MJ’s continued influence on pop culture has proved that the King of Pop will forever remain in the hearts of music fans. By Nadeska Alexis Michael Jackson Photo: Music fans the world over can mark June 25, 2009 as one of those eerie days that force them to recall exactly what they were doing in the moments before they heard tragic news. Michael Jackson died that day, at the age of 50, and the world was not ready to see him go. No entertainer could ever fill the void that MJ left behind, but his memory has not faded in the three years that he’s been gone. In the past 12 months alone, we’ve seen Jackson-inspired productions, heard narratives from celebrities who continually cite him as a key influence, and this summer his face will be plastered on Pepsi cans to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his classic album Bad. Keep reading to see a few examples from the past year that prove that Jackson has remained forever in the heart of pop culture. Conrad Murray manslaughter trial The public and very messy manslaughter trial for Jackson’s doctor Conrad Murray began in late September, and it was an excruciating and drawn-out ordeal for fans who were hoping to find closure after the star’s death. After a painstaking six-week trial, which included testimony from 49 witnesses, a jury delivered a guilty verdict on involuntary manslaughter charges for Murray on November 7, and the world let out a collective sigh of relief. Watch the Throne shout-out The guilty verdict in Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial was handed down just hours before Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne tour hit Madison Square Garden in New York, and it was clear that the hip-hop Titans were paying attention, just like everyone else. While spitting his lines on the WTT’s “Welcome to the Jungle,” Jay threw extra emphasis on the line, “Rest in peace to the leader of the Jackson 5,” which drew applause from the crowd. Cirque Du Soleil launches Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour After a few preliminary shows in Canada, in October Cirque Du Soleil launched Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour in the U.S., dedicating a two-hour production entirely to the fallen legend. The mind-blowing mashup of dance and acrobatics, set to MJ’s music, was an immediate hit, and the 65 artists who trained intensely for their performances did not take their responsibilities lightly. When MTV News caught up with one of the dancers backstage, following a performance set to “Danger,” he admitted that the entire production was deeply emotional, and that if MJ could see the show, “he would feel such a sense of pride of what he has given us to work with.” Jackson tops fans’ hologram wish list Tupac’s hologram appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April set off a firestorm of speculation about which deceased entertainer we could expect to see onstage next. Not surprisingly, MJ was on the tip of many a fan’s tongue. LMFAO ‘s Redfoo put MJ’s name at the top of his hologram wish list, while a quick poll of fans in the Times Square area found that the masses wholeheartedly agreed.”It’s a really clich
New video, directed by Peter Berg, premieres at 7:53 p.m. ET on MTV, followed by a Q&A with the band on MTV.com. By James Montgomery, with reporting by Kelly Marino Adam Levine in Maroon 5’s “One More Night” music video Photo: In Maroon 5 ‘s brand-new “One More Night” video, frontman Adam Levine plays a boxer who takes a licking both in and out of the ring. And while one aspect of his performance was all acting (that would be his scenes with actress Minka Kelly), the other was very real indeed. That’s according to “One More Night” director Peter Berg, who sat down with MTV News to talk about the clip ahead of its debut — tonight (June 25) at 7:53 p.m. on MTV as part of “MTV First: Maroon 5” — and made it very clear that Levine pulled no punches during the filming. In fact, he even took a couple punches from one of the best in the business. “Adam Levine learned how to box here, at the world-famous Wild Card Boxing Gym, home of Manny Pacquiao and [trainer] Freddie Roach,” Berg said. “The idea for the video was Adam’s. He called me and said, ‘I wrote this treatment. Would you read it?’ He had this idea, sort of comparing fighting to love, and so I called Freddie, who was a friend of mine, and I said, ‘I need you to train this guy.’ ” “Of course, Freddie was working Manny Pacquiao at the time [for this month’s bout against Tim Bradley], so we had to find one of his trainers, and so we found this great trainer and put him through a 10-day boxing program,” he continued. “And the truth is, this kid is just a natural athlete. He took to it very quickly, and we were able to get into sparring scenarios in the ring. … We had to see how Adam would react to somebody punching him in the face, whether he’d run out screaming and call his bodyguards. But I remember the first time he got cracked in the head, he had a big smile on his face.” Levine definitely wasn’t smiling through his scenes with Kelly, who plays the mother of his newborn child. We won’t spoil how their relationship plays out, but let’s just say she doesn’t think his boxing career is going to succeed anytime soon. Though, as Berg explained, shooting those scenes was about as tough as the “One More Night” video got, because from the first sparring session to the final edit, he was definitely feeling the love on this one. “Minka’s a fan of Maroon 5 and she said she’d do it, and we had a great time shooting the video,” he said. “I was always a Maroon 5 fan, and now they’re in my heart and they’re a part of my family.” Don’t miss the premiere of Maroon 5’s “One More Night” video during “MTV First: Maroon 5” tonight at 7:53 p.m. on MTV, followed by a 30-minute Q&A with the band on MTV.com. Related Videos Maroon 5 To Bring ‘One More Night’ Video To MTV First! Related Artists Maroon 5
Teen Found Guilty of Raping Toddler This sick older brother is going away… hopefully for the rest of his life: Memphis, TN – A Memphis jury has found 17-year-old James Prindle guilty of raping a 23-month-old girl. The jury took all day on Friday to convict Prindle on all counts. Prosecutors claimed Prindle committed the disturbing act against the toddler while babysitting at Cordova Creek Apartments in August of 2010. Though just 15 at the time, he was later charged and indicted as an adult. “There’s no DNA, no semen, no blood stain. You’ll hear how the child was bleeding but nothing links James to the sexual assault,” said Prindle’s defense during opening arguments. Prindle was accused of bathing the child before running to a neighbor for help. Prosecutors say he told that neighbor a lie that a “large black man wearing a mask broke into the apartment,” that police later disproved. The next story Prindle told, according to prosecutors, was that his friends were responsible for the rape. His defense attorney says he lied about the robber because he was trying to stay out of trouble with his mother for having friends over when he was supposed to be babysitting. “He’s hanging out with friends, high, running the apartment complex. That’s what he was doing, making up stories lying about being in the apartment every time he was left alone for hours,” claimed the defense. Prindle’s attorney says Prindle, who had not only smoked marijuana but had taken Xanex, wasn’t home at the time of the rape and says once he found the little girl beaten and bruised he did everything he could to help her. Lil punk! You’ll be treated real nice where you’re going. Foxmemphis
Colorado Mother-Daughter Duo Indicted For Online Dating Scam A mother and daughter in Colorado were indicted for their role in a “Nigerian internet romance scam” in which associates in Nigeria posed as members of the U.S. Armed Forces and stole over $1 million from 374 victims. Tracy Vasseur, 40, and her mother, Karen Vasseur, 73, of Brighton, Colo., about 21 miles north of Denver, face a hearing on Tuesday in the Adams County District Court. The Colorado Attorney General, John Suthers, said the two were part of a scam since 2009 that “lured unsuspecting women to internet dating sites by posing as members of the U.S. military serving in Afghanistan. The Vasseurs’ 374 victims over a three year period were based throughout the United States and from 40 other countries.” The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a government organization that refers cyber crime complaints to law enforcement agencies, says people 40 and older who are divorced, widowed, or disabled are most likely to fall prey to online dating scams. ABC News previously reported on other victims of these fraudulent Romeos, like Joan Romana from Lynbrook, N.Y. and Esther Ortiz-Rodeghero, a widow from Castle Rock, Colo. The Vasseurs were indicted of 20 counts in violations of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, money laundering and theft in a 27-page document filed by Suthers’ office. Tracy Vasseur faces up to 205 years in prison if convicted on all counts. Karen Vasseur faces up to 172 years in prison. “After a phony relationship was established, victims were asked to send money and were led to believe that the soldiers would use the money to retrieve property, travel to the U.S., and pay other expenses,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement. The mother-daughter duo worked with associates in