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BIG NEWS! GRACIE OPENS TODAY (YAY)!

But yours truly was lucky enough to get to see an advance screening just before interviewing the flick's main chick, Carly Schroeder for GL's June/July issue. It was just me and the person who set up the screening,all alone in the movie theater at like 10 AM on a random Thursday. How fab is that?

Anyway, being the dutiful journalist I am, I arrived pen-in-hand to jot down notes during the movie. But honestly? I didn’t write a thing down. I was too engrossed! I don’t know about you, but I’m a sucker for an inspirational sports tale, especially one involving some serious GIRL POWER!

Here's the basic storyline: (Don't worry, no spoilers!) Gracie is a strong chica who goes through a major family-life change and decides that playing soccer is her total mission! Unfortunately, it's way back the seventies and—and since there was no girls’ team, Gracie has to work-work-work to compete with the (cute!) boys. I was exhausted just watching the movie!

Carly definitely took a beating filming this one. But I laughed, I cried, and I was shocked by some of the twists and turns. (Kinda embarrassing since I was practically alone in the theater, LOL!). There are fights, kissing, family drama to the max, and a cool oldies soundtrack and fabulous seventies decor (I LOVED the wallpaper in Gracie’s bedroom! It was so funky!)

FINAL SCORE: I give it an "A" for A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

MORE! MORE! MORE!

♥ Find out why Mandy totally hearts this sporty sister
♥ Get interview exclusives straight from the starlet's mouth
♥ See how Carly's making a splash in another movie this summer!

Just click the pink link and keep reading!!!!

COMING SOON! EYE OF THE DOLPHIN!

Our sweet Spotlight girl is also making splash on the big screen in EYE OF THE DOLPHIN this summer. (For release dates, check the official website from time to time.) This indie movie has already hooked a sea of critical acclaim, including a "Best Child Actor" award for Carly at the International Family Film Festival! But now, without further adieu, here's Mandy's review!

OK, I have a confession. Growing up, I always wanted to be a marine biologist. I mean, my dream was to work with manatees, but I was totally into dolphins, too. So this movie kind of made me think, “If only I was good at science, maybe I could have been a marine biologist and studied the dolphins!” Alas, it wasn’t meant to be, but the beautiful water, pristine beaches and amazing animals in the film are pretty powerful. At the very least it makes me want to head to the pool!

Dolphin is a coming-of-age tale about Alyssa, who has been living with her grandmother since her mom drowned a year ago. Our girl is definitely going down a bad path and gets into some serious trouble in school. That's when Grandma decides to to take Alyssa to the Bahamas. (No, it's not a vacation!) That's where she meets the dad she never knew she had.

Dad's a stressed-out scientist who studies dophins and just might lose his research facility so investors can build a tacky tourist attraction. The father-daughter relationship is complicated and uneasy (and realistic!). Alyssa befriends a wild dolphin and two islanders, and in the process learns a lot about her family and more importantly, herself.

Playing a feisty, rebellious teen, Carly is totally believable as a girl struggling to find an identity and deal with her anger at the world. Even when she’s being, well, a little bratty, you’ll be rooting for her all the way.

NICE CATCH! I give it an "A" for Ah-dor-a-ble!

INTERVIEW EXTRAS: CRAZY 4 CARLY!

I’ve worked in the magazine industry for a few years now, and I’ve had the amazing opportunity to interview a number of celebs—some up-and-coming, some already-established. But I have to say, my interview with Carly Schroeder, 16, ranks among my favorite ever! She was so down-to-earth and so chock full of fun stories, I could totally imagine her as a friend to all of us fab G-Blog gals. So, I just have to share some snippets from the interview that didn’t quite make it in the mag! xoxo, Mandy F

Gracie Under Pressure: “When we were filming Gracie, I definitely did everything at least once before the director could stop me [from wanting to do it on screen myself]. I definitely had a soccer double and a stunt double. It was totally necessary for some of the shots. But I still had to it myself. I couldn’t let them being the only ones doing these cool things!”

Chin Up! “When I first started [the soccer training], I could do one chin-up, barely. Chin-ups are very difficult, especially for girls. When we shot [the chin-up scene], it was on my 16th birthday, last shot of the day, so I was already tired, had already done stunts of falling onto the ground, broken glass, blah blah blah blah blah. I did 10 full chin-ups on camera, and they only used five [in the movie]!”

Bahama Bummers? “Eye of the Dolphin was a very difficult shoot because we were in the Bahamas and it was so, so hot. Every morning I would go into hair and makeup and they would slather me in all this suntan lotion, SPF 5 billion. We’d have to have a sun umbrella with us everywhere we went. And when we got in the water, there was the reflection, so you had to have sunglasses on at all times, or else you got massive headaches."

Dolphin Tricks: “When we were completely finished [filming Dolphin], I got to go out with the dolphins and they let me do all the dolphin trainer moves. I would stand on the dolphins’ noses and I would basically water ski. I did this other one where you would be sitting in the water, and you would put your legs straight out, and they would come up underneath you and put you straight up in the air. Then you would fall with the dolphins at your side.”

Brotherly Love: “My brother Hunter (he’s 12 and played Mike Bowen in Gracie!) had to do a report for school on something he doesn’t know anything about. He looks at me and my mom and goes, ‘It’s a toss up between opera and women. I don’t know a thing about either one.’”

Guys’ Gal: “Sixth grade was a bit of a nightmare. All the girls seemed to hate me, and they were just mean. I kinda didn’t have a lot of friends then, so I actually gravitated more to hanging out with the guys.”

Babysitting Nightmare: “I actually had a little girl freak out when I went over to her house. I had my hair blow-dryed straight and everything, and I was wearing all pink. She gave me a tiara to wear. And then she looked at her Barbie and she looked at me, and she wigged out and locked herself in the bathroom, screaming that I was Barbie. She was very scared because she thought her Barbie came to life. I was like, ‘No, no, no! Come out of the bathroom.”

Game Night: “I have a game night every Friday night at my house. It’s usually girls versus boys, and the girls have been dominating! Our favorites are Scattegories, Pictionary and Taboo. And Guitar Hero on the TV. Then we sit around the camp fire, roast marshmallows, and we talk about Would You Rather. Our favorite one is, ‘Would you rather have it rain baseball size rocks or darts?’”

It’s Only Natural: “People always ask me if my hair is dyed. They wrote in a magazine one time, ‘Honey, we can see your roots,’ or something like that. I was like, ‘Umm, OK.’”

MySpace Mayhem: “I had to do a MySpace because people were impersonating me. People stole pictures from me in eighth grade and they were putting them up. They were contacting my friends and saying, ‘I don’t want to talk to you anymore.’” Carly’s REAL MySpace is myspace.com/carlyschroeder.

~*~SO TELL US!~*~ Are you as crazy over Carly as we are? Did you think Gracie kicked serious movie booty? Is your dream to swim with the dolphins (or maybe you already have)? Blog back at us, babes!

6/2/2007 12:32:00 AM