‘I always wanted to work with [Pitt],’ Marc Forster tells MTV News. By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Brad Pitt Photo: Steve Granitz/ Getty Images Like a zombie ambling toward its target, Brad Pitt took his time developing “World War Z.” Plan B, his production company, first acquired the rights to Max Brooks’ novel about the rise of the flesh-eating undead in 2007, then hiring “Quantum of Solace” director Marc Forster to helm the project before the script underwent a series of rewrites. At that point, it was not at all clear that Pitt would take on anything more than a behind-the-scenes role. Eventually, though, Forster found in Pitt not only a hands-on producer but the star of his film. “I was really intrigued by the book,” Forster told MTV News at the Toronto International Film Festival while promoting his drama, “Machine Gun Preacher.” “I always wanted to work with [Pitt]. I think he is an incredible actor and he is an inspiring collaborator. If you look at his filmography, he has incredibly good taste. The choices he makes — he’s very smart about it.” The book itself doesn’t present a straightforward narrative, but an oral history that skips from character to character and crumbling nation to crumbling nation as the zombie apocalypse takes hold. From these far-flung plot strands, the filmmakers had to construct a coherent, streamlined narrative. What’s more, they had to find a way to separate “World War Z” from the zombie-centric pack, both past and present, in movies, TV, video games and beyond. “You want to try to avoid the clich
On December 5th 2010 I met Justin Bieber at his book signing in London at a secret location. My mum got my two sisters and I tickets to go. I live in Manchester so we got up early on Sunday morning and drove all the way to London. We got there and waited in the queue for about 2 hours. I am poorly and regularly faint so I had to be in a wheelchair. I got taken to the front of the queue where everyone else disabled was and we got put into our own little room. They told us as we couldn’t walk up the stairs to get to the signing, Justin would come down and meet us separately. We waited ages for him to meet the other 1000 people upstairs. Then Kenny walked in our room, my sister was so excited cause she loves him. She got a photo with him and got him to sign a photo she had brought. He told us we would have to go to another room because the lighting wasn’t good enough in that room for photos. We all went through and waited until we saw Justin come down some stairs and wave. I was so shocked I couldn’t say anything. Everyone went up and got there photo with him, then it was my turn. I was walking up and all I could say was, “Oh my God” I didn’t know what to do, I got a hug and a photo. As I was walking off, I handed Kenny a DVD called “Obsessed” that I had bought for Justin, as it has Beyonce in it. Justin and Kenny were talking about and looking at my DVD for ages. Then Kenny said, “You will have to let me borrow that Justin”, I was so happy. I got handed a signed copy of First Step To Forever. I got out of the room and back into my wheelchair and fainted again. Luckily I didn’t faint whilst I was with him! My mum and dad both thought Justin and Kenny were really nice people. I’m so glad I got to meet Justin. Never Say Never!!! The second time I saw Justin was at his concert on the 4th March 2011 in Birmingham. I live in Manchester but I wanted to go to the first show, so we travelled down especially for the concert. The concert was absolutely amazing and it couldnt of been better. Whilst he was singing ‘One Time’ I burst into tears. It was also really amazing to see Willow and Jaden Smith perform. It was one of the best nights of my life, so thank you Justin for everything and I hope you come again soon. – Laura @lollipop1996 Read the rest here: On December 5th 2010 I met Justin Bieber at his book signing in…
A new Sarah Palin book claims that the former Alaska governor had sex with former NBA player Glen Rice, while she was an Alaskan sports reporter. Apparently Palin had a fling with former Heat/Hornet/Laker Glen Rice while he was in college and while she was a sports reporter in Alaska, all the way back in 1987, and get this…Rice confirms it in the book. According to the National Enquirer: In the book, which will be published on September 20th, McGinniss claims Sarah had a steamy interracial hookup with basketball stud Glen Rice less than a year before she eloped with her husband Todd. Sarah hooked up with the NBA great, then a 6-foot-8 junior at the University of Michigan when he was playing in a college basketball tournament in Alaska in 1987, the book says. At the time, Sarah, just out of college, was working as a sports reporter for the Anchorage TV station KTUU. A publishing source told The ENQUIRER that McGinniss claims Sarah had a “fetish” for black men at the time and he quotes a friend as saying Sarah had “hauled (Rice’s) ass down.” In the book, McGinniss quotes Rice as confirming the one-night stand. Who knew Sarah Palin liked to swirl!! SOURCE Sarah Palin: “I Believe I Can Win The 2012 Election” Sarah Palin’s Released Emails Written At 8th Grade Level
