U.K. boy band wrapped their first-ever U.S. tour Wednesday night in L.A. By Jocelyn Vena Justin Bieber Photo: Getty Images The Wanted landed on U.S. shores last month for their first-ever tour here in America, and what ensued was Beatlemania-like fandom. On Wednesday night, the U.K. boy band wrapped up the trek in L.A., and fans (including the Beckham family) came out in full force when they took the stage at the El Rey. The five Brits couldn’t believe the enthusiasm felt by the crowd, tweeting that the excitement for them was “unbelievable.” Even though the tour is over, the interest in the guys has hardly waned. Their song “Glad You Came” (from their 2011 album Battleground ) will be featured on “Glee” this season and continues to climb the charts and gain radio play. The guys are prepared for all the attention: Touring with Justin Bieber has shown them what it’s like to become an international pop sensation. So what kind of advice has the Biebs given them? “I think he’s too humble for that, in that way. … He’s not someone that really gives advice, because I think he just appreciates what happens to him rather than thinks he’s God,” Max George told MTV News. “And so, I mean, we don’t really talk music. When we speak to him, it’s more we talk about football or basketball.” Bandmate Jay McGuiness added: “I think he knows that we know how to do what we want to do in the same way that we could never tell him how to do what he does, ’cause he does it a lot better than we ever could.” The Wanted will head back home to their native U.K. to kick off an arena tour that will run through March. They are also up for Best British Single at the Brit Awards this month for “Glad.” Have you been following the Wanted’s burgeoning career? Let us know in the comments! Related Artists The Wanted Justin Bieber
During his DICE keynote last night, Bethesda’s Todd Howard mentioned a few ways Skyrim could change in the future. Following a studio-wide creative session, a Skyrim Game Jam, a number of rather interesting … Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : That VideoGame Blog Discovery Date : 09/02/2012 05:35 Number of articles : 2
British starlets Sophia Grace and Rosie have made yet another triumphant return to “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” this time rapping to Keri Hilson and doing some freestyling of their own. In the video above, the girls sing to Hilson’s “Turn My Swag On” right before Sophia Grace erupts into a clever freestyle describing the duo’s recent rise to fame. “We’re going to the top of Hollywood, and it’s official,… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : TV Squad Discovery Date : 09/02/2012 07:19 Number of articles : 3
Kelly Brook is definitely a gorgeous British girl and for the proof you should look no further than this extremely hot video of her topless in the movie Three. Continue reading →
Controversial Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani was recently banned from her homeland after the French fashion magazine Madame Le Figaro published topless photos of her, thus prompting a support page on Facebook featuring other Iranian activists posing topless or entirely nude. Oy, guys, you’re doing it wrong. I’m all for freedom and would love to see things like A Separation ‘s dual Oscar nominations and Farahani’s personal choices and just basic human rights of filmmakers like Jafar Panahi respected. Yes to all these things! But let’s be honest: If your goal is to raise global awareness with a Facebook page in Farahani’s name, then you’re probably best off not turning the site into some lo-fi variation on AdultFriendFinder — which was never especially hi-fi to begin with. (Click the image at right for a NSFW look.) I doubt that the conservative-minded leaderships of both Facebook and Iran will be down with this, and then what? We’re right back where we started. Anyway, the page is currently hovering around 3,500 likes. I’d lend it some #ConsiderUggie juice , but he’s nude in his photos, too, so hey. Anyone want to volunteer a more persuasive approach? [via TheWrap ]
W.E. wasn’t just an undertaking for Madonna, who directed her Wallis Simpson/Edward VIII biopic with all the lavish heft of a gigantic watercolor landscape. It was also a labor of love for Andrea Riseborough, the 30-year-old actress playing Simpson, the American socialite whose romance with Edward led to his abdication of the throne in 1936. The film’s most enjoyable asset, Riseborough was saddled with making the polarizing Simpson a wholly charismatic figure — an Evita without the benefit of torch songs. She succeeds, and with her thoroughly photogenic Edward (James D’Arcy) in tow, she softens W.E. ‘s melodrama with fantastic ease. We caught up with Riseborough to discuss her fascinating director , her feelings about the subject matter, and the zaniness of the Venice Film Festival . You’ve been promoting this movie nonstop for months! Are you sick of corsets and gorgeous costuming at this point? Are the constraints of the couture caving in on you, so to speak? That’s very funny! No, I’m very much enamored with every different period. It’s so funny because people often say — or people talk about period pieces — and I never