Ode to silent film took home five trophies, tying Martin Scorsese’s ‘Hugo’ for an awards-show best. By Kevin P. Sullivan “The Artist” wins Best Picture at the 84th annual Academy Awards Photo: Robyn Beck/ AFP/ Getty Images After leading the Best Picture field in the months before Sunday’s (February 26) Oscars ceremony, “The Artist” took home the top prize. The film won five awards in total, tying “Hugo” for the most awards for a single film at this year’s Academy Awards. In a year filled with films that looked back fondly at the magic of going to the movies, no movie dominated the awards-show conversation quite like “The Artist.” The odds-on favorite to win Best Picture, “The Artist” performed just as well as many expected it would on Oscar night. The ode to silent film was considered the heavy favorite to win several of the major categories at the Academy Awards and took home Oscars for Best Actor (Jean Dujardin) and Best Director (Michel Hazanavicius). Hazanavicius’ win for Best Director signaled a turn in the tide for the night, which had been dominated by Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” in the technical categories. “The Artist” also collected a good number of trophies earlier in the show, for Best Score and Best Costume Design, in addition to its top prize. It went toe-to-toe with “Hugo,” which also took home five total awards. The star playing a star, Jean Dujardin, won for Best Actor and signaled that the night belonged to “The Artist.” Though Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants” had gained an early lead as a potential Best Picture winner, strong showings at film festivals and earlier awards shows locked “The Artist” firmly as the front-runner for the category. Few Oscar analysts expected any other movie but the silent film to take the category. The MTV Movies team has the 2012 Oscars covered! Keep it locked at MTV.com all night and beyond for updates on the night’s big winners and the best red-carpet fashion . Join the live conversation by tweeting @MTVNews with the hashtag #Oscars. Related Photos Oscars 2012: Winners Oscars 2012: The Main Show Oscars 2012: Parties
George Clooney, Taylor Lautner and Meryl Streep among the many high-profile actors who joined Kimmel for his annual post-Oscar parody. By Josh Wigler George Clooney on a poster for “Movie: The Movie” Photo: ABC From the man who brought you “I’m F—ing Ben Affleck” and “The Handsome Men’s Club” comes something so big, something so spectacular, something so uncontrollably crazy that it’s simply too good to be true — which, of course, it is. We’re talking about the one and only “Movie: The Movie,” the not-actually-upcoming blockbuster from the maniacal mind of Jimmy Kimmel. Once again, the talk-show host reacted to Oscar night the only way he knows how: with a reliably ridiculous star-studded parody video. This year, Kimmel outdid himself with an all-star cast including the likes of George Clooney, Charlize Theron, Meryl Streep, Kate Beckinsale, Chewbacca, Taylor Lautner and even Daniel Day-Lewis in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it turn as Tyler Perry as George Washington. Sound confusing? It gets worse. As best as we can tell, “Movie: The Movie” follows a man who meets a woman who meets a werewolf that comes upon an ancient scroll owned by Antonio Banderas, who goes on to marry a secret agent (Edward Norton) to former United States President George W. Bush, played once again by Josh Brolin — and that absurd run-on sentence only covers about 30 seconds of a nine-minute trailer. Other highlights of “Movie: The Movie” (which is reportedly co-directed by J.J. Abrams and Martin Scorsese and produced by the same people responsible for “Terminator,” “The Hunt for Red October” and “Dora: The Explorer”) include a star-making turn from up-and-comer Tom Hanks as Robo-Lawyer; a questionably certified medical professional played by Jeff Goldblum breaking the tragic news to Gary Oldman that he’s actually a centaur; and Bryan Cranston as a street-tough hot dog vendor (“Wieners here! Everybody’s got to have a wiener!”) who regularly finds himself on the receiving end of an explosion. None of that even mentions unsung hero Matt Damon, who once again ends up in an uncomfortable position at the hands of Mr. Kimmel. In short, Kimmel topped himself yet again with “Movie: The Movie.” Though release dates of Thanksgiving, spring and summer are promised in the trailer, something tells us “Movie: The Movie” isn’t actually coming soon to a theater near you — though lord knows we’d be first in line to see it, if only to figure out what the heck this thing’s all about. The MTV Movies team has the 2012 Oscars covered! Keep it locked at MTV.com all night and beyond for updates on the night’s big winners and the best red-carpet fashion . Join the live conversation by tweeting @MTVNews with the hashtag #Oscars. Related Videos Oscars 2012: Red Carpet Highlights Oscars 2012: Show Highlights Related Photos Oscars 2012: Winners Oscars 2012: Parties
