‘I have lived in a complete bubble,’ ‘Perks of Being a Wallflower’ star tells Vogue. By Eric Ditzian Emma Watson on the July 2011 cover of Vogue Photo: Vogue When we caught up with Emma Watson at the MTV Movie Awards afterparty earlier this month, the 21-year-old Brit confessed, “I’m having the time of my life.” For the first time in her professional career, Watson is free of the all-encompassing “Harry Potter” franchise and has set about creating for herself a cinematic second act — one that has nothing to do with Hogwarts and Hermione Granger. It’s been a long time coming, as the actress admitted in a new Vogue cover story. “I have had no control over my life,” Watson said. “I have lived in a complete bubble. They found me and picked me for the part. And now I’m desperately trying to find my way through it.” The first move she made was signing on to an adaptation of “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” a provocative novel about teenage life in America. She also dropped out of Brown University in March, after years of fighting to continue her education while also remaining committed to one of the biggest film franchises on Earth. “I have felt for the last 10 years I have had this battle — I’ve been fighting so hard to have an education. It’s been this uphill struggle,” she said. “I was Warner Bros.’ pain in the butt. I was their scheduling conflict. I was the one who made life difficult.” Now fully outside the “Potter” bubble, Watson is trying, as she put it, “to really enjoy the good things because it makes the bad things OK.” Among those unwelcome things is the constant attention of the paparazzi. And when she does begin a new relationship (her previous one ended last summer), she hopes the tabloid spotlight won’t spoil the romance. “I’m a feminist, but I think that romance has been taken away a bit for my generation. I think what people connect with in novels is this idea of an overpowering, encompassing love — and it being more important and special than anything and everything else,” she said. “I would love to not date someone in the same industry as me. Otherwise it becomes what it means to everyone else.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Photos Emma Watson In The July 2011 Issue Of Vogue
When asked to come up with a list of much older men, still breathing, who were fine in their heyday, it was immediately clear that I couldn’t do it alone. I was interested to know who my mother, now in her ’60s, was checking for way back when during her camel and mash potato-dancing days. We went back and forth, me naming names I had only seen in blaxploitation films and on Motown infomercials that come on late at night. She of course shut many of them down. Laughing at my suggestions of the guys from “Cooley High” and debating with me about why O.J. Simpson automatically disqualified himself from the list. So after flipping through album sleeves, recalling every black television show from the past and going through a ton of Google image pages, here is a list of living actors, musicians, athletes and more who may not be your cup of tea now (probably because they could be your grandpappy), but had all your mommas and grandmamas, swooning. If you don’t agree with the choices, you’ll have to take your issues up with moms. ( Continue reading… )
J.J. Abrams’ film is an antidote to the ’emotional-vitamin deficiency’ brought on by ‘low-cal’ superhero sequels, one critic writes. By Eric Ditzian Description: Joel Courtney, Ryan Lee and Riley Griffiths in “Super 8” Photo: Paramount From the Spielbergian nostalgia factor to the first-rate performances of a group of largely unknown young actors to the ultra-satisfying reveal of the monster, we’ve got plenty of reasons you should check out “Super 8” this weekend. But we’re not alone in our full-throated support of director J.J. Abrams’ ode to ’70s-era adolescence and alien invasion flicks. Based on a wholly original idea (a true rarity in an era of iconic superheroes, wizards and alien bots) and with no A-list talent in front of the camera, “Super 8” has nonetheless been nabbing overwhelmingly positive reviews and is expected to earn around $35 million over the weekend. While some critics have suggested the film’s ultimate mystery remains disappointing when finally revealed, far