really faction different periods or divide them from one another. I just think that really everything is of a specific period whether it be 2016 or 1810. It was extraordinary, the architectural feats that some of the couture gowns entailed on W.E. entailed. You have no idea. It was extraordinary. But is it daunting to think of committing so much to the look and feel of a period piece again? It’s something I’m very familiar with. Because whether it is 2016 or 1810, it’s very arduous. Specificity in any project, even if it exists in the abstract [Laughs] or it exists in an alternate reality, there’s always a vision that everybody adheres to. Everybody very much passionately leans toward expressing that vision and the way we share it with the world. It’s something that’s very familiar to me, actually, I suppose is the answer to that. It’s something I enjoy very much. It’s transporting. You are stunning in this movie. You really have the face of a beautiful silent screen star, or a young Bette Davis. Have you seen Dark Victory ? Oh I have, yes! Very much a part of my lexicon as a child. Did you think your throwback looks would aid you in getting cast? Because you would definitely fit in with the stars of Wallis Simpson’s time. Not really, because when I’d been sent the script, I thought it was very unique. I wanted to explore a little more and was interested certainly in the character that was Wallis Simpson, when I went to meet with the director — but when I met her, I actually had what could only be described as sandy blonde hair and a false tan. I was playing a modern character elsewhere. I’d never seen myself in one particular period. I know that my face is pretty plain and can look reasonably attractive but can also look horribly unattractive, and it’s been something that’s been a real benefit to me — being a blank canvas. Muscularly, I can mold it anyway that I want to, if need be. Or I can completely relax it! So, no, I didn’t think that — no. What I saw ahead was like with any role, the journey of a transformation that was something so utterly far away from myself. It was something and is something I’m very fulfilled by. For the record, James D’Arcy also looks just like Anthony Perkins. You can tell him I said so. [Laughs.] Nobody’s ever told him, but I can e-mail him if you like! [Laughs again.] E-mailing him now. Madonna is known for being able to choose forthcoming trends, own them, and bring them to the pop culture fore. Before you met her, did you have any idea what would impress her, based solely on your knowledge of her before W.E.? Did you use that insight to get cast in the film? My desire was not to impress; I wanted to see what fueled her passion for the story. I wanted to know what her vision was for it, and whether she would respond to what I could her offer her as a potential duchess. I think it would’ve been — I would’ve been somebody else, actually. It’s not who I am, I suppose. I was interested to see what our complicit working relationship would be. That was exciting to me. The story of the duchess was something I thought would be potentially interesting to excavate. I wanted to see within what framework that might possibly happen. She, very fortunately, responded to what I had to bring to her. Really, we were artistically complicit from that point on, from the outset really. She’d seen me play Margaret Thatcher and this other character before, so she had a good grasp on the reality that I could inhabit somebody who existed and somebody who was young and innocent — this other character was young and innocent. One interesting thing about W.E. is the sheer continental difference in knowledge about Wallis Simpson. In the U.K., everyone knows. In the U.S., plenty of people know nothing about that era of British history. Oh, don’t do yourself down! I’m trying not to! But there’s definitely a gap in awareness about who Wallis Simpson was. How do you feel addressing that with different markets for the film? I think, really, the story transcends any historical context you might feel you need to put it in. Interestingly, of course, it was a reality. But what we have portrayed is our perception or version of the truth, Madonna’s version and vision of a woman who really existed. The heart of the piece is the thing that’ll tap on the door of the common man, if you will. Because, I hope, that was the thing that originally tapped on the door of the common man — every one of the working class areas that Edward visited, the working men so very much appreciated him, took him into their homes in a way that a prince had not been taken in before. It’s that same honesty and love and truth, I think, that people will feel and respond to. Wallis, she’d seen the writing on the wall. She ended up being as trapped as she imagined she would be, if he should abdicate, which he did as you know. It’s impossible for any one person — I mean, let’s not even reduce it to gender — it’s impossible for any one person to live up to the responsibility of the kingdom. How does one man fulfill a partner who has given up such an awful, awful lot for their relationship? Do you find yourself sorting out the fair criticism of W.E. from what might be considered a biased