In his new memoir, One Day It’ll All Make Sense , Chicago-born actor/rapper Common, gives readers a revealing, gripping, and raw look into his life and journey from boy to man. In this deeply personal, introspective memoir, Common unveils himself, layer by layer, from his childhood on the streets of the South Side of Chicago; to grappling with the decision to leave college, disappointing his mother, and pursuing a career in hip hop; to emerging as a talented recording artist faced with all the trappings of fame and success but working hard to remain true to himself and the people who’d supported him along the way. “People who know me as Common might find it hard to believe some of the things that made me Rashid,” says Common. “That’s partly why I’ve written this book, so that I can show myself as a man in full. That means telling some tough truths, revealing my faults and vulnerabilities. But it also means showing the true strength of my character.” Yesterday, Common kicked-off the launch of his book tour at Barnes & Noble in New York where he was interviewed by MTV’s resident VJ, Sway, before a crowd of over 300 fans. And, we’ve been privy to get a copy of Common’s limited book tour schedule. Yes, you can meet him and get your book signed. Catch him at the following locations: September 16 th : LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY MARK TAPER AUDITORIUM Conversation with Kevin Frazier 630 West Fifth Street LOS ANGELES, LA 7:00 pm September 20 th : Barnes & Noble—DePaul Signing Only 1 E. Jackson Boulevard Chicago, IL 6:00 pm September 24 th : BALTIMORE BOOK FESTIVAL Conversation with Dr. Eric Dyson 600 North Charles Street Baltimore, MD 6:00 pm Check out this chapter excerpt from Common’s memoir, One Day It’ll All Make Sense. PROLOGUE Dear Reader: When I was eighteen months old, my mother and I were kidnapped at gunpoint. My father held the gun. At least that’s one side of the story. I first heard about it all from my aunt long after it happened, when I was already a grown man. I asked my mother, and she told it to me one way. I asked my father, and he told it to me another. The story I’ll tell you begins where my mother’s and my father’s tales come together and continues past them into the separate corners of my parents’ truths. Somehow in telling it, the story becomes my own. Somehow in telling it, it all starts to make sense. My father, Lonnie Lynn, was a Chicago playground legend. They called him the Genie because he’d make the basketball disappear right before your eyes then make it reappear at the bottom of the net. At six foot eight, he had NBA size and the skills to match. He was nice around the rim and had a sweet stroke from inside eighteen feet. But he talked back to coaches. He missed practice. He developed a habit. He was out of the league before his career really began. For all his gifts, he played just one year of professional basketball, for the Denver Rockets and the Pittsburgh Pipers of the ABA. Around the same time, his relationship with my mother was falling apart. He was getting high, keeping drugs right out in the open on the nightstand. He’d react to the slightest provocation. One time my mother locked him out of our apartment, and he shot out all the windows. When he was sober, he was a loving man, but when he was high, he was somebody else. “I was out of basketball,” my father later told me. “I was struggling. My lowest point came in December of 1972, when you were nine months old. I weighed one hundred ninety-five pounds, less than I had coming out of high school. That’s what the drugs had done—or, rather, what I had done with the drugs. By the time I got back to Chicago, I was back near my playing weight at two hundred thirty-five pounds. I was ready for my last chance.” His last chance came with a tryout for the Seattle SuperSonics. They knew about my dad’s past troubles, and they were concerned. They wanted to know he was a family man. Problem was, my folks were separated, heading toward divorce. So, early one morning, my father packed everything he owned into the backseat of a rented Dodge Charger and drove to Eighty-eighth and Dorchester in Chicago’s South Side, where