more have been raving about the flick’s throwback vibe, efficient storytelling, and satisfying emotional and cinematic similarity to movies like “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Read on for a deep dive into “Super 8″ reviews. The Story ” “Super 8” centers on Joe (Joel Courtney), a middle-schooler who has lost his mom and is spending his summer helping his chum Charles (Riley Griffiths) make a zombie movie. Shooting surreptitiously one night at a train station, the kids witness a horrific accident that opens a mystery involving a science teacher, an Air Force investigation, Joe’s policeman dad (Kyle Chandler) and … something out there in the night. There are harum-scarum jokes aplenty, lots of Spielbergian camera work, a cute girl to woo (Elle Fanning), and some broken psyches in need of repair. Is it as powerful as “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” or “E. T.”? Not quite, no. But it’s spirited and funny and deeply entertaining, a summer movie for kids who think like adults and adults who feel like kids.” — Shawn Levy, The Oregonian The Performances “The pacing is superb, quick and agile without being frenzied, and the special effects are jaw-dropping. Abrams gets excellent performances from his young cast, not only from his leads — Elle Fanning, as the pretty girl from the wrong side of the tracks, and Joel Courtney, as a sensitive boy who has lost his mother — but from the supporting players. For example, Riley Griffiths tears ferociously into the role of the boy director, as a kind of eighth-grade Orson Welles. There are also two wounded fathers, well played: Kyle Chandler plays the town’s deputy for all he’s worth, and Ron Eldard, looking like a slimmed-down Gerard Depardieu, plays Fanning’s confused father.” — Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle The Comparisons “There’s a thin line, though, between honoring what came before you and replicating it, and ‘Super 8’ occasionally wobbles over that line into predictability. Nor is Abrams quite sure what to make of his monster. Is it friend or foe? Can a movie split the difference and still hold on to our sympathies? Toward the end, you feel the filmmaking cutting corners, rushing past story points and shortchanging characters to get to the finale, which itself lacks the pop immensity of a movie like ‘Close Encounters’ even as it imitates it. ‘Super 8’ is a curious thing indeed: A good movie that makes you want to go home and re-watch a great one.” — Ty Burr, Boston Globe The Mystery “Just what and who the monster is, forms the central question of ‘Super 8.’ But despite Abrams’ best efforts to ratchet up the tension, the mystery never takes compelling hold, a weakness that becomes especially clear in the movie’s anti-climax of an ending. At that point, the already thin story gets wrapped up so neatly that viewers will scarcely have time to process its plot holes. (What were those little white boxes for, anyway?)” — Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post The Final Word “How have we survived for so long on such a meager, high-cal, low-nutrition diet of processed summertime superhero sequels? ‘Super 8’ is an antidote to that emotional-vitamin deficiency. It’s also a great specimen of original storytelling grounded in a sophisticated respect for storytellers who have come before. Writer/director J.J. Abrams has described his movie as a love letter to the kind of Super 8 monsters-and-chases stuff he made as a boy, which were influenced by the ‘Raiders’/ ‘Close Encounters’ sagas of Steven Spielberg, who himself made 8mm monsters-and-chases stuff as a boy. (Spielberg is a ‘Super 8 producer.’) The loop works beautifully.” — Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly Check out everything we’ve got on “Super 8.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘Super 8’ Related Photos Tom Cruise, Elle Fanning, More At ‘Super 8’ Premiere
