With Stereotypical Barbie being the only Barb immune to the rhetoric because she had already been exposed to it in Real World, Gloria compares the way in which the other Barbies become so susceptible to this “plague” to how indigenous people fell prey to smallpox in the 1600s because they hadn’t experienced it before. Luckily, her speech is the vaccine, allowing Barbie and Weird Barbie (along with some questionably named discontinued models) to pluck the deprogrammed ones, Barbie by Barbie, and reinstate Barbie Land to its true status quo (though Stereotypical Barbie herself will never be the same again).
Of course, the work of having to “teach” Real World men that they can’t always get what they want—women included—is something that Gerwig clearly takes very seriously. After all, she just had a second son with Barbie co-writer/frequent collaborator Noah Baumbach. She must indeed feel the weight of that—the responsibility all mothers have to raise sons who aren’t misogynistic pricks. And yet, it is the mother-daughter relationship that Gerwig addressed with such heartrending efficacy in Lady Bird that appears here again, too. Not just between Gloria and her anti-Barbie tween, Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), but the one between all mothers and daughters, as Barbie witnesses the joy and pain of motherhood when Ruth Handler (Rhea Perlman), the creator of Barbie and a key talisman from earlier in the film, allows her the chance to feel like a human. Like a woman. And yes, some women “just” want to be ordinary. “Just” want to have children. “Just” want to be, full-stop. They don’t need the additional pressures of Physicist Barbie or Robotics Engineer Barbie. Maybe, as Gloria suggests with a new pitch to Mattel’s CEO (Will Ferrell), it’s “enough” (not to be confused with Kenough) to “just” be Ordinary Barbie. In short, being a woman “allowed” the same luxury as men—which is to be merely “mediocre” without risking condemnation.
With Barbie, one hopes the very clear message will get across to younger generations of men and women, who can both understand not only the damage patriarchy does, but also the fact that it’s not always an end all, be all “goal” to secure a romantic partner just because that’s what you’ve been told you “should” do. Alas, will Barbie, in the end, be just another “thing” patriarchal-run industries and governments can point to and say, “See, we let women ‘do’ things all the time” simply because they’ve become more comfortable with “letting” women “talk their shit” as a clever means to ultimately still keep them “in check”? That, one supposes, is something that only time and subsequent generations will tell (if they live long enough in this increasingly hostile environment to do so).
ET Canada’s Keshia Chanté recently sat down with the actress to talk about her role in director Greta Gerwig’s highly-anticipated new movie starring Margot Robbie.
“When I heard Barbie, I was like, ‘What? What?’” Ferrera admitted. “But immediately knowing that, like, Greta was involved and that Margot was involved, I thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be amazing.’”
She explained that she knew off the bat it wasn’t going to be a “straightforward” movie about Barbie, and reading the script confirmed that to her.
“It made me laugh and it made me cry. And it was just so unexpected,” she recalled. “And I just loved the part that Greta was asking me to play, Gloria. Getting to be like the stand in for all of us, you know, really kind of unapologetically claiming her enthusiasm and joy for fun and imagination. And I just love it that as a grown woman, we get to do that
In the film, Gloria is the Mattel employee who discovers Robbie’s Barbie when she crosses over into the real world.
Asked about the big speech she has in the film, about what it means to be a woman, Ferrera said that it resonated personally with her.
“I feel like as I get older the work is like, ‘How do I let go of more and more of the useless crap that I’ve believed about myself, and what I’m allowed to be, and what I’m allowed to do?’” she said. “And like, ‘What if I just chose to believe something else?’”
Ferrera continued, “I hope people hear that and I hope that it gives people permission to remember we don’t have to believe these things. We don’t have to stay in the boxes, as it were, that we’ve been put in, that we put ourselves in. That it’s a choice and that there’s room for being more of who we are all the time. And I feel like that’s something we all need. The Barbies need it, the Kens need it. The Glorias need it. More permission to be more of who we are.”
Of course, being on such a fun set, Ferrera admitted she did take at least one or items from the production home with her.
“I just took a pair of jeans,” she said, joking, “Warner Brothers are going to be like… They’re going to dock my pay. I did the pair of jeans and I think a pretty sundress or something, but I didn’t take anything that would be in a museum.”
Over the course of their professional lives, actors wear many “hats,” so to speak. It’s nearly impossible to work exclusively in one genre — most actors must diversify themselves across the board, dipping their toes into both television and film work. And then there’s something entirely different: The TV movie. Not just any TV movie, however. The Disney Channel Original Movie.
Referred to as “DCOM” for short, the Disney Channel Original Movie often serves as a springboard for young actors at the start of their careers. For some actors, such as Zac Efron in High School Musical and Demi Lovato in Camp Rock, these movies were responsible for turning them into stars. That’s not always the case though — it’s just as common for an actor to pass through the ranks of the DCOM relatively unchanged. While a Disney Channel credit is without a doubt a resume-booster for any young actor, not every DCOM can churn out a new crop of celebrities.
But then some time goes by. Suddenly, the young aspiring actors of DCOMs past are now the successful working actors of Hollywood present. With high-profile roles under their belts, these actors have come a long way from their Disney Channel roots. So far, you might not even realize that they acted in a Disney movie to begin with. Thankfully, Disney+ is a treasure trove of nostalgic DCOMS — and a handful of them even star some of today’s most in-demand talent. Here are 10 famous actors that surprisingly starred in Disney Channel Original Movies at some point in their careers.
10 Famous Actors You Forgot Were In Disney Channel Original Movies
These big stars made appearances in Disney Channel Original Movies. How many do you remember?
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