Film shows what happens when an oil-drilling team goes missing, and no one comes looking for them. By Kevin P. Sullivan Liam Neeson in “The Grey” Photo: Open Road Films In most movies where the main characters find themselves stranded after a shipwreck or a plane crash, the survivors take solace in the fact that someone must be looking for them. “The Grey” isn’t like most movies. In the new film, which hits theaters Friday, Liam Neeson plays a member of an oil-drilling team that gets into a plane crash somewhere near the Arctic Circle during their journey home. Many die in the incident, and the remaining members soon realize that no one is coming for them. Unless you count the wolves. Neeson told MTV News that the rougher edges of the characters in “The Grey” are what make the film something new and resonant. “They’re definitely flotsam and jetsam of society. One of them says after the mishap with the airplane that ‘Nobody’s going to care about us,’ ” Neeson said. “Nobody’s going to send out reconnaissance planes to try and find these guys because who cares? You know?” During the course of the film, one of the characters makes reference to “Alive,” the Ethan Hawke film about a rugby team stranded in the Andes. Neeson’s co-star Frank Grillo described how their film and co-writer/director Joe Carnahan took a different road. “The element of survival is different because these are just much different men, as opposed to being civilized,” he said. “They’re not real civilized guys, and I think that’s what Joe [Carnahan] tries to show you in the beginning of the film.” Even if the realization that no one will look for these men is devastating, Neeson believes that’s ultimately what keeps the characters going. “It’s from that sadness that they realize who they are and what they are and how they’re just a speck of dust in society,” Neeson said. “But that somehow empowers them to continue on with this crazy journey for freedom and solace and to get out of this predicament. It actually gives them strength, the fact that they’re nondescript.” Will you see “The Grey” this weekend? Leave your comment below!
‘I was trying to destroy myself physically,’ McElhenney says of gaining 50 pounds to play Fat Mac, one of MTV News’ Top 50 TV Characters of 2011. By James Montgomery Rob McElhenney as Fat Mac in “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” Photo: Joey L./ FX Gregor Samsa became an insect. Hulk Hogan dyed his beard black and joined the nWo. Metallica used to be awesome. Transformations are as much a part of life as eating, breathing and making fun of Lulu, yet rarely are they as unexpected as the grand, grotesque metamorphosis Rob McElhenney pulled off on the seventh season of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” when he turned the formerly fitness-obsessed Mac into a bulbous, bloated buffoon … mostly because he thought it would be funny. But McElhenney was also making a deeper point, too. By gaining 50 pounds of solid fat, he took a not-too-subtle jab at one of TV’s oldest tropes: Namely, that as shows go on, characters don’t age and they seemingly get better-looking. It’s the kind of deconstructionist slant that has made “Sunny” a cult favorite and made Fat Mac one of the year’s best characters. Because while, sure, it was funny to watch him inject insulin into his ginormous gut, you couldn’t help but ask yourself why there aren’t more characters like him on network shows. So, in celebration of Fat Mac’s inclusion in MTV News’ Top 50 TV Characters of 2011 , we spoke to McElhenney about piling on the pounds, the silky comfort of Tommy Bahama shirts, and how, someday, he hopes to be considered “the De Niro of basic-cable comedy.” MTV News : First off, congratulations on making our list of the Top 50 TV Characters of 2011. Fat Mac actually came in at #8 on the list. Rob McElhenney : I made the top 10? F— yeah! That’s really awesome. Who was ahead of me? [We start reading McElhenney the list, but he makes us stop when we reveal that Snooki came in at #3.] What? Are you f—ing kidding me? I refuse to hear anything else. Jesus Christ. MTV : Mac’s transformation was one of the television highlights of the year, and not just because it’s funny to see him, you know, lug around a garbage bag filled with chimichangas. You just don’t see characters put on that kind of weight on sitcoms now, or really ever before. McElhenney : Yeah. Vanity is such a huge part of television, and if you watch any average sitcom, you notice that the actors get better-looking as the years go by. And I caught myself sitting in the editing room last year, looking at myself, and I said, “Man, I don’t look very good in this scene; I should try to find a different shirt or something next time.” And I realized, “Wow, that is the first time I’d ever really thought that.” So I realized I needed to go in the extreme opposite direction. It’s always been our goal to do the opposite of what any sitcom on network television would do, so that’s what I did. MTV : So it went beyond, just, “It would be funny to see Mac gain an obscene amount of weight …” McElhenney : It wasn’t just a stunt. I thought, if we were being true to the characters, and we were really showing what these people would look like if they lived the way that they claimed to live, this is what we would look like. All we do is sit around and drink and eat terrible food, and there’s certainly no exercise going on, and we don’t seem to really care about our health. So when you hit a certain early-30s, mid-30s range, it’s going to start to fall apart. So, to me, it was less of a stunt or a gag and more of an actual representation of what Mac really might look like at this point in his life. MTV : So once you decided you were going to gain the weight, how’d you go about doing it without, you know, totally destroying your body? McElhenney : Oh, I was basically trying to destroy myself physically