‘We are going to try and raise alot of money this year for charity!’ teen pop star tweets about next project. By Terri Schwartz Justin Bieber Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images Beliebers have more to look forward to this holiday season than just chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Justin Bieber announced Thursday (August 25) on Twitter that he’ll be releasing his first Christmas album later this year. “So it’s true…been in the studio doing something special for christmas. we are going to try and raise alot of money this year for charity!” the 17-year-old Canadian pop star tweeted . This will be Bieber’s second studio album, since his first release, My World, was technically an EP. Barring the release of Never Say Never — The Remixes, which featured the new single “Never Say Never,” this will be the first new music Bieber has released in more than a year. He didn’t share whether he will be collaborating with any other artists on his holiday record or when fans can expect it to hit stores. Bieber is no stranger to using his musical talents for charitable causes. In 2010, he took part in “We Are the World 25” alongside Miley Cryus, Kanye West and Lil Wayne. Bieber has supported charities like Give Back Hollywood, Jumpstart and Children’s Miracle Network in the past, though he did not specify which charity he would be donating the proceeds of his Christmas album to in his tweet. The “Baby” crooner isn’t the only artist to announce a Christmas album recently. Zooey Deschanel shared the news over Twitter earlier this month that her band She & Him will be releasing their first holiday album — and third album overall — later this year. In addition, Bieber’s fellow Canadian Michael Bubl
‘It was cool to play something evil and dark,’ actor tells MTV News. By Terri Schwartz, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Christopher Mintz-Plasse in “Fright Night” Photo: DreamWorks The vampires in “Fright Night” might not sparkle in the sunlight, but star Christopher Mintz-Plasse still understands their appeal. “Now I get it, why people play vampires,” he told MTV News during Movie Awards Sneak Peek Week. “I’m like, there’ve been vampire movies. [But] that was really a lot of fun to do.” The crux of the issue, director Craig Gillespie explained, is that vampires are sexy. He made the argument that there are always vampire movies, but their popularity surges in waves. In the ’80s, there was “The Lost Boys,” in the ’90s there was “Interview With the Vampire” and now it’s “The Twilight Saga” keeping the vampire craze afloat. The key was finding a good vampire to sit at the flick’s center, and Gillespie said he always knew lead Colin Farrell would be good for the part. Farrell’s character, Jerry, is dark but also has a humorous aspect, and Gillespie was impressed with Farrell’s ability to walk that line. He knew it wouldn’t be a hard sell either because Hollywood celebrities tend to be drawn to vampire films. “It’s one of those things that actors love to do, because you’re getting to play sort of an iconic kind of character that has all this history with them. You get to have a lot of fun with it,” Gillespie explained. Mintz-Plasse certainly did. His character, Ed, gets ( spoiler alert! ) converted to a vampire in the movie, and Mintz-Plasse was psyched to whip out his inner bloodsucker. “It was cool to play something evil and dark,” he said. Related Videos MTV Sneak Peek Week: ‘Fright Night’
While critics prefer the remake to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s original, reviews aren’t glowing. By Terri Schwartz Jason Momoa in “Conan the Barbarian” Photo: Lionsgate Entertainment “Conan the Barbarian” isn’t trying to pull any punches. From the beginning, the remake of the 1982 cult classic proclaims that its lead lives, loves, slays and is content. And critics are saying that’s exactly what you get in theaters. Reviews haven’t necessarily been positive, with critics complaining about the script and the one-dimensional characters. But they seem to agree that Jason Momoa did a better job in the title role than Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the movie is fun — at least as a mindless summer blockbuster. It might not be worth spending the extra money to see the flick in 3-D, but the fighting is good and gory if that’s what fans are looking for. But don’t let us tell you what to think. Before you head to theaters to watch “Conan the Barbarian,” find out what the critics thought of “Conan the Barbarian” in our review round-up: The Script “With a script so pat and humor-free, Momoa has little to do but sneer and slice. The film informs us that Conan has the heart of a lion and ‘the loyalty of a bloodhound,’ but we get nary a sniff of that in this carnage fest. He’s built like a tank, but Conan emotes like one, too.” — Scott Bowles, USA Today The Effects “This ‘Conan’ plods along, regularly erupting in action scenes that make scant visual sense in two dimensions and none at all in 3-D. The few that stick out involve supernatural beasties; there’s one ferocious battle against warriors made of sand that combines athletic parkour and digital effects to surprisingly exciting ends. Other than that, it’s tame stuff, and there’s little sense of the larger mythical stage the hero strides across.” — Ty Burr, The Boston Globe The Remake “The original ‘Conan’ was a sloppy, grandiose, unforgivable muckbath directed by the (I say the words lovingly) right-wing maniac John Milius. I watched it about four times to make sure it had no redeeming qualities. The reboot (re-sandal?) isn’t good either, exactly. But it has a certain commitment to its cause, and by that I mean it supplies the necessary flayings, slayings, beheadings and, um, a be-nose-ing, all of it dancing to the tune of those amusingly stilted He-Man declaratives — King James Bible cadences applied to comic-book visions. It knows it’s a B movie, and gets on with it.” — Kyle Smith, The New York Post The Schwarzenegger Connection “In this dank ultimate-fighting challenge, Jason Momoa as Conan provides the only visual vivacity; he has an eye-catchingly sensuous face atop the requisite statuesque beefcake. Much more than Schwarzenegger in his early Teutonic-slab phase, Momoa nicely fulfills the law of Hollywood Darwinism: survival of the dishiest. Such is his sex appeal that he almost brings plausibility to the movie’s silliest scene, when Conan tells Tamara, ‘I live, I love, I slay, and I am content,’ and the virgin instantly falls into his arms. Guys bringing their dates to this murky holocaust are advised not to try using Conan’s credo as a pickup line.” — Richard Corliss, Time The Final Word ” ‘Conan the Barbarian,’ starring the excellent rippling chisel of Jason Momoa, is brutal, bloody beyond belief, and has no socially redeeming value. So it is with a certain amount of guilt that I say it’s kind of a wicked blast to watch, especially if you’re in the mood for some righteous revenge.” — Betsy Sharkey, The Los Angeles Times Check out everything we’ve got on “Conan the Barbarian.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .
‘I’ve had people come up to me [and] say, ‘I didn’t think you could pull it off,’ ‘ she tells MTV News of her British accent. By Terri Schwartz, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Anne Hathaway Photo: MTV News “One Day” might not mark the first time Anne Hathaway has a British accent in a film, but that doesn’t make it any easier to get back into character after filming has wrapped. When MTV News caught up with Hathaway, we asked if she could turn the English accent on easily, having previously acted with a British accent in “Becoming Jane,” but she said she never had an easy time slipping into it. “The accent, as soon as I left England, the accent left me,” she said. “We had to go back to do looping; I made sure I went over many days in advance to get back into it. It’s not one that comes naturally, for sure.” To prove her point, Hathaway offered to show off the remnants of her accent to MTV News. ” ‘Ello, MTV, how’s it going?” Hathaway said in her best Cockney voice while wearing a big smile on her face. “I just insulted, by the way, an entire nation of people,” she said afterward, but British co-star Jim Sturgess appeased her by saying, “I feel all right about it.” That earned a laugh from Hathaway, who said, “OK, good, I have one on my side.” So far, Hathaway said she hasn’t gotten any negative feedback about the accent. Everyone she’s talked to who has seen her in the flick has been impressed by her performance, and she’s hoping it will stay that way. “I’ve had people come up to me who have seen it actually and they say, ‘I didn’t think you could pull it off.’ And people feel inclined to tell me that they really had no faith in me whatsoever,” she said with a laugh. “So far, it’s ended with a ‘But you surprised me, and I really enjoyed your performance.’ But I’m just waiting for that person to come up and say, ‘Well, I knew you couldn’t do it.’ ” Check out everything we’ve got on “One Day.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .
‘She’s gone; you’re not putting these clothes back on,’ Julia Jones recalls to MTV News of saying goodbye to her character, Leah. By Terri Schwartz, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Julia Jones Photo: MTV News After filming “Eclipse” and the two-part “Breaking Dawn,” Julia Jones can call herself a “Twilight Saga” veteran. But that doesn’t mean she found going to Comic-Con for the first time any less intimidating. MTV News caught up with Jones in San Diego after the “Breaking Dawn” cast’s packed Hall H panel . Unfortunately, her castmates hadn’t given her much of a heads-up about the insanity of Comic-Con. “We’ve been in front of a lot of people before but this is a new experience for me, Comic-Con,” Jones said. While her fellow castmembers had helped her prepare for the experience of doing fan events for “Eclipse,” Jones said this time they figured she would get the hang of things. “Now I think they just don’t pay attention: ‘She’s been here long enough, she’ll figure it out.’ ” In “Breaking Dawn – Part 1,” Jones and the rest of the wolf pack are featured much more than they have been in previous installments, which gave the actress some room to expand on her character, Leah Clearwater. While Leah is characterized by her anger at Bella (Kristen Stewart) and the Cullens in “Eclipse,” in “Breaking Dawn,” fans will see that her rage has been tempered because a good portion of the story is told from werewolf Jacob Black’s (Taylor Lautner) perspective. “I was thrilled when I read [the script] because she really has the opportunity to kind of grow and she’s not so angry anymore,” Jones explained. “I felt relieved for her when I read that, oh, my gosh, she can actually express these things she hasn’t expressed and go somewhere with it.” As for the last day of shooting the “Twilight” series, Jones admitted that she may have shed a few tears in her trailer when director Bill Condon shouted “Cut!” for the last time. The long shoot made it seem as if filming would never end, she explained, and that made saying goodbye that much harder. “For me, personally, the last day, right when we wrapped, I didn’t believe it. I hadn’t even thought that that was possible. I just stood there like a zombie. People started hugging, like, ‘You’re wrapped, you’re wrapped!’ Like, ‘Go, what are you doing? We need to move on,’ ” Jones said with a laugh. “I actually went back to my trailer and I was fine, I was a little in a daze. And I realized as I was taking my costume off that this is it. She’s gone; you’re not putting these clothes back on. And that was kind of a big thing for me.” Check out everything we’ve got on “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV News’ Comic-Con Takeover ‘Breaking Dawn’ Special Related Photos Twilight: Breaking Dawn ‘Breaking Dawn’ Stars Take Over San Diego Comic-Con
‘Twilight’ heartthrob tells MTV News that working with pros like Bill Condon and John Singleton has helped him grow as an actor. By Terri Schwartz, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Taylor Lautner Photo: MTV News Taylor Lautner has had quite an impressive career for a 19-year-old. Since “Twilight” came out in 2008, he’s worked with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars and hottest directors and is primed to become the film industry’s next big action star when “Abduction” hits theaters in September. MTV News caught up with the “Breaking Dawn” actor at San Diego Comic-Con , and he talked about getting the opportunity to work with and becoming more comfortable around so much A-list talent. “All the directors in the ‘Twilight’ franchise have been amazing, [and] ending with Bill Condon, who’s just a dream,” Lautner said, “and then John Singleton [on ‘Abduction’]. And then all the actors and actresses I’ve been surrounded by, really, I couldn’t have done it without them, but they have definitely helped me throughout the past few years.” With “Abduction” and “Breaking Dawn – Part 1” both wrapped and set for release this fall, Lautner will be busy with press for those films but he also has some free time on his hands. And while the actor doesn’t have any projects lined up right now, he told us he’s looking at some possibilities. “We’re reading a lot [of scripts] right now and we will probably make that decision while I’m promoting,” he explained. “I’m gearing up because in two weeks, I’m off to the races. I start off in Australia and then I’m around the entire world for ‘Abduction,’ and then once again for ‘Breaking Dawn.’ ” Lautner added that he would love to do a comedy after the good feedback he got for his Funny or Die sketch “Field of Dreams 2.” He also teased that something could come of his recent meeting with director Gus Van Sant and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black . But Lautner is really looking forward to spending time with fans, many of whom would visit his “Abduction” set in Pittsburgh. The actor said he was always thankful rather than distracted by their presence. “There’s moments where it could impede the job, but I’m able to stay focused and be in character when I need to and snap right out of it and go over and talk to the fans and be with them for a while and go right back into it, which is great, because I have a lot of fun with them and I love them coming out and hanging with us,” he said. Check out everything we’ve got on “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1” and “Abduction.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV News’ Comic-Con Takeover With Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried And Jon Favreau MTV News’ Comic-Con Takeover ‘Breaking Dawn’ Special MTV Rough Cut: ‘Breaking Dawn’ Director Bill Condon Related Photos The Evolution Of: Taylor Lautner
