Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

"Why can't a woman be more like a man?" queried the genially misogynistic elocutionist Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady" a half-century ago.

In 2011, for better and worse, moviemakers and television producers are answering that question with "yes, they can" demonstrations that would have shocked Higgins out of his argyles.

Last week, Universal's "Bridesmaids" became producer Judd Apatow's highest-grossing movie ever — ahead of "Knocked Up" — with a cumulative gross that is now more than $148 million, and counting. Now we know: Women doing raunchy humor can sell tickets.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. If you follow Hollywood at all, you know how success breeds every sort of copycat production imaginable. Yes, moms and dads of little girls, you're going to have to cope with examples set by dozens of movies, TV series episodes, awards-show appearances and videos in which females fart, belch, scratch themselves, talk dirty and engage in scatological humor. And they won't be as funny as "Bridesmaids."

Comic actress Wendi McLendon-Covey recounts that "Bridesmaids" was initially met with skepticism when Kristen Wiig and company did a reading of the script in 2007. She says most studios were only interested in female ensemble flicks if they followed the "Sex and the City" recipe. With "Bridesmaids," she hopes "other studios will start taking a gamble on funny girls, because we're interesting. ... There are a whole lot of girls out there who aren't afraid of making themselves look stupid, who aren't vain, who can do what the boys are doing."

Right. And on another front, thanks to stars including Angelina Jolie and Milla Jovovich, females are doing what the boys are doing as leads of big-budget action thrillers, too. On the TV side, kick-butt chicks abound.

Maria Bello's forthcoming "Prime Suspect" Detective Jane Timoney looks even harder-edged and more physical than Helen Mirren's beloved tough-as-nails British TV character. And expect the new "Charlie's Angels" to be a lot edgier than their predecessors, as well, with girl-girl and girl-guy fight action and more.

Of course, whenever there's a trend, there has to be a countertrend. So maybe we shouldn't be surprised that upcoming shows (copying the acclaimed "Mad Men") are taking us back in time. "Pan Am" and — especially — "The Playboy Club" are poised to remind us of those bad old, martini-soaked days of women past, when they were usually right where the Henry Higginses of the world wanted 'em.

AGELESS IMAGINATION: At an age — 72 — where many of his stature would be content to rest on their considerable laurels, Francis Ford Coppola deserves credit for not only continuing to make movies, but continuing to push for innovation.

He'll be showing his latest, "Twixt," to a Comic-Con crowd in San Diego on the July 23, and the gothic horror movie promises something old (live music) and something new (mixing 2-D and 3-D, plus interactive elements). This is the tale, originally titled "Twixt Now and Sunset," that the five-time Oscar winner of "The Godfather" and "Dracula" films dreamed up (literally, waking from a night's sleep with the concept in his head) while on a trip to Istanbul. He made it largely on the grounds of his own home in Rutherford, Calif., with Val Kilmer, Bruce Dern, Ben Chaplin and Elle Fanning.

"Val Kilmer plays a Stephen King-type writer, and I play the sheriff of the town," Bruce said of the story involving an author who stumbles onto a real-life murder mystery while on a book tour.

Coppola himself told us that he's found renewed vigor making his self-funded independent features without all the pressures and strictures of big-budget studio flicks in recent years. "I am definitely having the fun and adventure of a second film career with different rules to it," he said. "I'm doing more of what I wanted to do."

INDUSTRY BITS: Danny Glover is getting ready to get his sci-fi on, in a yet-untitled big-screen thriller that has to do with a returning soldier who "must take on a new enemy." Woo.

Casting is underway to round out the band of friends who'll be seen in Ed Burns' forthcoming HBO pilot, "40." This is the show, from "Entourage" creator Doug Ellin, about four pals who grew up together and now each are facing different life challenges that come with that big 4-0 birthday. The series is set in New York.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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