my mother and I lived. Here is where my parents’ stories diverge. “He took us out of the house at gunpoint, handcuffed me to the front seat, put you in the back, and started driving across the country to Seattle,” my mother says. “You and your mother got in the front seat with me,” my father recalls, “and we started out on Interstate 90 heading west.” I can imagine my mother seething inside—not panicked, not defeated—waiting for her moment. My father must have known this too. Part of him might even have feared her, a strange thing since he was the one at the wheel. She had this indomitable spirit; it only grew stronger when she felt her child was in danger. What could she do? When we stopped for gas, she says he handcuffed her to the steering wheel. When she needed to use the restroom, she says he stood outside the door. The situation must have looked hopeless to her. My mother escaped with me early one Sunday morning. She recalls my father pulling off the highway to get gas; there were no plans to stop for food, no plans to sleep. She complained of a headache and asked my father to bring her something for the pain. He came back to the car with a bottle of pills. My mother took two like the container directed then somehow managed to put the rest in his can of Coke as he gassed up the car. When he got back in, he took a big swig of soda then threw the can out the window. It wasn’t long before he started feeling the effects. “Did she drug me? I don’t know,” my father told me later. “All I know is that I made the decision that it was better to sleep during the day and drive at night while you were sleeping.” We stopped at a roadside motel on the outskirts of Madison, Wisconsin. I wonder what people saw when they looked at us. A beautiful family on a cross-country trip? A doting mother holding her child? A loving husband clutching his wife close by his side? Did they see the family we were or the family we might have been? My mother told me that my father had just enough time to handcuff her to the bed, sit me on the couch, strip off some of his clothes, and fall onto the mattress, his feet dangling off the edge. Soon he was snoring away. Once he was fast asleep, my mother says she started working her small hand against the cuff, folding her fingers in on themselves and pulling until metal scraped skin. “Rashid,” she said in a stage whisper. “Rashid, baby, go outside and play. Mommy will be there soon.” Something in her eyes must have told me, young as I was, that this was no time for games. I followed her instructions and slipped out the door. Her hand finally free, my mother followed after me. She made it to the lobby and told the man working there to call the police. “Next thing I know,” my father now says, “I wake up and there are two policemen standing over my bed. One of them’s got a shotgun on me. The other’s pointing a pistol. I raised my hands up above my head and turned my eyes to the sky. I can remember seeing a teardrop of water falling down from that low, low ceiling. That’s when I cried out: ‘Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!’ “It was all over the radio, the television, the newspaper. ‘Kidnapping,’ in capital letters. But I was in jail only overnight. They released me the next morning without charges.” Madison, Wisconsin, is one hundred sixty-three miles from the South Side of Chicago and nearly two thousand miles from Seattle. The road trip, the kidnapping, my father’s dream—whatever you call it—it was over almost as soon as it had started. Can a story you’ve only overheard somehow still give shape to your life? Can other people’s stories also be your own? Hearing this was like discovering a lost piece of my past, like having my life told as legend. Could it have really happened? Part of me figured that when I asked my parents about it, they’d deny it. But when I asked each of them, they confirmed it—even if they told their stories in a different key. They say trauma always accompanies birth, the beginning of new life. When I think about my parents and me driving toward my father’s dream, I think about what it means to bear the legacy of these two people who were estranged from each other before I was born but remain tied together because I was born. It speaks to me about connections, willing and not. It speaks to the fact that when you try to tell your own story, you can’t help but tell someone else’s along the way. This is my life, my story, but it’s their story too. I think of my mother, a young woman with a child at the time threatened by a man she still loves. Maybe that’s why she’s always loved me so hard, like she could lose me at any moment. Today she is a mother, a