Nigeria, wiring most of the stolen money to them and kept about a 10 percent cut “although they would often receive less,” the indictment stated. The Vasseurs sent stolen money addressed to 112 different names in Nigeria, but most often to “Olamigoke Ayodeji.” They also wired money to individuals in Ecuador, Great Britain, India, United Arab Emirates and the U.S. “After a relationship was established, the purported military member would begin asking the victim to send money to an ‘agent’ in Colorado,” primarily through electronic fund transfer services like Western Union or Money Gram, according to the indictment. “Among other reasons, victims were frequently told that the money they sent would pay for satellite phones, so that the victim and the perpetrator could talk directly to each other, or for travel expenses, so that the “soldier” could take authorized leave from duty to visit the victim in the U.S.” The money transferred was usually over $10,000 and as high as $59,000, according to the indictment. According to the attorney general’s office, the two recruited family members of friends to participate. Tracy Vasseur allegedly used her then 16-year-old daughter to fraudulently receive stolen money and then wire it to Nigeria as part of the scam over a year because Western Union had restricted her access, according to the indictment. The indictment stated the grand jury is aware of “one or more individuals residing in Nigeria” who were involved in the scam, “but is unable to affirmatively identify them at this time.” The Vasseurs established 20 personal and business bank accounts at 11 local banks for the purpose of laundering the stolen money. SMH. They had it poppin with those poor lonely ladies’ money. Source
Octomom Dating Bodybuilder Frankie G And the two lovebirds met at church! Despite her aversion to dating, Octomom has found herself a new man . Nadya Suleman, who claims she’s been celibate for 13 years, reveals she’s been dating a 23-year-old amateur bodybuilder named Frankie G. Video taken by TMZ shows the fitness buff welcoming the 36-year-old mom with a kiss upon her arrival at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday. The new couple has reportedly been getting serious after just two months of dating. When asked if their 13-year age difference was an issue, Suleman told TMZ: “No, I have the mind of an 18-year-old.” She said she met her new beau in church, which was also where they were headed after the airport. Frankie admitted that seeing a woman who has 14 children wasn’t a walk in the park. “It has its moments,” he told the website. “Obviously she has a lot of kids but it’s wonderful and I enjoy it. She’s a wonderful person, she has a good heart.” Being in a relationship is a new experience for Suleman. Last August, she opened up to Steppin’ Out magazine about her distaste for sex and inability to find happiness in a relationship. “I only had one boyfriend my whole life and I never loved him,” she said at the time. “I only wanted babies.” Even when she was married, Suleman said she never liked to be intimate with her husband. “I can tell you that I never touched him physically. It was a different type of marriage,” she said. “That’s all I want to say about it. I’m the kind of person who can be with a man for years and never touch him. My mind is not wired that way. I don’t need that kind of thing. People need sex, but I don’t .. I have zero sexual interest.” WTF? How is this broad 36 talking about “No, I have the mind of an 18-year-old” AND she have 14 friggin kids?!?!?!?!?! SMH. Source
Director Michael Bay speaks out on his plans for his fourth and final round with the robots in disguise. By Josh Wigler “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Photo: When “Transformers” revs up for its fourth big-screen adventure, you’ll see plenty of familiar faces along for the ride: Optimus Prime, Bumblebee. … But there won’t be a single human character from the old guard. Unless, of course, you count director Michael Bay. “It’s a new cast,” the director matter-of-factly told the Los Angeles Times about his plans for “Transformers 4,” which will not feature Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky at all. “We’re moving on to something different.” “It’s not a reboot, that’s maybe the wrong word,” Bay added. “I don’t want to say reboot because then people will think we’re doing a Spider-Man and starting from the beginning. We’re not. We’re taking the story that you’ve seen &8212; the story we’ve told in three movies already &8212; and we’re taking it in a new direction. But we’re leaving those three as the history. It all still counts. I met with the writer before I went off to do ‘Pain and Gain’ and we talked about a