We see a whole lot of Brooklyn Decker’s skin and an alien ship, but blink and you’ll miss Rihanna. By Eric Ditzian Photo: Universal Pictures “Battleship” may be based on a board game, but the action flick’s first trailer shows an influence far more cinematic than anything having to do with little plastic pegs and the faux-sinking of tiny seafaring vessels. The new footage, which Yahoo! premiered on Wednesday (July 27), begins like an ode to a “Blue Crush”-ish beach make-out movie, veers into “Armageddon”-esque father-vs.-daughter’s-boyfriend antagonism, then explodes in an orgy of a couple dozen alien-invasion movie references. Totally original, this one ain’t. But it’s also pretty damn entertaining, and we really are looking forward to checking out the madness when it hits theaters on May 18, 2012. Until then, here are our picks for the five key “Battleship” trailer moments. Brooklyn, Obviously One of these days, Brooklyn Decker is going to get a movie role that doesn’t require her to parade around a beach in a bikini. Or not. One thing is certain after checking out this footage and taking in her performance, such as it was, in Adam Sandler’s “Just Go With It”: Decker, the Sports Illustrated model, has been typecast. In “Battleship,” she finds herself in the middle of one of cinema’s oldest relationship pickles: in love with a bad boy whom her dad can’t freaking stand. Clearly the relationship between the boy (a naval officer played by Taylor Kitsch) and the daddy (Liam Neeson’s no-nonsense admiral) will factor into the battle with these aliens. Let’s just hope it doesn’t become the emotional focus. Don’t Tread on Me Everything in the Navy’s military exercises in the big blue ocean seems to be going well until they encounter a hulking contraption submerged in the water. One unlucky dude (Kitsch) is sent out to touch base, literally, with the alien ship, unleashing a whole lot of extraterrestrial terror. The aliens, we’ll soon learn, are here to utilize our oceans as a power source. This one shot raises a bunch of questions. Why are the ship’s defenses activated by simple touch, rather than the proximity of the Navy? What kind of tech do the aliens possess that they can send a sort of shockwave that hurtles a man so far, so quickly? And what’s inside the ship that we don’t yet see? What a Big Bubble You Have! Speaking of alien weaponry, the ship is capable of unleashing some kind of bubble force field that encompasses an enemy and, so it seems, destroys everything within it. We’ll just ignore, for now, how the bubble reminds us of that containment unit in “The Simpsons Movie.” Instead, let’s concentrate on the alien tech. We’re hoping for originality and cool visuals to join forces and deliver us a satisfying early summer movie experience. The bubble, perhaps, is the harbinger of fun, absurd, eye-popping stuff to come. She Needs an Umbrella “Battleship” marks Rihanna’s big-screen debut . In the trailer, blink and you miss her. But she’s there, standing up in a raft and looking wet as the alien craft flies overhead. She certainly looks freaked out. But we can’t yet get a sense of her acting chops from this footage; and hey, we might not be able to even after this popcorn flick’s credits roll. All we can say for now is she had a blast on the production. “Working with [director] Peter Berg is unbelievable,” she told us last fall. “I love doing movies now. It’s something I want to do more of. I just want to pick films that are wise for me and roles that I can pull off, nothing that is too big for me.” Taking Flight We have to say we’re surprised how much of the alien ship we get to see in this first trailer. We see how it’s a craft that can both plunge into the water and also take flight. We see how it can transform and shift and hover; quite a lot of control, those aliens have on this sucker. We see its cylinder-shaped weaponry. We see the front of the ship almost seems to have a face. So the question is: How much did filmmakers hold back? We haven’t, for instance, seen the aliens themselves. With so many alien flicks hitting theaters each year, it’s getting harder and harder to surprise audiences with those creatures. Can “Battleship” do it? Stay tuned. Check out everything we’ve got on “Battleship.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Photos Five Important Moments In The ‘Battleship’ Trailer Related Artists Rihanna
Since finishing ‘Super 8,’ Abrams working on ‘Trek 2’ script. By Terri Schwartz JJ Abrams Photo: Getty Images Trekkies and J.J. Abrams fans alike can rejoice, for the “Super 8” director is at long last close to committing to helm “Star Trek 2.” Now that Abrams can no longer use his stock answer — “The truth is that my focus has been so much on finishing ‘Super 8’ ” — to avoid giving any “Star Trek 2” updates, Deadline has confirmed that he is working with the flick’s writers and is close to committing to direct the sequel to his hit “Star Trek” reboot. This must have been the “announcement” Abrams promised MTV News would be coming “soon” back at the “Super 8” premiere in June. But it also means that the film will miss its intended June 29, 2012, release date. That’s good news for “G.I. Joe: Cobra Rises,” though, which Deadline is calling “G.I. Joe: Retaliation.” The entertainment news site has learned that Paramount is planning on giving the June release date to the “G.I. Joe” sequel and slating “Star Trek 2” for either winter 2012 or summer 2013. Either way, Paramount has agreed to be ready to jump into production on the flick whenever Abrams is. Abrams is now sitting down with writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman to polish up the “Star Trek 2” script, which Deadline is guessing will begin production in January. MTV News caught up with Damon Lindelof at San Diego Comic-Con, where he chatted about the current status of the script. “There was a lot of work going on over the course of the last year between Bob [Orci] and Alex [Kurtzman] and I,” Lindelof said. “We generated, like, a 90-page half-script half-treatment based on some meetings that we’ve had with J.J. [Abrams]. Now that J.J. is finally finished with ‘Super 8,’ we’ve kind of, not thrown out that material, but we’re reworking a lot of it.” He added that the final product of the script will hopefully improve upon the sequel the same way “Batman Begins” improved upon “The Dark Knight.” ” ‘Trek 2’ has to be better than ‘Trek 1,’ ” Lindelof said. “It has to.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Star Trek 2.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .
‘I wanted to take everybody back,’ Jeezy tells MTV news of staging album-anniversary concerts in NYC and ATL. By Rob Markman, with reporting by Rahman Dukes Young Jeezy Photo: MTV News Young Jeezy sure knows how to throw a birthday bash. To celebrate the six-year anniversary of the release of his 2005 debut album, Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101, Jeezy staged a pair of concerts , one in New York City on Monday, and a second on Tuesday, which was actually the anniversary of the album, in Atlanta. “It felt good to see the city out, givin’ everybody something to dress up for, get out have a good time,” the Snowman told MTV News on Tuesday while backstage at his ATL show. “It was definitely a lot of thug motivatin’ going on. Everybody was there for one reason: We were celebrating. It was a celebration. “I just wanted to put somethin’ together that was special,” he said of the tribute shows. “Music is so different nowadays from when I came out. An album would last two or three years, especially when you have a classic like I do,” he added with a chuckle. In NYC, Jeezy thrilled concertgoers as he ran through the TM 101 track list, bringing out special guests like Jay-Z, Kanye West, Bun B, Fabolous and the LOX during the 80-minute show. And for Atlanta, Jizzle brought out Yo Gotti and Lil Scrappy. “I got a lot of what I call family in this industry. It’s a lot of cats that came from the same walk of life that I came from and we really rock like that,” Jeezy said about his star-studded guest list. “We just show that support for each other. I’ve been on tour with a lot of these cats and kick it on the phone with them daily, so it’s phone calls, two, three phone calls,” he said of getting his rap-star friends to participate. When it was released in 2005, Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 helped usher in a brand of drug-related, trap rap that has become prevalent in hip-hop in the past six years. Things have definitely changed since Jeezy made his first splash, but he believes his album represents a specific time in hip-hop that may never return. ” ’05 was a beautiful year — for the economy, for the people, for the hood, just working-class, even if you were a street hustler,” Young Jeezy said of his rookie year in rap. “The world is a different place now, so I wanted to take everybody back and give them that feeling, because it’s hard out here. At the same time, just that in the back of your head, knowing when this music was playing what you were doing, help you get through your day again, still motivation.” During his set in NY, Jeezy announced that his long awaited TM 103 will be released on September 20, and on Tuesday, he announced a 26-ctiy tour that will begin in New Orleans on July 31, concluding in Seattle on September 2. Share your memories of Jeezy’s TM 101 in the comments below! Related Artists Young Jeezy
Co-star Daniel Craig had to ‘look me up and down,’ actress explains. By Terri Schwartz, with reporting by Eric Ditzian Olivia Wilde in “Cowboys & Aliens” Photo: Universal Pictures Olivia Wilde might have been covered in dust and dirt while shooting “Cowboys & Aliens,” but that didn’t make shooting a mostly nude scene in front of her co-star Daniel Craig any less awkward. “It was kind of strange because I was half-naked in front of a bunch of people, including the crew, a bunch of Apache warriors, a bunch of cowboys, and Daniel Craig, who I had to stand in front of basically naked,” Wilde explained to MTV News. “He had to take a moment to sort of look me up and down before covering me in a blanket. And I was like, this is crazy.” It didn’t help that after the long night of shooting, Wilde and the rest of the “Cowboys & Aliens” cast had to take an overnight flight to San Diego Comic-Con to make their Hall H presentation . So if fans remember her being a little frazzled, it probably has something to do with the fact Wilde had no sleep after filming a scene in which she was partially nude for the majority of it. As fans will find out come Friday’s release of “Cowboys & Aliens,” the scene Wilde is talking about — which has been teased in the film’s many trailers — happens at the climax. She said filming the sequence was an “honor” because it is such an important moment in the movie. “It was really exciting because we knew we were creating something kind of spectacular in that scene,” Wilde said. “It was a really cool effect happening, as people will see.” The actress said she didn’t wear much make-up and required little hairstyling while filming because the style of the flick was “very bare.” She said it was a very dirty shoot, and not just because she was almost naked. “We were literally dirty because we were riding all day long out in the desert, and you get very dirty. But the dirtier everybody looked, the hotter they looked. It was a really good look, I think,” she said. “The people in the Old West were very dirty. The thing that’s unrealistic about our movie is all our teeth: We have good teeth; they didn’t have good teeth. So, logic police will call BS on that.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Cowboys & Aliens.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘Cowboys and Aliens’ Related Photos ‘Cowboys & Aliens’
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