grandmother, my best friend. I think about my father and how his inner pains and self-doubt sometimes expressed themselves in ways he couldn’t control. What possesses a man to aim a gun at the woman he loves and the child he helped conceive? If not the gun, then what possesses him to pursue a dream past all consequence? Today he is a thinker, a dreamer, a complex soul. Who knows the truth of the story? My truth is this: I inherited love and trouble, joy and fear. I experienced all of these things before I could even put them into words. The story I have to tell you is one of inheritance and identity, of the values my mother passed on to me that I hope to pass on to my daughter, Omoye. The story is of making myself into the man that I want to be: an artist, a father, a child of God. When I was given the opportunity to write this book, I had some misgivings. Had I lived enough? Would anyone want to hear my story? When I think of memorable life stories, I think of great men and women looking back over the decades. I think of Malcolm X and Assata Shakur. I think of Maya Angelou and Nelson Mandela. What story does a kid from the South Side of Chicago have to tell? So I talked with friends. I talked with my mother, my father, my grandmother, my daughter. We laughed, we reminisced, we even shed a few tears. At a certain moment, I took in a breath, I breathed it out, and I knew that I had lived a life I wished to share. I knew that if I dedicated myself to writing about my life, it might all start to make sense. I’ve always loved to write. It must have started with my mother. She still has a note I wrote to her when I was six or seven years old about leaving the key so she could get in the house and how I didn’t want to get a whippin’. She tells me that’s my first letter. In school, I’d write love letters to cute girls in class. When I first started rapping, I’d write my lyrics in a composition book. As I grew older, I’d write my hopes, fears, and dreams in a journal. I still write to this day, even to people who are part of my everyday life—my mother, my daughter, my friends. I may be a talker just like my dad, but I love to express myself through letters. Maybe I write because I’ve learned to show certain parts of my heart on the page that I still struggle to capture in speech. That’s why I’ve decided to begin each chapter of this book with a letter. In these pages, I’ve written to my mother and to my daughter and to many others—to you, to lost friends, to distant lovers, to future generations. Each letter offers a way into the stories of my life that follow. Together they tell a story of their own, of a life still very much in the making. I have loved and lost and given and failed and fallen and prayed and believed and worked and sexed and proved and listened and traveled and healed and grown and watched and journeyed and loved again and grown some more. I’ve done all of these things and all of these things have created the man that I am today. I also realize that my life is an expression of all those I have known and all who have known me. They are people in and out of the public eye. They are friends and fans and lovers and mentors. They are people like my mother and my grandmother and the guy I only ever knew as Duck, who was on the street but used to say that one day I’d be a star. People like Yusef and Ajile and the bellman at the House of Blues Hotel in Chicago who always had a kind word when I arrived. My life is people like Omoye, Murray, Kanye, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Minister Louis Farrakhan, Maya Angelou, my father, Mike Jolicoeur, Dion, Dart, Ron, Rasaan, Monard, and the memory of another South Side son named Emmett Till. All of these people are a part of me as I am a part of them. Their souls have joined with mine. In fact, sometimes when I’m writing songs I find myself looking through their eyes, expressing what I believe they might see and feel. You’ll hear some of these other voices threading in and out of the pages that follow. Other than my own, the voice you’ll most often hear is that of my mother. It’s only right given that my mother has been—and remains—the most influential person in my life. Throughout the chapters, you’ll find her speaking in her own words directly to you through italicized text, offering perspectives on my past that complement and occasionally even contradict the view of my life as I see it. I’m writing you now because I know I have something to say to you. I believe we can forge a connection that will help us to recognize the other in the self. I know I can enlighten. I know I can inspire. And I know that this journey is not just about what I think about myself. It’s not about how many records I’ve made or how many films I’ve done. It’s about what has happened in my life that can spark you to be better in yours. What have I said and done, what have I failed to say and failed to do, that will give you insight as you strive to reach your full potential and serve your purpose on this earth? So I hope this letter finds you in the place where you are willing and ready to progress in your life. I hope this book not only entertains you but also helps you grow in a spirit of openness. I write to you wishing, praying, and sending the best love to you. This is my story, the story of an uncommon life. Love, Common
