Gloria Estefan stars in Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie, based on the hit Netflix kids show Gabby’s Dollhouse, in theaters Friday. She plays Gabby’s grandmother GiGi, who goes on a road trip with Gabby to “Cat Francisco,” where her precious dollhouse falls into the hands of a cat lady named Vera, played by Kristen Wiig. Gloria tells ABC Audio she thinks the film may earn her a whole new audience.
“When they sent me the script … I was enamored because [the role was] a grandma. So I go, ‘Oh my God, this is me.’ And the script was phenomenal,” says Gloria. She’s also a “huge fan” of Wiig. She wasn’t familiar with the Netflix series, though, so she watched it.
“I saw, like, kids — little kids — they’re addicted to this show,” Gloria says. “And I thought, ‘You know what? Good idea to get in there with a really young crowd.’ And I just thought it was such a great opportunity.”
But initially, Gloria thought she’d have to turn down the role.
“My schedule was nuts and I was gonna pass,” she explains. “And then, I was in an airport lounge in LA and this very nice lady comes up and she goes, ‘Gloria, we really need your energy on this film.’ And I’m going, ‘What?’ And she goes, ‘I’m the head of DreamWorks Animation, and we really need your energy on this film.'”
Gloria says when she got home her daughter — who didn’t know that her mom had been sent the script — informed her that a comedian friend of hers had just been hired to “beef up your lines and the comedy in this movie.”
“So I go, ‘You know what? I listen to the universe,'” Gloria laughs. “And I said, ‘OK.'”
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