bunch of ideas. We let that simmer for a bit. He’s been thinking about stuff and now we’re getting back together next week to see what we’ve got and to see if it gels.” One of the new ideas that Bay has cooked up: the possibility of bringing the Autobots and Decepticons to outer space. “I think so, yeah, a little,” he said when asked if the fourth film would go off-planet. “That feels like the way to go, doesn’t it? I want to go a little off, but I don’t want to go too sci-fi. I still want to keep it grounded. That’s what works in these movies, that’s what makes it accessible.” Bay said that “Transformers 4,” which will have a smaller budget than its predecessors by “about $30 million,” will be his final ride with Prime and pals. He’s said as much in the past, of course — but this time, Bay insists that he means business. “Here’s the thing, it’s tough to find someone who’s done these kind of movies and to have the complication of creating the new stuff that needs to be in this movie — not just characters but a new type of action, I hope — and that’s a lot for someone new to bite off,” said the director. “And so after this one I will leave it in the best hands possible. That’s the plan.” Tell us what you think of Bay’s “Transformers” plans in the comments below! Check out everything we’ve got on “Transformers 4.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .
In ‘All Around the World’ NBC special, Bieber shares, ‘It’s important I never forget where I came from.’ By Jocelyn Vena Justin Bieber on his “All Around The World” special Photo: Last time on Justin Bieber ‘s primetime special, “All Around the World,” the singer’s camp worried about him after he fell down some stairs following a concussion he suffered running into a glass wall during his performance in Paris. Well, on part two of the NBC special, fans get to see just what happened next. “He’s got a nice little bump. Doctors said he should be OK,” his manager, Scooter Braun, shares. “It just scared me in general when he was nonresponsive. … In that moment, when he was not waking up, that was scary.” While Braun was concerned about the star’s wellbeing, later on, Bieber is shown being mostly concerned about whether you can see the bump he got in the process. After wrapping up his time in Paris, Bieber embarks on more dates in Italy and Spain, where he meets more screaming, crying fans. “The team is definitely like a family. There’s never a dull moment,” Bieber says of his tour crew. “Seeing fans is always the most important to me,” he later says of his devotees. “I wouldn’t be in this position without them. Sometimes it can get really chaotic … but I go out of my way.” In addition to traveling the globe with his tightknit road family, in Spain, Bieber is joined by his little sister and dad. “Just being able to come back at the end of the night and see my little sister, it’s amazing,” he shares. While he has folks like his crew and family to keep him grounded, the pandemonium he causes everywhere he goes never lets up. Mexico City is next on the schedule. “I miss home … but it’s all worth it. I get to do so many other things that I wouldn’t get to experience. It’s been really a blessing,” he says. “I have definitely changed over the last few years, and I think it’s for the good. I think that I’m getting more mature. But as far me as a person, I think I’ll always be the same person.” Later on, Bieber visits his hometown in Canada. While there, he performs on the same street corner where he used to play before he was famous, noting how “weird” it is to do his own song there rather than a cover. “For me, it’s important I never forget where I came from,” he says. His trip around the globe ends in the Big Apple, where he prepares for a number of appearances and shows, including his now-infamous performance at the Apollo Theater , which he finished unplugged after losing power. “I want to go someplace Michael [Jackson] performed,” he says in the lead-up to the performance. Instead of shutting it down, Bieber continued the show with a sing-along and a dance battle, much to the delight of his fans. “My fans, to me, mean the world. I’m very blessed, and I have all my Beliebers to thank for that,” he notes. “I never thought that I would be in the position that I am now. I think that it’s so important that if you have a dream to just believe.” While in New York City, he also appeared on his very own MTV special, “Bieber Live,” where he opened up about his just-released new album, Believe . Did you watch “All Around the World”? Share your favorite moments in the comments below! Related Videos ‘Bieber Live’ Related Artists Justin Bieber