‘They were like, ‘We want to do exactly what you’ve been doing,’ ‘ the ‘Gucci Gucci’ femcee tells MTV News of why she inked with Columbia. By Steven Roberts Kreayshawn Photo: Michelle Crowe A month ago Kreayshawn was the girl “cooking” and partaking in other recreational activities with Lil B the Based God in a random online video (they’re listening to Soulja Boy’s “Dat Piff,” naturally). And honestly, unless you were from the Bay Area, hung out around Fairfax in Los Angeles or had your finger on the pulse of underground hip-hop, you probably didn’t know her name. That quickly changed about four weeks ago when she dropped the video for her song “Gucci Gucci.” The video featured the pint-size, Bay Area rapper performing alongside Odd Future’s Left Brain, Jasper Dolphin and many of their friends, at OF’s stomping grounds on L.A.’s Fairfax Avenue. At a house party, she’s seen rapping about the swag dripping out her “ovaries.” The video soon made her an instant sensation on several blogs and eventually earned the interest of several record labels. Earlier this week, it was announced that Kreayshawn had signed with Columbia Records . MTV News caught up with one-third of the White Girl Mob on Thursday afternoon, and she said the deal offered her an incredible amount of artistic freedom, which she was already enjoying. “Columbia was the best because they were like, ‘We want to do exactly what you’ve been doing.’ I’ve been directing music videos, so they’re like, ‘We want you to keep doing that.’ I do a little graphic design, and they had me make my logo. The music that I’m making — ‘Gucci Gucci’ — [is] going to be the single that they push,” Kreayshawn told us. The femcee also said she’s conscious that some have already pegged her as a viral, one-hit wonder, but promised she has a lot more to offer. Still, she admitted, it can be frustrating to have critics put her in a box. There’s a lot of Kreayshawn material — beyond her 2010 mixtape Kittys x Choppas — the public hasn’t heard yet. On the flip side, the MC is enjoying the love from fans. The best part of the recent music industry whirlwind, Kreayshawn said, is how organically her early success has unfolded. “We never made the [‘Gucci Gucci’] video with the intention of anything. We knew it was a great song, we knew that the video [was] going to be dope. We didn’t put it out like we knew this was secretly going to launch everything, because everything was organic.” What do you think of Kreayshawn? Sound off in our comments section!
We did manage to eke this tidbit out of Elle Fanning: ‘People start going missing, dogs are running away.’ By Kara Warner A scene from “Super 8” Photo: Paramount For fans who’ve been following the buzz surrounding J.J. Abrams’ mystery-thriller “Super 8,” know that there is, in fact, a big mystery at the center of the film. What that is, the filmmakers will not say, of course. (And those of us who have seen the film cannot and should not say.) In talking to the cast and filmmakers at the L.A. premiere, we had some fun soliciting the best theories they’ve heard about the secret — without giving anything away. All jokes aside, though, we wondered what exactly the scene-stealing youngsters could say about the plot of J.J. Abrams-directed film? Not too much, it turns out. MTV News asked the young stars to give us their best non-spoilery “Super 8” summary of what the film is all about. “I think that it’s so hard to tell, it’s hard to say,” Elle Fanning said. “J.J.’s had us [keeping] the secret. The train crash happens, everything starts going wrong in the town, basically,” she added. “People start going missing, dogs are running away.” “We’re saying that whatever it is, it’s scary,” Ryan Lee said succinctly. “A bunch of things disappear in the town,” Gabriel Basso added. “House appliances go missing, dogs go missing,” Lee continued. “People go missing. Basically, throughout the whole thing, we’re just trying to find out what’s happening.” “It’s a major event that changes this town’s life forever,” Riley Griffiths said. Check out everything we’ve got on “Super 8.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘Super 8’ Related Photos Tom Cruise, Elle Fanning, More At ‘Super 8’ Premiere The ‘Super 8’ Trailer’s Key Moments
You’ll note that the new trailer for The Help calls Kathryn Stockett’s source material a “sensational bestseller.” That may be, but not much else is screaming “sensation” here: Viola Davis’s one-note dignity, Bryce Dallas Howard’s adversarial prissiness, and Emma Stone’s smiley do-gooder shtick aren’t providing much in the way of originiality. But maybe I’m just cynical; check out the new international trailer and let’s hash this out.