Hollywood’s biggest (and possibly most anticlimactic) night is upon us, which can only mean one thing: Movieline’s third annual Oscar Liveblog Extravaganza! Join your Movieline editors and loyal readers as we parse the Academy Awards to within an inch of their glamorous lives. The fun begins on the red carpet at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, with the Oscarcast proper commencing at 8:30 p.m ET/5:30 p.m. PT. And in any case, keep abreast of this year’s Oscar class with our commentary after the jump. [ADVISORY 8 p.m. ET: The CoverItLive/Twitter interface is buggy for the time being; we’re working on a solution! Thanks for your patience!] [ADVISORY 8:20 p.m. ET: Many apologies to readers who had been checking out the livetweet module; technical difficulties on the Twitter interface made it impossible to continue. Please chime in with us in the comments!] 11:38 Well, thanks for playing along, and sorry for the technical difficulties. But enough about Harvey Weinstein’s high-five abilities! That is all. More Monday on Movieline. Go drinking! What are you still doing here? 11:35 And Tom Cruise announces The Artist as Best Picture winner. And give Uggie the Oscar! 11:33 Some really great plastic surgery in the last 3 minutes. 11:30 Meryl Streep wins Best Actress! Great? 11:26 “Rooney, you have no experience. Congrats, get the fuck out of here.” 11:24 Best Actress! Colin Firth is so eloquent. “Glenn! You are so Nobbsie. Hallo, Nobbsie! Well done, Glenn. You did Nobbsie. Nobbsie!” 11:20 VIOLIN LADY! 11:18 Congrats to Jean Dujardin! You’ll never work in this town again. 11:14 I have nothing left. Demian, George, Jean… what a way to introduce yourself to PUUUUUKE 11:08 Thank you to the Academy for elevating George Kuchar to roughly 10 dead-industry-people places below Elizabeth Taylor. 11:03 I DIED 10:58: VIOLIN LADY! 10:52 Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius. Obviously. 10:48 Oscar date: “Where is our dead people montage? Where is our dead people montage? ” Yeah, kinda. 10:45 Yayyyyy, photo-bombers Brandon Oldenburg and William Joyce take Best Animated Short. Congrats. Cocktail/smoke/heroin/sleep break… BRB. 10:42 Short winners: The Shore (dramatic) and Saving Face (documentary). Y’all are totally fucking up my Oscar pool. 10:39 Kristin Wiig, film size queen. May I suggest Margaret ? 10:33 Adam Sandler wants to get to the truth. By the time he’s 85. He might get there. 10:30 Woody Allen wins Best Original Screenplay. Let’s get to what affects Reese Witherspoon about Overboard . 10:26 Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash win it for The Descendants . Payne, insufferably, to his mother: “If I ever won another Oscar, I had to dedicate it to you.” Well, then. 10:18 Should I be saying something about these suits? The cymbals? Or that 1/2 of Flight of the Conchords just won an Oscar? Yes, that. 10:13 Ludovic Bource! Way to rape the Oscars ! 10:10 Uggie was on the Oscars. We did it . 10:04 VIOLIN LADY! 10:01 For Beginners , Christopher Plummer becomes the oldest actor ever to win an Oscar. Take it away, kid. 9:58 Melissa Leo, who are you wearing? “Penney’s” Oh. 9:56 Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich in the same Oscarcast? What did we do to deserve this? Oh, by the way, Hugo just won Best Visual Effects. 9:54 Emma Stone single-handedly saved at least the last half-hour of the Oscars. Thanks you, Emma! 9:47 Gore Verbinski is an Academy Award-winner. That is all. 9:45 Check out Movieline’s Best Documentary Feature roundtable here . 9:42 Robert Downey and Gwyneth Paltrow “introduce” Best Documentary Feature: Undefeated . Um, wow . Shocking upset over Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory . 9:40 The Oscars just jumped the circus elephant. 9:37 Thank you Miss Piggy and Kermit! Here’s my take on “What it Means to Go to the Bathroom.” 9:29 If the idea is that you power through the bullshit and montages and give the winners time to speak, then I am allllll for that. Oh, wait — Cirque Du Soleil coming up next. Never mind! 9:26 Hugo wins Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. My drinking games can’t keep up with this pace! Slow down, Tina Fey ! 9:24 Yay! Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall win Best Editing for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and have nothing to say. Nicely done, gentlemen. 9:22 The cults of the Oscars and Christopher Guest just died before my eyes. 9:17 Via @jenyamato at @movieline : “Is it too much to hope that one day the Oscars will get Keyboard Cat to play off the long-winded acceptance speeches?” AMEN, SISTER. 