Rihanna, Lil Wayne, Black Eyed Peas and ‘Glee’ also get new entries in the ‘Guinness Book of World Records.’ By Gil Kaufman Lady Gaga Photo: Getty Images Adele has been on a record-setting tear all year and now the British songbird can claim to be a “Guinness Book of World Records” champ. The upcoming 2012 edition of the book reveals that the “Rolling in the Deep” singer is in good company, as Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Willow Smith and Justin Bieber also set some high-water marks over the past 12 months. Adele can count three records, including first female to land two singles and two albums in the U.K. top five simultaneously — which only the Beatles had achieved before in 1963. Her breakthrough second CD, 21, claimed the record as the first album in U.K. chart history to sell 3 million copies in one calendar year. She also logged the most consecutive weeks with the #1 album in the U.K. for a solo female with 11 weeks at the top — beating a record previously held by Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection — and most cumulative weeks with a U.K. #1 for a solo female (18), beating out both Alanis Morissette and Shania Twain, who shared the previous record at 11 weeks. Lady Gaga’s social media predominance was rewarded, landing her the Most Followers on Twitter crown with 11,259,372 as of June 29 (she’s currently at 13,469,754). In addition, “Poker Face” was honored for Most Weeks on U.S. Digital Hot Songs chart at 83 weeks. Gaga made the book last year for having the most consecutive weeks on the U.K. chart and being the most searched-for woman on the Internet. Some other new records: Justin Bieber : The singer’s “Baby” was dubbed the Most Popular Video of Any Kind Online, thanks to 463,820,304 views as of February 16, 2011. The Black Eyed Peas : The Biggest Selling Download in the U.K. is “I Gotta Feeling,” the first-ever track to go over 1 million downloads in England. J.K. Rowling : The “Harry Potter” author is lauded for being the First Billionaire Author thanks to sales of more than 400 million copies of the books worldwide. “Glee” : The hit show scored the Most Hit Singles in a Calendar Year with 48 making it into the U.K. top 75 in 2011, breaking their previous hit of 45 hits in 2010. Rihanna : First Female to have U.K. #1 singles in five consecutive years (2007-2011), from “Rude Boy” to her most recent, “Only Girl (In the World).” Only Elvis and the Beatles have had more U.K. #1 singles in consecutive years. Willow Smith : The Youngest Transatlantic Top 20 Artist, thanks to “Whip My Hair” hitting the top 20 when she was only 10 years old. Lil Wayne : Most U.S. Hot 100 Hits by a Rap Artist with 64 between 1999 and 2010. U2 : Highest Grossing Music Tour for the 360 outing, which by April 2011 had raked in more than $539 million for 110 shows between July 2009 and July 2011. Related Videos Adele’s ‘Magical’ Road To Success Related Photos The Evolution Of: Lady Gaga Related Artists Adele Justin Bieber Lady Gaga
‘I really liked that they stuck to the book and the heartfelt moments that are in ‘Breaking Dawn,’ ‘ one ‘Twilight’ superfan tells MTV News. By Kara Warner Kristen Stewart in “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1” Photo: Summit Entertainment If you’re as excited about “Twilight” as we are here at MTV News, then you’re likely still reeling from the release of the brand-new trailer for “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1” on Tuesday. Now that some time has passed in order to reflect on those two minutes and 30 seconds of goodness, we decided to seek out the reactions from our favorite dedicated “Twilight” experts. “Fantastic. Definitely my favorite [trailer] of any of the movies,” gushed Laura Byrne-Cristiano, who owns TwilightLexicon.com . “I think [director] Bill Condon absolutely nailed it. He got everything: action, romance and an amazing collection of individual shots. There’s got to be close to 100 individual shots in that trailer, and it’s just absolutely stunning.” Kara Hassell of TwilightersAnonymous.com agreed with Condon’s trailer-cutting brilliance. “My overall reaction is I loved it,” she said. “I don’t think Bill could have done a better job. He picked everything that I think everybody wanted to see for the most part. I think it was perfect, and I wasn’t missing anything.” Hassell added that she felt a more emotional connection to the new trailer. “There were a lot of heartfelt moments. I really liked how that played out in the trailer,” she said. “The last couple films, they tried to push the action in it, and I really liked that they stuck to the book and the heartfelt moments that are in ‘Breaking Dawn.’ ” Meanwhile, Kallie Matthews from TwilightSeriesTheories.com expressed delight in getting more glimpses of the arrival of baby Renesmee, or “Nessie,” a nickname readers of the book well know. “We got to see a little bit of what it’s going to be like to have Nessie, and that’s going to be awesome,” Matthews said of Bella’s intense, climactic labor scenes, during which Renesmee is welcomed into the world. “I’m really, really excited, because it wasn’t all romance; it was some of the conflict and turmoil,” she added. “So that got me excited about it.” What was your favorite scene in the trailer? Let us know in the comments! 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 ‘Twilight’ Experts React To ‘Breaking Dawn’ Trailer Related Photos New ‘Breaking Dawn’ Trailer: The Top Five Moments
I met Justin on the 5th December 2010. I have been a belieber, not since his first ever video was put on Youtube but since the One Time music video came out. I love him so much and I so happy that I have met Justin. Justin was spending a week in the UK and I was on the internet 24/7 that whole week, kinda stalking him. Anyway I was on twitter and a girl posted the link to the HMV Tickets website and it was for a Book Signing & Meet and Greet in London. I scrolled down to see where the book tickets button was, but there wasn’t one. When I went back onto Twitter I found out that all the tickets has sold out. I am from Manchester and London is 2 half hours away but I still felt like crying because I knew that was my only chance of meeting Justin. My dad walked in and could tell I was upset so I told him about the book signing and he comforted me telling me that I will get another chance to meet him. The next day I was round at my mums house and my dad came round early in the morning. I went into my living room and sat watching TV. A few minutes later my dad walked in and handed me a piece of paper asking me what I thought, I saw at the top HMV Tickets and I got butterflies. Then I saw Event: MEET JUSTIN BIEBER and my mouth dropped. I fell to the floor and started shaking while crying my eyes out! I couldnt believe it. It was Saturday and the meet and greet was on Sunday. I just kept thinking I am meeting Justin Bieber TOMORROW. My mum took me out to get something to wear for the day and all I did on Saturday was watch music videos and sing his songs. I woke up Sunday morning with the biggest smile on my face. I got ready, my dad picked me up and we got the train down to London. The train had a hour and a half delay at 1:30 and the doors opened at 2:30, I started thinking everything was too good to be true. Then we almost missed the underground and then we were queuing for 3 hours with the line moving no closer to the door. When the doors finally opened all of us girls were shrieking and singing. Now all I had to do was get into the venue and I would be in the same room as Justin Bieber. I walked up stairs to a small room when it was my turn and all I could see was photography equiptement and security. I was guided over to the que and I looked next to me and stood on the stage was Scooter Braun and Ryan Good both looking in the same direction, Scooter looked down at me and smiled (BIG FAN GIRL MOMENT) and then I followed where there eyes were looking and saw him stood there, Justin Bieber. He was only a few steps away, there was a girl and her brother stood infront of me in the line and they walked on to stand with Justin, but for a second I just kind of froze looking at him in amazement. He looked over in my direction as I finally found it in me to start walking over to him, and he smiled. I stood in front of him and he said “Hey.” Then did his bieber smile, I was finding it hard to breath so I let out a silent high pitched “Hi” and moved next to him. He put his arm around me and he turned towards the camera, but the camera man wasnt ready. We were waiting on this one girl that was in shock talking to the security woman, while we were waiting I looked up at Justin’s face and I was just staring