The top 10 things you didn’t see at the MTV Douchebag awards
Backstage notes from the 25th annual MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday.
1. After winning three Moonmen, including video of the year, Britney Spears got cold feet before she met the press. She peeked into the media room with personal assistants and camera crew in tow, then promptly turned around and left.
A few moments later, Chris Brown hurried in to take her place — prompting a round of disappointed “Awwwww!” from disappointed Britney-wannabe paparazzi (a reaction that seemed to miff Brown, who maybe didn’t understand that he wasn’t being booed personally.) Never fear, Britney returned after Brown; she said nothing and posed for just a few quick pictures as she juggled her trophies. After the show, host Russell Brand described the event as “the resurrection of Britney Spears. I saw stigmata.”
2. Impromptu “Best Dressed” MTV Awards were handed out on the red carpet — winners included Ne-Yo for his Louis Vuitton sunglasses and blogger Perez Hilton for his pale yellow plaid suit. The awards were a far cry from a Moonman, however. They were actually wind-up toys of a kiwi bird glued to a 99-cent store-quality plaque.
3. Video game “Rock Band 2″ set up shop at the end of the red carpet, where talent could get their riff on before entering the awards show. T-Pain played the game with the most gusto, taking turns on both the drum kit as well as the guitar on the Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer.”
4. Tokio Hotel’s gigantic four-by-four truck competed for space with, yes, the omnipresent blinged-out VMA elephant in the Paramount lot six hours before the show started. The truck was bigger — barely. Before the show, Tokio Hotel frontman Bill Kaulitz said that he hadn’t prepared any remarks because there was “no way we’re going to win … there is NO WAY we’re going to win.” And, in true VMA karma, the band won the Moonman for best new artist two hours later.
5. The show was filmed in Lot 16 at the 62-acre Paramount Studios; it’s the furthest from the main studio entrance on Melrose Avenue, so once talent did their red carpet duties, the limos drove them through the studio’s back lot to the stage. The non-famous were moved back in golf carts (ala the exit from Britney Spears and Russell Brand) or in shuttles — or hoofed it by their own power.
Live from MTV’s VMA Red Carpet: It’s a Circus!
MTV’s Video Music Awards are hot. Literally. It feels like 100 degrees on the red carpet here on the Paramount lot in Hollywood.
But the hot topic for the day: Britney Spears! Will she walk the carpet? Is she going to perform? Or, perhaps, is she going to open the show atop an elephant?
Yes, there is an elephant being hosed down outside the awards. And remember, there was an elephant in Spears and host Russell Brand’s promo spots for the show, as in “the elephant in the room.”
The red carpet is now rolling. Read on for all the highlights….
4:50…Corbin Bleu from H:igh School Musical says the tween world is going to get some old-school musical lessons when the third installment of HSM is released next month. One number in the flick is inspired by late ,legendary Chicago choerograhper Bob Fosse. “That’s what’s so great about High School Muisical,” Bleu says. “It’s musical theater for this generation.”
Redstone, or Red Herring?
4:40…Viacom honcho Sumner Redstone just insisted to me that it’s not up to him if Tom Cruise reunites with his former longtime home studio, Paramount. “I think he’s a great actor, but that’s up to Brad [Grey] and others at the studio,” Redstone said. “I don’t make those decisions.”
Oh, and get this. He’s trying to convince me that he doesn’t necessarily know if Britney is performing tonight! “Sometimes they don’t even tell the boss,” he said.– from E!
MTV launches global HD service
MTV’s new global high-definition service, MTV Networks HD, will bow Sept. 15 with six European countries taking the web.
The 24-hour channel, which includes a Nickelodeon-branded block, is to launch in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Poland and Sweden.
Owners Viacom plans to roll out the English-language web, which will be up-linked using a single feed from Warsaw, in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and the U.K. later in the year.
Additionally, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela also will have the HD web, which will broadcast in Dolby 5.1 surround sound, by the close of 2008.
Territories in Asia are expected to follow later, although at this stage there is no specific date.
MTV Networks Intl. prexy Bob Bakish said: “In Europe, there are about 100 million pay TV households of which 4.4 million have HD, so we are in the early days of HD. Obviously, we think those numbers will grow.”
“MTV Networks HD is an international first that will help operators reinforce the value of pay TV. There is great consumer interest in this and the talent are very interested in too.
“In this multi-platform world it is more important than ever to have HD.”’
- from Variety
MTV readies ‘Rocky Horror’ redux
From Variety:
MTV is doing the time warp on a remake of 1975 cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
Lou Adler, exec producer of the original film, is partnering with BermanBraun and Fox Television Studios on the new rendition.
Two-hour remake will use the original screenplay by Jim Sharman and Richard O’Brien but may also include music not featured in the original.
The suckalicious MTV 2008 Movie Awards in 2 Minutes - Exclusive Hollywood Newsroom Video Edition
Here’s the Very Best of the suckalicious MTV 2008 Movie Awards starring Mike Myers…. A Special Edition presented by Hollywood Newsroom. Only the good stuff, which clocks in about at 2 minutes of good content.
- Latest Buzz:
- Damn roofers started Universal Studios fire
- Wow, Winnie Cooper all grown up! Wonder Years Indeed!
- Oh please. Tatum O’Neal says drug arrest ’saved’ her, went looking for drugs because her dog died.
- Fact: Mila Kunis and Elisha Cuthbert should go into p0rn
- New Apple iPhone expected next week
- Exclusive: John Lasseter, Disney, Fires Brittany Murphy. Mae Whitman is the new voice of Tinker Bell!
Hollywood blaze doesn’t stop MTV Movie Awards. Transformers, Johnny Depp take home popcorn.
MTV went ahead with its annual star-studded movie awards at the Universal Studios lot on Sunday, hours after a spectacular blaze destroyed chunks of Hollywood history nearby.
The celebrities on hand, such as host Mike Myers and presenter Will Smith, used the occasion to “pimp” — as Myers said — their upcoming movies, rather than address the damage.
The 17th annual MTV Movie Awards, a fan-driven event with none of the stuffiness or significance of the Oscars, took place in a hilltop theater that overlooked the smoky remains of well-known movie sets and a “King Kong” attraction.
Universal did close the theme park and the CityWalk retail strip, two of the country’s most popular tourist attractions, but the MTV event was not in harm’s way.
Winners are chosen by viewers who cast votes online and were informed beforehand, which partly explained their lack of surprise when their names are announced.
“Transformers” won the top award, best movie, and director Michael Bay said he would start shooting a sequel to the hit action movie on Monday.
Johnny Depp was the only multiple winner. The gum-chewing actor was treated like an all-conquering hero when he first took the stage to accept the best comedic performance award for his turn as pirate Jack Sparrow in “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.”
- From Reuters
Juno and Superbad rule the MTV Movie Award Nominations
- Two sex-obsessed nerds in teen comedy “Superbad” topped the nominations for the 2008 MTV Movie Awards with five nods, while quirkie “Juno” about a pregnant 16 year-old came in just behind with four.
Unveiling this year’s nominees on Tuesday, popular television network MTV said Sony Picture’s “Superbad” claimed nominations for best movie and best actor for stars Jonah Hill and Michael Cera. It also racked up three nods for breakthrough performances.
“As someone who had his nose rubbed up against a locker or two, it’s great to see my cinematic nerd brothers get their just rewards,” Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks Music and Logo and Films Group, said in a statement.
- From Reuters