Among the many familiar faces in Disney-Pixar’s Brave – or familiar voices , rather – is actor Kevin McKidd , who joins fellow Scots Kelly MacDonald, Billy Connolly, Craig Ferguson, and Robbie Coltrane in bringing the tale of a 10th century princess to life in colorful detail. Earlier this week, Movieline spoke with the transplanted McKidd about his beloved home country, his Brave brogue, and the breakthrough moments in a career spanning his early turn in Trainspotting to his current gig on Grey’s Anatomy . Tapped for Brave , McKidd (who also lends his voice to the popular Call of Duty: Modern Warfare video games) contributed not one, but two voices to the animated adventure: He voices the honor-bound Lord MacGuffin, one of three battle-happy noblemen in King Fergus’s domain, and the lord’s awkward son Young MacGuffin, a bashful would-be suitor prodded to vie for the hand of the headstrong Princess Merida (MacDonald). For the role of Young MacGuffin, the Elgin, Scotland native offered his own solution to a stumped Pixar’s filmmaking crew searching to find the right unintelligible accent for the character. McKidd shared that and more with Movieline, discussing the post- Trainspotting “lean years,” the TV roles on Journeyman , Grey’s Anatomy , and HBO’s Rome that established him Stateside, his brush with Disney’s John Carter , and how the one-time engineering student forged his own path, a la Brave , to embark on his acting career: “There’s no point living unless you’re actually following the path you feel you should be on, you know?” I’ve never been to Scotland. You have obviously been, a few times. How could you not go to Scotland? It’s beautiful. You should go! Go now! Go today! Okay, I’ll just go right after this! But tell me, from your perspective having grown up there, how well do you feel Brave captures the feel and the spirit and the culture of the place you’re from? I think it really captures it – it’s almost like they took the best parts of Scotland and stuck them in a film and put them in Photoshop, kind of improved on Scotland. I didn’t think anyone could improve on Scotland but I think Pixar did. What are the best parts of Scotland? The glens, and the beautiful lochs… the amazing islands. I love the islands on the west coast of Scotland, they’re stunning places to visit. You take ferries from different ports to different places – the beautiful, white, sandy, clear beaches with no pollution. It’s a stunning place, but also the people are hilarious. I really miss the people. They’re your own people – or, for me, they’re my own people. And I do miss that. There also must be such a sense of the mythic history, so rich in this place. Growing up in Scotland, surrounded by these beautiful landscapes – did you feel that sense? Yeah! There were castles near where I was from, and I’d cycle my bike out there and we’d have picnics. There’s Duffus Castle, near Elgin, so there’s definitely that kind of epic historical nature to the landscape that’s there, that’s never far away. It’s just part of your life as you grow up. And we’d have standing stones just stood around in fields, with cows walking around them, that are ancient – truly ancient! How did you come to Brave ? It’s great that so much of the voice cast is actually Scottish. They just called me – they said, “We want you to be in this film!’ I said, “Who are you?” [Laughs] “Pixar!” “Pixar? I’ll do it!” And then they said it was about Scotland and I was like, brilliant! So it was a double-whammy for me, because just to be asked to be involved with Pixar is a big badge of honor. Then for the film to be about a place that I really love, was brilliant. So I didn’t even think about it for a second. At this point it’s interesting to hear the projects that different folks recognize you from – you’ve done notable television and film work, but many people also recognize your voice from your video game work. Oh yeah, from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare ! It’s huge, that game. It’s absolutely massive. And I didn’t realize how big video games are until I did them. Did the Brave call come before or after your gaming voice work? It was during, actually. I’ve been doing the Brave movie for four years, and I did Modern Warfare 2 and 3 over the course of two years. So it was all around the same time. Which of your works do you think inspired the Pixar folks to call you up for Brave ? I don’t know! They just said, “We think you’re a really good actor and we’ve been a fan of your stuff.” I think a lot of people at Pixar were very into Rome , on HBO. It was a great show. So I think that was the thing that made them go, “We’re interested…” I know that Andrew Stanton was very interested in me for John Carter , which I couldn’t do because of Grey’s Anatomy , so I think my name