for a while. His jawline and neck were amazing and his hair and his eyes just everything. Then he looked down at me and smiled again, then the girl came over and stood next to me. Now we were ready for the photo. Picture was taken and the people I had the photo with went off, but I wanted to tell him thank you so I said “Thank you Justin so much for everything” and he looked into my eyes, held onto my arm and went “No thank you” and then the security guard pushed me away. I was in a total daze on my way out, I didnt know which way to walk, I almost got hit by a car because I had no idea where I was going. All I was thinking was OMG I just met THE Justin Bieber. -@BadEnoughForJB Read more: I met Justin on the 5th December 2010. I have been a belieber,…
‘We’re making a 21st-century Three Musketeers,’ Paul W.S. Anderson tells MTV News in our Fall Movie Preview. By Kara Warner Milla Jovovich in “Three Musketeers” Photo: Summit Entertainment Paul W.S. Anderson fans know his films to be intense, action-packed and not exactly family friendly (see: “Death Race” or any films in the “Resident Evil” franchise). All that changes October 21, when his re-telling of Alexander Dumas’ “The Three Musketeers” hits theaters. Based on the beloved and familiar tale of adventure, intrigue and that famous “All for one and one for all” motto, the film features an ensemble cast: Logan Lerman, Christoph Waltz, Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom, Ray Stevenson, Matthew Macfadyen, Luke Evans, Juno Temple, James Corden and Mads Mikkelsen. But don’t let the PG-13 rating fool you: Anderson told MTV News that what his film lacks in bloodletting, it makes up for with airships and swashbuckling. And everyone knows that anytime the word swashbuckling is involved, you’re in for a good time. MTV News : What made you want to retell this story, and how is your version different? Paul W.S. Anderson : I’m a huge fan of “The Three Musketeers,” the book I read at school. I grew up watching the Richard Lester adaptation of the novel, and I love the core story of the book, and that’s pretty much what we’ve stayed true to: the basic story of D’Artagnan leaving Gascony, coming to Paris to seek his fortune and wanting to be a Musketeer and meeting the Musketeers. All that has stayed entirely true to the book in terms of character and narrative. The only thing we’ve goosed up is the action part of the movie to up the ante, considering we’re making a 21st-century Three Musketeers. MTV : What can you tell us about those intriguing airships in the trailer ? Anderson : One of the things I found a little repetitive in the book is when the Musketeers returned from London with the diamonds, because they had to fight their way out of France to get the diamonds back and then they had to ride back, it kind of felt like a part of the book that had very little incidents because they’re covering the same grounds, only less happens. I always thought that was something maybe we could add some action to, and that’s where the idea for the airships came from. It’s based up on the theory, Da Vinci drew these fantastic designs of war machines. Some of these got built, a lot of which didn’t, his flying machine, his tank. In addition to being a great artist, he was a great military thinker and designer of military hardware. We have this idea that in the movie one of his great inventions is kind of brought to life, that’s where the airships come from. They’re probably in reality, a hundred years too early, but Da Vinci was so far ahead of time we’re using that to justify the intro of the airships. What that allowed me to do as a filmmaker was have some fresh, spectacular action at the tail end of the movie. MTV : We’ve seen your lovely wife, Milla Jovovich, in a lot of your movies. What new sides of Milla will we see in this film? Anderson : It was one of my attractions for making the movie. I’d always wanted to see Milla in a period film. I always felt that she would look awesome in the dresses, and she’s got a kind of period face as well. I always knew that she would fit well into the 17th century. One of the big attractions to making and seeing the movie is seeing these opulent costumes and also the fact that it features M’lady De Winter, who’s one of the original really bad girls in literature and bad girls in movies. Milla does quite a lot of action, but in real 17th-century dress, in the corsets and skirts flying. It’s pretty exciting and unique. I’ve never seen anything done like that before. MTV : We’ve seen that she can handle big action scenes Anderson : She can, but I have to say: Having to do a swordfight in a corset and a huge heavy skirt was incredibly