response to your director? Has the criticism been fair? I really believe that people have their own relationship with it. And I say “with it,” I mean everything that the film is. We were all part of making it. They can choose to absorb it and gain what is valuable from it any which way. I really have no opinion on it, to be truly honest, Louis. I know I’m incredibly honest to be part of something I found beautiful. That’s really all I know. Talk about the Venice Film Festival, where the world got its first taste of W.E. and the first swarm of responses to the film hit. Seemed pretty manic at the time. How do you remember it? It felt incredibly special. It was almost like our first offering at something we’d been so lovingly baking. The explosion that then ensued was quite breathtaking. It was almost funny being so surrounded by love. I’m just speaking as honestly as I felt it! Lastly, I heard you say that you and Madonna connected deeply in researching the “geeky” minutia of Wallis Simpson’s life. How deeply did that fixation go? Oh my gosh, that is such a long answer, Louis. Her fastidious research has no bounds! And that’s where the answer lies. When you approach something that you’re ignited by and are passionate about in such a way, really, until it seems to you’re getting to the point where no stone is unturned, only then can you stop. When you imagine chronicling an entire woman’s life from age 29 to 70, everything that went before 29 — since it must be taken into account — and everything that went after, you can imagine that’s no small feat. I ferociously lapped that up. I enjoyed it so much. But none of that is worth anything if you can’t just trust that it’s been inside of you so you can be present when you’re living out what might’ve been their life. W.E. opens Friday in limited release. [Top Photo: WireImage]
Born to Die singer hits back at critics, saying, “I thought I looked beautiful and sang fine.” By John Mitchell Lana Del Rey on “Saturday Night Live” Photo: NBC Lana Del Rey was raked over the Internet coals following her January 14 performance on “Saturday Night Live.” Her takes on “Video Games” and “Blue Jeans” were greeted with near-universal vitriol from critics, music bloggers and even NBC News anchor Brian Williams, who in a now-infamous email to Gawker Media founder Nick Denton called her performance “one of the worst outings in ‘SNL’ history.” But the emerging pop star, whose debut album for Interscope, Born to Die, hit stores Tuesday (January 31), thinks she did a perfectly fine job on the legendary sketch show, telling Rolling Stone, “I actually felt good about it. I thought I looked beautiful and sang fine … I know some people didn’t like it, but that’s just the way I perform, and my fans know that.” Del Rey did admit to being nervous, though in a more general sense, saying live performance has never been her strong suit because she is “not a natural performer or exhibitionist” and that when she was younger she “hated the focus; it made me feel strange.” As the backlash intensified, Daniel Radcliffe, who hosted the January 14 show, came to Del Rey’s defense, telling reporters at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts nominations, “It was unfortunate that people seemed to turn on her so quickly. I also think people are making it about things other than the performance … if you read what people are saying about her online, it’s all about her past and her family and stuff that’s nobody else’s business. I don’t think [the performance] warranted anywhere near that reaction.” Del Rey echoed those same sentiments during her brief sit-down with Rolling Stone, chalking the intensity of the criticism up to people’s general disdain for her public persona. “There’s backlash about everything I do. It’s nothing new,” she told the music mag. “When I walk outside, people have something to say about it. It wouldn’t have mattered if I was absolutely excellent. People don’t have anything nice to say about this project.” Regardless of the criticism, Del Rey is moving forward. Whether she’s a particularly strong live performer or not, her Born to Die album is enjoying a mostly positive reception from music critics … those able to set aside their feelings about her as a public figure and focus on the music itself anyway. Slate ‘s Jonah Weiner commented that he liked the album more after a few listens: “The more time I spend in its company, the more I feel as though I’m approaching it on something like its own terms.” MTV News’ own James Montgomery appreciated Born to Die even more, writing that Del Rey’s set is “positively brimming with atmospherics — soaring, sonorous strings, echoing electronic boom-bap, morose, maudlin guitar crescendos — all of which imbue it with a truly epic (if not unnecessarily dramatic) scope.” The verdict on Del Rey’s musical future — and the impact the “SNL” fiasco and the endless think pieces that popped up in its aftermath — will likely come more sharply into focus this time next week when her first week sales figures are released. What did you think of Lana Del Rey’s “SNL” performance? Leave your comments below. Related Videos MTV News Extended Play: Lana Del Rey Related Artists Lana Del Rey
