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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > April > 30 > Entry
‘Gracie’ star plenty tough, with the scars to prove it
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Actress Carly Schroeder, 17, has a few lasting souvenirs from the shoot of “Gracie,” this summer’s inspirational soccer movie.
“I still have a couple of scars on my ankles from the cleats,” Schroeder confided to Buzz over a breakfast of French toast Monday morning at the Four Seasons in Midtown.
Picturehouse
Actress Carly Schroeder muscles onto an all-boy soccer team in “Gracie,” coming in June. The “fierce competitor” was in town to promote the film, set in 1978 and loosely based on a true story.
The girl-powered family movie, set in 1978 New Jersey, centers on high school soccer player Gracie Bowen’s fight to become the first female to play on her school’s all-boy team. The film is loosely based on the soccer-centric childhoods of actors Elisabeth and Andrew Shue growing up in the Garden State. Elisabeth faced similar obstacles in real life. The senior Shue plays Gracie’s mom in the film while her younger brother is the entrepreneur who produced the film.
“With ‘Gracie,’ we wanted to demonstrate that girls can succeed on any field,” Andrew Shue explained. “We’ve come a long way from my sister’s challenges to where we now have 5 million girls playing the game [in the U.S.].”
And in a summer filled with testosterone-fueled sequels on the big screen, the Shues have a nearly empty field all to themselves with the female-targeted $10 million independent film, scheduled to open June 1.
Between bites, Schroeder caused Shue, 40, to beam as the high school athlete described pinning all the boys in her class during wrestling matches. “I made one boy pass out!” she said.
“As you can see, Carly has this wonderful vulnerable quality but is also this fierce competitor,” says Shue. “That’s why she was so perfect for the role.”
Aside from acting these days (he has a small role in “Gracie”), Andrew Shue has started the popular resource Web site, Cafe Mom for harried mothers (“It’s a MySpace for moms,” Shue says. “We’re signing up 3,000 moms every day.”)
The former “Melrose Place” heartthrob — now the father of three soccer-playing boys, ages 10, 8 and 3 — is quietly raising his family back east.
“My kids literally didn’t find out about all that until a couple of years ago,” a relieved-looking Shue says. “I just told them, ‘It was a fun thing Dad used to do!’ “
BALLET AND BIG BOI
Earlier this season, the Atlanta Ballet axed its pit orchestra. But for a world premiere next season, it’s looking to the stars for musical accompaniment. Big Boi, half of the chart-topping duo OutKast, will perform onstage with the ballet in a new work scheduled for April 10-13. Few details of the yet-to-be-named work have been decided, according to ballet spokesman Jeff Al-Mashat.
Big Boi and musicians from his Purple Ribbon Entertainment will collaborate with choreographer Lauri Stallings. They plan to meet today to discuss the project.
The Atlanta Ballet has staged works with pop performers before. In October 2001, the ballet collaborated with the Indigo Girls on “Shed Your Skin,” which featured the Decatur duo performing songs onstage behind the dancers. It was presented again in 2004.The ballet’s 2007-08 season includes five other shows, opening Oct. 25 with artistic director John McFall’s production of “Peter Pan.” For tickets, info: www.atlantaballet.org.
OVERSCENE
Although it was his day off, Ron Massey of Carter-Barnes Hair Artisans was on the job at 6:55 a.m. Monday to style the hair of Ireland’s president, Mary McAleese. At the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead hotel, he combed her short blond hair in a classic simple look, with light bangs. “She’s a very down-to-earth, very sweet person who commented on what a beautiful city we have and how different our weather is from Ireland’s,” said Massey. The Irish president liked her hair so much she booked the stylist for a repeat performance at 5:30
p.m. President McAleese is on an official visit this week, meeting politicians and stopping by historic landmarks and universities in Georgia and New York. She met with Gov. Sonny Perdue on Monday. She will fly to the Big Apple today. She even plans to take in a Broadway show, “The Pirate Queen,” later in the week.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Singer Judy Collins is 68. Atlanta bassist Johnny Colt (Black Crowes) is 41. Country singer Tim McGraw is 40. Bassist D’Arcy Wretzky (Smashing Pumpkins) is 39.
COUPLING
“Survivor” producer Mark Burnett and former “Touched by an Angel” star Roma Downey were married Saturday in a private ceremony at their Malibu, Calif., home. The ceremony was officiated by Downey’s “Angel” co-star Della Reese, an ordained minister, the couple’s publicist, Jim Dowd, confirmed Monday. “It was wonderful to have shared our big day with our family — Roma, myself, our children and our parents,” Burnett, 46, told People magazine in an interview. “It was so meaningful and so intimate.”
STORK REPORT
Brace yourself for incoming, thoroughly wholesome baby chat. Elisabeth Hasselbeck, a co-host on “The View,” is pregnant again. She announced the news Monday on the daytime ABC talk show.
Hasselbeck, 29, and her husband, pro football player Tim Hasselbeck, have a 2-year-old daughter, Grace.
She said the baby is due in Nov-ember, just in time for sweeps.
Contributing: Marylin Johnson, Pierre Ruhe and news services
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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