‘It’s beautiful,’ pop star says in an online video as she sees the setup for the first time. By Jocelyn Vena Britney Spears Photo: Getty Wondering what the Femme Fatale Tour will look like when it kicks off next week? Well, wonder no more! Britney Spears offered up a tease of the stage in a new video posted online. “Oh my God!” she squealed walking into the room seeing the setup for the first time. “I love it!” Spears walked the stage with her managers, giving fans a taste of what’s to come once the shows kick off June 16 in Sacramento, California, with opening act Nicki Minaj . The stage has it all: lights, video screens, a funky neon-colored floor, lasers, lifts and giant butterfly wings. “It’s beautiful,” Spears said as she listened to her music blast over the loud speakers and checked out the way the lights and video would play during what appears to be a reworked version of “Hold It Against Me” that included more electric guitar. “The Femme Fatale Tour will hopefully just be outrageously spectacular,” Spears recently said about the multi-city arena tour. “I’m just hoping that the choreographers will come up with just the most outrageous things, and I’m really excited. … This is one of the most excited I’ve been about a project in a really long time, so I can’t wait.” Minaj is just as excited about the tour, and she knows she has to go big to match the spectacle of a Britney show. “I’m just trying to put more theater on that stage. So much to me is music, but it’s also about putting on a show, so that’s my goal: to truly put on a show and incorporate theater and dance,” she explained. “I think it’s pretty easy to take it to the next level … I think I’m nowhere close to where I could be as far as my shows have been.” Spears’ longtime manager Larry Rudolph teased the tour’s theme months ago when he spoke to us in Las Vegas before Spears played a mini-set for an excited room of fans at the Palms Hotel and Casino. Even then, Rudolph knew Brit’s track “Till the World Ends” would play into the theme. ” ‘Till the World Ends’ keeps becoming a theme for us,” he said back in March. “The way we come up with a concept for a show like this is we sit with Britney, she talks to us about what she’s interested in and what excites her. We start with the songs on the album; we start with coming up with general, broad concepts. She tells us what interests her and excites her.” Will you check out the Britney Spears tour? Let us know in the comments! Related Videos Britney Spears: I Am The Femme Fatale Related Photos Candid Moments From ‘Britney Spears: I Am The Femme Fatale’ Related Artists Britney Spears
Will there be tears? ‘Maybe one or two, just little ones,’ Watson tells MTV News. By Terri Schwartz, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Emma Watson Photo: MTV News The “Harry Potter” franchise comes to an end for fans on July 15, but for the stars of the best-selling franchise, the end came over a year and a half ago. “Potter” stars Emma Watson and Tom Felton hit the MTV Movie Awards red carpet Sunday to represent their series against previous victors “Twilight” but said that it was a bit surreal to be there supporting a series they finished filming so long ago. “It’s been over, like, a year and a half since we shot it, and I haven’t seen any of it,” Felton said. The final press rounds for “Deathly Hallows, Part 2” will be taking place this summer, something Watson called “very strange.” She said she would probably shed some more tears when the end came for “Harry Potter” all over again. “Maybe a few. Maybe one or two, just little ones,” she said. The “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” footage that was shown during the MTV Movie Awards was the first Felton had seen of any of the “Part 2” footage, which is impressive, because many trailers have been released in anticipation of the July 15 release date. CHECK OUT PHOTOS OF THE “POTTER” CAST BACKSTAGE AT THE MOVIE AWARDS. “I’m excited to see the sneak peek!” he said excitedly. “That’s half the reason I’m here tonight, I want to see the sneak peek.” Since Felton hasn’t seen any of the “Part 2” footage, he has no idea how he will look fighting the final battle on the big screen in 3-D. That is something else he said he’s very excited to see. “I’m not sure whether that will add or subtract to my screen presence, but we’ll see,” Felton said with a laugh. MTV News has all of the highlights from the 2011 MTV Movie Awards . Relive the best moments, watch red-carpet interviews with your favorite stars and read all about what went on behind the scenes on the big night. Related Videos Backstage At The 2011 MTV Movie Awards Related Photos 2011 Movie Awards: Backstage Moments