demanding. She had to train wearing the corset while she was doing the stunt training for the film, because it altered your body weight completely. Also, the corsets are designed to look attractive rather than allow you to do action scenes. They’re quite restrictive on your breathing, so some things she had to train very, very hard for, but she was insistent that she wanted to do a big action scene wearing the period costume. She was already a good martial artist, but she became an excellent swordswoman. She trained very hard to do the sword fighting. In the movie, in the trailer, even when the swords hit, there are all these sparks that come off them, and I’m sure people are going to think that was computer-generated, but the fact is those were real metal blades. … The actors got their bruises and rapped knuckles and black eyes and bloody fingers, so I hope everyone appreciates the sword fighting, knowing that it’s them doing it. MTV : With all the fight sequences you’ve filmed, have you picked up any skills yourself? Anderson : I’m not a world-class martial artist, but whenever we block a scene with the actors, I always put myself in the scene. Obviously, I’m not as flexible as Milla and my high kicks aren’t as high, and I don’t have as much stamina, but I’ll block through the whole fight being her to show her what I want. I’ll do that with every actor. I get in there whether its 17th-century pistols or machine guns if we’re doing a “Resident Evil” movie. In that regard I’m kind of a method director. I would never ask an actor to do anything that I wouldn’t be willing to do, whether it’s walk on a really high building or fall off something. Anything I’m asking an actor to do, I would be prepared to do as well. I would do it badly, of course. That’s why they’re actors and getting paid all that money. It’s good thing I’m stuck behind the camera. From “Abduction” to “Muppets, “Moneyball” to “Breaking Dawn,” the MTV Movies team is delving into the hottest upcoming flicks in our 2011 Fall Movie Preview. Check back daily for exclusive clips, photos and interviews with the films’ biggest stars. Check out everything we’ve got on “The Three Musketeers.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos Fall Movie Preview 2011 Related Photos Exclusive Photos From Fall’s Biggest Flicks
Is this the end?? Libya’s former rebels have surrounded the ousted dictator Moammar Khadafy, and it is only a matter of time until he is captured or killed, a spokesman for Tripoli’s new military council said Wednesday. Anis Sharif would not say where Khadafy had been found, but said he was still in Libya and had been tracked using high technology and human intelligence. Khadafy is trapped within a 40-mile-radius area surrounded by rebels, he said. “He can’t get out,” said Sharif, who added the former rebels are preparing to either detain him or kill him. Locating Khadafy would help seal the new rulers’ hold on the country. The announcement after convoys of Khadafy loyalists, including his security chief, fled across the Sahara into Niger in a move that Libya’s former rebels hoped could help lead to the surrender of his last strongholds. Some former rebels depicted the flight to Niger as a major exodus of Khadafy’s most hardcore backers. But confirmed information on the number and identity of those leaving was scarce given the vast swath of desert — over 1,000 miles — between populated areas on the two sides of the border. In Niger’s capital, Niamey, Massoudou Hassoumi, a spokesman for the president said Khadafy’s security chief had crossed the desert into Niger on Monday accompanied by a major Tuareg rebel. “Frizz-head, we’re coming to get you,” some chanted, using a now-commonly heard insult for Khadafy. Looks like the book is about to close on the man that Libyans call “Frizz head” Source
Who would’ve ever pegged Perez Hilton as an inspirational role model? After getting all involved in the “It Gets Better” campaign and even promising not to be a blogging bully anymore, Perez has decided to become a champion for weird kids the world over. Based on the title and the author of the book, you might be thinking it’s a story about a boy with homosexual or feminine tendencies, but it’s actually not that. Perez Hilton’s The Boy With Pink Hair simply tells the tale of a boy with bright pink hair who gets bullied, makes a friend, and discovers a true passion. The book will especially appeal to creative kids who may have been picked on for being quirky or for having different interests from the norm. The Boy With Pink Hair is available wherever books are sold. Well, isn’t that nice. Source
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