9:15 VIOLIN LADY! 9:14 Octavia Spencer wins Best Supporting Actress! Roll Tide! 9:10 Incidentally, what does Otis the Oscar Cat think this year’s awards so far? Ahem . 9:07 A Separation wins Best Foreign-Language Feature! Way to go, Iran! Imagine what you’ll do with nuclear weapons! 9:06 Loving Sandra Bullock right now. I needed Chinese by way of German, seriously. 9:01 Lovely film-fan montage. “I remember saying, ‘Can I please do that?'” No, Adam Sandler, you cannot. 9:00 OK, so the theme is to go to the movies. 8:58 “Ldkjhafdslkjfhakljdhfsalkjhdadjk!!!” Couldn’t have said it any better, Cameron and J-Lo! Oh, and The Iron Lady won Best Make-Up. 8:57 Another minute passed! This calls for the next shot. 8:56 Mark Bridges and The Artist win Best Costume Design. And first Harvey Weinstein mention! This calls for a shot. 8:54 Roland Emmerich was on the Oscars. Now I can die. #ConsiderEmmerich 8:52 We were off to such a nice, fast start! And now… this clip reel? “That’s when movies were actually made on film.” YOUR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER SHOT DIGITAL, ASSHOLE. 8:46 Nice to see Donatella Versace make Italy 2-for 2. Is it a Hugo night? 8:44 Robert Richardson! Huge upset! I think? I’m drunk. Second 3-D winner in three years, though — not bad. Check out his Movieline chatwith Jeff Cronenweth here . 8:43 Big night for you, Carl! 8:41 Did I miss the Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close part of that song? Or was just the part where Crystal bombed? 8:39 Marty Scorsese’s daughter knows how pathetically weak this is. So much for the younger demographic! 8:37 How did we ever overlook the ” Chapter 11 Theater “? 8:35 I have no idea what is going on with this intro. Bourbon, please. 8:25 I feel like I’ve lived and/or worked a lifetime in the last 90 minutes. Only six hours to go!
In his ninth time hosting the Academy Awards, Crystal isn’t planning to ‘go after people’ like some recent awards-show emcees. By Kara Warner 2012 Oscar host Billy Crystal Photo: FilmMagic Although Billy Crystal wasn’t the Academy’s first pick to host the Oscars this year, the veteran emcee is a breath of familiar air to Hollywood’s main event. This year marks Crystal’s ninth time hosting the show, and at age 63, he will be the oldest solo host of the event since Bob Hope in 1978 (Steve Martin was 64 when he co-hosted with Alec Baldwin in 2010). Coincidentally, the “When Harry Met Sally” star received a standing ovation from the Oscar audience last year when he appeared onstage briefly to honor Hope. While some awards-show hosts of late have ventured into taboo and risky territory (see: Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais ), Crystal has always carried out his duties with class and his own special brand of charisma, charm and wit. “It’s important that the show be good, and I take it really seriously,” Crystal told Entertainment Weekly about the pressures and importance of the job. “That whole concept of ‘I want to really go after people’ — I don’t understand that. Is it a roast or is it an awards show? Do you dislike these people? I have a different bar. If there’s a good target and they deserve it, you can kid them in the right way. But it’s not the place to go out there and hammer people, because who am I? There’s many times we’ve kicked out jokes because they were too personal.” It is very clear that Crystal will not be going for the jugular, which is more than fine by us, since the Oscars have a decidedly more serious and regal tone. This year’s ceremony will be helmed by a man who respects the industry and appreciates the pomp and circumstance of it all. And while we likely won’t witness any gasp-worthy jokes or quips, we can expect to feel warm and welcome via another one of Crystal’s lively movie montages at the start of the show, along with a few lighthearted tongue-in-cheek remarks that make us all feel like we’re in on the joke and invited to the party. The MTV Movies team has the 2012 Oscars covered! Stick with us for everything you need to know leading up to the awards show, and head to Next Movie for a printable Oscar ballot . On Sunday, tune into MTV.com at 5 p.m. ET for our two-and-a-half-hour red-carpet live stream and updates on the night’s big winners. To join the live conversation, tweet @MTVNews with the hashtag #Oscars. Related Videos 2012 Oscar Nominees
Many people watch the Oscars for the glitz and glamour and care more about who’s wearing who than the movies themselves. Not Mr. Skin. We don’t care what the stars are wearing. In fact, we prefer them wearing nothing at all! So if your mind wanders during tonight’s telecast and you start wondering what those gorgeous nominees would look like nomi nude , there’s only one place to turn…and it’s right here at the Mr. Skin blog. Get the rubdown on this year’s nominees for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress after the jump!