‘Harry Potter’ star tells MTV News that all the Movie Awards smooching had her feeling left out. By James Montgomery, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Emma Watson at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards on Sunday Photo: Steve Granitz/Getty Images Aside from the much-anticipated premiere of a new “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” clip during Sunday’s MTV Movie Awards, it was a pretty quiet night for Team Potter, who sat and watched as “Twilight” reaped (nearly) all the awards , besting “Deathly Hollows, Part 1” for Best Movie, Best Male and Female Performance, Best Fight Scene and Best Kiss. In fact, “Potter” took home just one bucket of Golden Popcorn — Tom Felton’s turn as Draco Malfoy earned him Best Villain honors — and as if that weren’t bad enough, it was the stars of “Twilight” who garnered the lion’s share of the headlines too, as everything from Robert Pattinson’s lip-lock with co-star Taylor Lautner to the squeeing reactions to the “Breaking Dawn, Part 1” trailer burned up search engines in the hours following the show. So you could imagine what it must have been like for the “Harry Potter” stars who were actually on hand for the Movie Awards — like, for example, Emma Watson, who not only lost Best Female Performance to Kristen Stewart, but didn’t even get to see the kiss between Pattinson and Lautner. “I missed this moment! I came out, and they were like, ‘Rob just missed Taylor!’ and I was like, ‘Damn!’ ” Watson told MTV News’ Josh Horowitz following the show. “I was still backstage [after introducing the ‘Deathly Hallows, Part 2’] clip, so I missed it. But, I mean, yeah, good on them!” And as if missing out on the kiss-to-end-all-kisses wasn’t bad enough, the whole lip-locking theme of the night had Watson feeling left out. Seems she was the only person who didn’t have someone to kiss. “I mean, I was really up against it. Kristen [Stewart] had two kisses, and Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman making out,” she laughed. “I mean, I couldn’t really compete!” MTV News has all of the highlights from the 2011 MTV Movie Awards . Relive the best moments, watch red-carpet interviews with your favorite stars and read all about what went on behind the scenes on the big night. Related Videos Backstage At The 2011 MTV Movie Awards Amazing Exclusives From The MTV Movie Awards
‘Harry Potter’ star tells MTV News that all the Movie Awards smooching had her feeling left out. By James Montgomery, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Emma Watson at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards on Sunday Photo: Steve Granitz/Getty Images Aside from the much-anticipated premiere of a new “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” clip during Sunday’s MTV Movie Awards, it was a pretty quiet night for Team Potter, who sat and watched as “Twilight” reaped (nearly) all the awards , besting “Deathly Hollows, Part 1” for Best Movie, Best Male and Female Performance, Best Fight Scene and Best Kiss. In fact, “Potter” took home just one bucket of Golden Popcorn — Tom Felton’s turn as Draco Malfoy earned him Best Villain honors — and as if that weren’t bad enough, it was the stars of “Twilight” who garnered the lion’s share of the headlines too, as everything from Robert Pattinson’s lip-lock with co-star Taylor Lautner to the squeeing reactions to the “Breaking Dawn, Part 1” trailer burned up search engines in the hours following the show. So you could imagine what it must have been like for the “Harry Potter” stars who were actually on hand for the Movie Awards — like, for example, Emma Watson, who not only lost Best Female Performance to Kristen Stewart, but didn’t even get to see the kiss between Pattinson and Lautner. “I missed this moment! I came out, and they were like, ‘Rob just missed Taylor!’ and I was like, ‘Damn!’ ” Watson told MTV News’ Josh Horowitz following the show. “I was still backstage [after introducing the ‘Deathly Hallows, Part 2’] clip, so I missed it. But, I mean, yeah, good on them!” And as if missing out on the kiss-to-end-all-kisses wasn’t bad enough, the whole lip-locking theme of the night had Watson feeling left out. Seems she was the only person who didn’t have someone to kiss. “I mean, I was really up against it. Kristen [Stewart] had two kisses, and Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman making out,” she laughed. “I mean, I couldn’t really compete!” MTV News has all of the highlights from the 2011 MTV Movie Awards . Relive the best moments, watch red-carpet interviews with your favorite stars and read all about what went on behind the scenes on the big night. Related Videos Backstage At The 2011 MTV Movie Awards Amazing Exclusives From The MTV Movie Awards