was around there. Which role was it, in John Carter ? I can’t remember! Did you go as far as to actually converse with Stanton about the film? We got close to meeting, and then the studio just said, “No, we can’t release him from Grey’s , so don’t even bother.” It was a shame. It’s been interesting to follow your career all these years – the first time I saw you was in Trainspotting . Yes. That was a long time ago… At what point do you feel like you really broke through? I think there were a couple of points, really. I think it was Rome that was the thing, because I had quite a lot of lean years after Trainspotting . I did a lot of cool work but very low budget and very indie stuff. I think it was Rome that was that game changer for me. That was also just about the time that cable television was emerging as this fantastic medium for storytelling, and look at it now. Yes – this force! I’m still so proud to have been a part of that show, and I miss that show. I’m so happy to be on Grey’s , but there was something about Rome – it was this real boy’s own show, it was about all these male relationships and these strong female characters, and it was really just an amazing show to shoot. Grey’s Anatomy in itself is quite a touchstone – isn’t landing that show a sign that you’ve made it? It’s kind of cool – I’m still pinching myself that I’m on that show. I was also fond of Journeyman … I loved that show, and I miss that show. I saw Kevin Falls, the creator, yesterday – he was playing golf with his son and I was behind him. We were reminiscing, it was great! We’re still good friends. That was a brilliantly written show, Journeyman – it just didn’t get the traction it needed. It’s hard these days in the business world, in the TV world. A TV show has to be a massive hit straight away, so it was unfortunate that it didn’t last. We sat through the writer’s strike and then we thought, “Shit, we’re going to have to just leave, and go back to the U.K.” – and then Shonda Rhimes called me. She said, “We want you for this show.” You and your family were ready to go back? Yeah, we were going to go, and Shonda said, “I want you to play this guy, Owen Hunt.” I knew Grey’s was a hit, but I didn’t know much about it. But it’s been a blast ever since, and I feel very, very fortunate, to be honest. Because I’m just this guy from a village in the highlands of Scotland, you know? Well, going back to your roots – you play not one, but two characters in Brave . The resemblance is stunning, by the way. [Laughs] Oh, thank you! I like the hairdos. You play Lord MacGuffin and his son, two very different characters in the periphery of Merida’s kingdom. It’s interesting to see how the vocal performances come through, because some of the dialogue is so minimal. But the younger MacGuffin has a very particular accent… He does! It’s kind of a great joke, to give him an accent so thick nobody can understand him – even other Scottish characters in the film. It works pretty well. They wanted the young MacGuffin to be completely not understandable, and they were asking my advice on how they should do it. I said, “The one thing I can suggest is, there’s a dialect from the home area that I’m from which is called the Doric, and it’s a very thick, almost Norwegian dialect that most people, even in Scotland, can’t understand.” Can you understand it? I can understand it because I grew up with it, my grandfather spoke it. But a lot of people familiar with that area can’t understand it. So I did some for them and showed them a few YouTube clips and they were like, “Oh my god, that’s amazing! That isn’t made up?” I said, “No, it’s real!” So I feel pretty stoked that I managed to get this crazy dialect from my home area into a massive Disney film. I love that – not to mention the fact that the character is so cute. He’s very cute. Well, he’s this shy boy, very big-boned – he’s shy like I was. I kind of channeled myself as a ten-year-old boy, because I was a painfully shy child. When did that change for you? Probably about age 14, because then I started acting and that was the thing that drew me out of myself. The themes that resonate strongly in Brave , aside from the fact that this is the rare female heroine who doesn’t need a love interest and gets to fight her own battles, involve the relationship between parent and child, and the idea of teenagers forging their own path in life. Do you feel that you relate to that sentiment yourself? I relate – I shouldn’t have been an actor. I should have been like a plumber, or something practical. I went to university to study engineering. What changed? I just knew that I wasn’t going to be happy. I could feel it in my gut, I could just feel it. So I made a change. I didn’t tell anybody, but I applied to drama school in addition, and got in, and then told my family that I was going in another direction. People were really cool about it, surprisingly! I think that can be a challenge – I was expecting them to be really not happy. But I think you have to do that sometimes, you have to just follow your gut. There’s no point living unless you’re actually following the path you feel you should be on, you know? Brave is in theaters today. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