Independent Spirit Award-winner tells MTV News ending awards season with her co-stars is ‘so bittersweet.’ By Terri Schwartz Shailene Woodley Photo: Getty Images “The Descendants” took home a handful of awards from the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday afternoon, but none of the winners were more enthused about the honor than first-time nominee Shailene Woodley. The “Secret Life of the American Teenager” star has been rewarded repeatedly for her emotional turn as the teenage daughter of George Clooney’s character in the Alexander Payne-directed flick, and the 20-year-old continued that trend Saturday, winning Best Supporting Actress. Sunday night’s Academy Awards marks the last major awards show of the season for Woodley and her “Descendants” castmates. On the red carpet before the Spirit Awards, the young actress told MTV News that ending her time with her co-stars is “so bittersweet.” “Tomorrow’s the grand finale. It’s awesome, because I’ll be able to have clean socks and do laundry for the first time in a few months, but it is sad because every single night has been this beautiful little reunion of people, and tomorrow’s the last reunion,” she explained. At least the reunions will go out with a bang, since the entire cast, including Clooney, is expected to attend the Oscars . Even though they won’t continue to see each other on the awards circuit this year, Woodley expects she and her castmates will stay in touch. If Clooney falls out of contact, Woodley promised, “I will track him down and say, ‘Keep teaching me, because I haven’t learned enough yet!’ ” The actress has made quite a splash on the red carpet while doing rounds for “The Descendants,” and she said her Oscar-night dress is ready to go. Picking out the perfect outfit hasn’t been something to stress about — as she said, that’s what stylists are for. “I do have a dress. It hasn’t been that big of a process because I know nothing about fashion,” Woodley said. “I have an awesome stylist who does know a lot about fashion, and so I’m sure she would say it’s been a big process, but for me, it’s been very simple.” The MTV Movies team has the 2012 Oscars covered! Stick with us for everything you need to know leading up to the awards show, and on Sunday, February 26, tune into MTV.com at 5 p.m. ET for our two-and-a-half-hour red-carpet live stream and updates on the night’s big winners. To join the live conversation, tweet @MTVNews with the hashtag #Oscars.
Backstage at the Film Independent Spirit Awards , Christopher Plummer (who vies for the Oscar tomorrow) celebrated his Best Supporting Actor win for Beginners and gleefully stoked the fires of a pup vs. pup beef between his own co-star in the film, Cosmo, and The Artist ‘s award season favorite Uggie . “We had a little private talk,” he explained of scene-stealer Cosmo. “Now that you mention it, I think our Cosmo was much more human than Uggie. Uggie was just a trickster. Our dog had soul .” Fighting words!
Billy Crystal’s return as host foreshadowed at 2011 Academy Awards. By Kevin P. Sullivan Billy Crystal at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images It certainly doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, but it was a year ago that “The King’s Speech” won top honors at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards . As we head into the 2012 Oscars on Sunday, it’s an appropriate time to look back on last year’s winners that surprised, moments that shocked and snubs we’re still not quite over yet. Anne and James In an attempt to appeal to a younger demographic, the Academy enlisted the help of Anne Hathaway and James Franco and “youth-oriented” segments including an Auto-Tuning of some of the year’s biggest movies. The result was a confusing three hours of underwhelming laughs and jokes that fell mostly flat. Afterward, blame flew both ways, but it seems unlikely that either will host again. Kirk Douglas, Show Stealer Leave it to a 94-year-old to show all the kids how it’s done. With more energy than the two hosts combined, Douglas won over the audiences in the Kodak Theatre and at home, overtly hitting on Hathaway and making sweeping generalizations about Australians and Brits. The King’s Night Despite hanging in second behind “The Social Network” for most of the awards-season love leading up to the Oscars, “The King’s Speech” came from behind to win three of the top categories: Best Picture, Actor and Director. Colin Firth locked up his award months in advance by sweeping the earlier ceremonies, but the race for picture and director came down to Oscar night, ending with Tom Hooper’s controversial win over David Fincher. The Dark Knight Rises His victory for Best Supporting Actor might not have come as a surprise, but Christian Bale’s tough-guy image was nowhere to be found. The actor sincerely thanked his wife and daughter after accepting the prize for “The Fighter.” Not only was he happy, but he even made fun of himself and his previous bouts with bad language. Billy Crystal’s Standing Ovation In the evening’s most-apparent act of foreshadowing, Billy Crystal took the stage to honor former Oscar host Bob Hope, and the audience welcomed him with a standing ovation. It wasn’t long after that talk of bringing Crystal back to host started, setting up the Oscar night we’re now anticipating. The MTV Movies team has the 2012 Oscars covered! Stick with us for everything you need to know leading up to the awards show, and on Sunday, February 26, tune into MTV.com at 5 p.m. ET for our two-and-a-half-hour red-carpet live stream and updates on the night’s big winners. To join the live conversation, tweet @MTVNews with the hashtag #Oscars. Related Videos 2011 Oscars Red Carpet Interviews Related Photos The 2011 Academy Awards Best And Worst Oscars Hosts Of All Time
MTV News looks back on the most moving speeches and those that left us cringing. By John Mitchell Jennifer Hudson at the 2007 Oscars Photo: Vince Bucci/Getty Images Delivering a good Oscar acceptance speech is not easy. If you over prepare, you seem arrogant, like you knew you were going to win all along, and if you aren’t ready for your name to be called, you’re almost certain to forget to thank your significant other or your film’s director. Some Oscar winners suffer from a serious case of the sniffles and leave audiences unsure what they even said, while others go off on tangents that have nothing to do with movies at all. In the end, though, it mostly just comes down to having that special something, that je ne sais quoi . And let’s face it, you’ve either got it or you don’t. Below are five stars we think nailed it when they were called onstage and five who, well, didn’t exactly charm viewers’ pants off on movies’ biggest night. Best Cuba Gooding Jr., Best Supporting Actor, “Jerry Maguire” (1998) Gooding’s acceptance speech is basically an exercise in pure joy. The actor leapt to the stage and earnestly thanked just about everyone he’s ever met, starting with his mother and God, and issued “I love you’s” to “Maguire” co-star Tom Cruise, director Cameron Crowe and pretty much everyone else who worked on the film. His genuine enthusiasm captured the crowd and earned him a standing ovation. Halle Berry, Best Actress, “Monsters Ball” (2002) History was made when Berry won the Best Actress statue — she was the first African American woman to claim the lead actress prize — and she honored the moment with an emotional speech that she dedicated to “every nameless, faceless woman of color who now has a chance after tonight because this door has been opened.” She thanked the actors and actresses of color who came before her and declared the moment “so much bigger” than herself. Her speech was an exercise in humility and surprise — two things most Oscar acceptance speeches could benefit from. Jennifer Hudson, Best Supporting Actress, “Dreamgirls” (2007) Hudson’s took home the Oscar for her very first film performance and delivered a simple acceptance speech that was probably most notable for how humble and truly surprised she seemed to hear her name called. Though she’d been a favorite throughout awards season that year, she seemed shocked when George Clooney announced that she’d won and stuttered and stumbled her way through her speech, but was sure to thank all those she needed to, from “Dreamgirls” director Bill Condon and her co-stars to her family, friends and Jennifer Holliday, who originated the role of Effie White on Broadway. Tom Hanks, Best Actor, “Philadelphia” (1994) Hank’s Oscar acceptance speech may well be the only one to have inspired a movie itself. His lengthy speech was marked by some traits we don’t always love — it certainly felt rehearsed — but the actor’s gratitude seemed genuine when he thanked his high school drama teacher, Rawley Farnsworth, as well as a former classmate, who he called “two of the finest gay Americans, two wonderful men.” There was only one problem: Farnsworth was still in the closet about his sexuality. The slip of the lip inspired the 1997 film “In & Out,” in which Kevin Kline plays a high school drama teacher outed when his former student (played by Matt Dillon) wins an Oscar. In a nice turn of events, the always lovely Joan Cusack earned an Oscar nomination herself playing Kline’s jilted fianc