her names not pattie bieber, but if i didnt say that my cousin would have no idea who i was talking about. so sorry about one: this being early, like VERY early. i won’t have the time to upload it tomorrow, and, it’s better up i guess two: not having a video last week, i filmed it i just had no time to edit, or get a fill in. so my “accent” was squidward. and i called my cousin. she posted it all over facebook and “Pattie” called her back and told her she couldn’t have them because she put it all over the internet. don’t hate, i can’t do accents, let alone talk like pattie. ahaha see you next week! www.youtube.com http://www.youtube.com/v/-MmPMEvTltA?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata More: Friday is giving away Justin Bieber tickets
In ‘AHS’ season two, Lange is ‘a bride of Christ,’ writer tells MTV News. By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Tami Katzoff Jessica Lange in “American Horror Story” Photo: While there have been scant details regarding the second season of “American Horror Story” floating around since it was announced it would be rebooted in a new time and place with spanking-new characters, what fans have been most clamoring to know about is how season one bad girl Jessica Lange will be re-imagined for the series. “She’s not playing this kind of ersatz Tennessee Williams character this time,” “AHS” writer Tim Minear told MTV News about Lange in season two. “She’s playing something that’s a little more East Coast, a little more patrician.” While she was a bit of a darkly motivated, self-involved floozy in season one, her new backstory seems to paint a different picture for the character. “She’s playing a nun,” he said. “She’s playing an administrator of a facility. It’s different. In this instance, she’s a bride of Christ.” Season one of the FX horror series took place in sunny Los Angeles, which served as the backdrop to Murder House and its disturbed inhabitants, both living and dead. But, season two will take place in the 1960s on the East Coast with a mental institution as the locale for all the creepiness. Lange will call the shots, which is sort of what she did in season one as well, but it seems she’ll be motivated in a whole new set of ways. “We thought it would be cool. I mean, the truth is, when I first met with [creators] Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk about the show, I came in, I read the pilot script, and I’m like, ‘OK guys, this is all very well and good — I don’t know how you make this into a TV show. I don’t know how you sustain this,’ ” Minear recalled. “And Ryan immediately had the answer, and that was, ‘Oh, the way we sustain it is by the end of the season, we have killed off every character.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m in!’ And then you revamp it. Basically, in season two, you have a whole new story, a whole new location, a whole new time frame. You just do something different,” he added. “The reason we’re doing it in the 1960s is because that fits the story that we want to tell.” Given that anything is possible in the “AHS” world, there’s a chance that the infamous Murder House just might make a cameo. “I wouldn’t rule anything out,” Minear shared. Sure, everyone has been salivating over details about Lange and her newly learned good-girl character, but there’s another casting that has everyone intrigued: Maroon 5 leading man Adam Levine has been cast as one of “The Lovers.” “Let’s say that Adam’s character is kind of a nod to contemporary sensibilities, as opposed to something from the mid-century,” Minear noted. Levine joins other returning castmembers Zachary Quinto, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters and Lily Rabe as well as Lange. Levine and his bandmates will drop Overexposed on Tuesday. They will sit down with MTV News for an “MTV First” on Monday to discuss the new album, and perhaps Levine will share more details about his “AHS” role. Don’t miss the premiere of Maroon 5’s “One More Night” video during “MTV First: Maroon 5” on Monday, June 25, at 7:53 p.m. on MTV, followed by a 30-minute Q&A with the band on MTV.com. Related Artists Maroon 5
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