as much as I possibly could. I was trying to eat around 5,000 calories a day, and at first I was doing it as healthy as possible, but after like the 3,000th calorie of grilled chicken breast and rice, you realize you literally have to consume twice as much volume as opposed to just eating a cheeseburger. So after a while, I started eating a lot, a lot of doughnuts. It was really hard, man. The key to it was force-feeding myself this milkshake that I made every day that had weight gainer, chocolate milk, chocolate ice cream, and creatine, which creates bloating, and force-feeding myself two of those every day, and those were about 1,000 calories a piece, and that’s what really put it over the edge. MTV : You know, it’s funny, because you hear about all these actors gaining or losing weight for roles, and they’re almost always lauded for doing so. Does it bother you that, after going through so much, people only see Fat Mac as this sort of stunt? McElhenney : Well, I’d like to enter that conversation. You know, “the De Niro of basic-cable comedy.” [ He laughs. ] Nah, it doesn’t bother me. We’re not that kind of show. But I don’t think people understand how hard it was to just gain all this weight. I started at 162 and I got up to 212 … and I was also working out, just doing, like, powerlifting, because I noticed that most of my weight was just going to my gut, and it wasn’t filling out everywhere else and it wasn’t really playing, so to create that sort of non-defined, smooth look, I had to lift weights, and then the fat just sort of sat on top of the muscle. I was trying to create David, and as we all know, Michelangelo had to start with a slab of marble and then whittle it down. So I was just creating the slab. MTV : Another great thing about the character this season is that he introduced the Tommy Bahama shirt into the national conversation. McElhenney : [ He laughs. ] I see a lot of people wearing them. And I think middle-aged guys wear them because they think it hides their gut, and it doesn’t. In a bizarre way, it makes them look bigger, and originally I was wearing these super-tight T-shirts, and since my fat was kind of rolling out from underneath it, you would think that you would look bigger onscreen that way, as opposed to this big, flowing shirt. But for whatever reason, they actually accentuate the size. They’re like a muumuu. And the truth is, once you slip one of those bad boys on, they’re unbelievably comfortable. They’re made out of silk, and they really just flow and they breathe, and I was like, “Goddamn, I kind of really love these shirts.” I took some home, but my wife [“Sunny” co-star Kaitlin Olson] wasn’t having it. MTV : One of the key episodes this season was “How Mac Got Fat,” which, as the title implies, explained why he put on all the weight. There are scenes of you in flashback when you were skinny. Can you explain the backstory of that episode? McElhenney : We shot it last season, and it was a completely different episode and we were going to air it this year, because we had one less slot last year. So that was always the intention, and then as we started the season, and I went through this endeavor, we realized we couldn’t just air this episode because it wouldn’t make sense anymore. So we sort of broke down the episode and said, “How can we tell this as a flashback, and create this as being the reason why Mac did this in the first place?” So we rewrote it, based on the cut and based on the footage we had, and then we went back and created this completely different episode. It was literally the last thing we shot this season. MTV : So, finally, we know you’ve dropped most of the Fat Mac weight now. Looking back, how do you feel about the entire endeavor? McElhenney : Yeah, I’ve dropped almost all of it. I think the remaining 10 to 12 pounds are probably just going to stay. I’m OK with that. [ He laughs. ] And, you know, I’m really happy I did it. It was hard, but it was worth it. I can tell you right now that this never would’ve happened on network television. Because when I would’ve gone in to pitch it to the network executives, they would’ve said, “Absolutely not.” Because the glamour is such an important part of how they sell their shows, so trying to make the actors look as good as they possibly can is an important part of the process. And our show has never been about that. MTV will reveal the best artists, songs and movies of the year. Come to MTV News each day to see more big reveals and check out more of MTV’s Best of 2011 music, TV, movies and news coverage.
‘I was trying to destroy myself physically,’ McElhenney says of gaining 50 pounds to play Fat Mac, one of MTV News’ Top 50 TV Characters of 2011. By James Montgomery Rob McElhenney as Fat Mac in “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” Photo: Joey L./ FX Gregor Samsa became an insect. Hulk Hogan dyed his beard black and joined the nWo. Metallica used to be awesome. Transformations are as much a part of life as eating, breathing and making fun of Lulu, yet rarely are they as unexpected as the grand, grotesque metamorphosis Rob McElhenney pulled off on the seventh season of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” when he turned the formerly fitness-obsessed Mac into a bulbous, bloated buffoon … mostly because he thought it would be funny. But McElhenney was also making a deeper point, too. By gaining 50 pounds of solid fat, he took a not-too-subtle jab at one of TV’s oldest tropes: Namely, that as shows go on, characters don’t age and they seemingly get better-looking. It’s the kind of deconstructionist slant that has made “Sunny” a cult favorite and made Fat Mac one of the year’s best characters. Because while, sure, it was funny to watch him inject insulin into his ginormous gut, you couldn’t help but ask yourself why there aren’t more characters like him on network shows. So, in celebration of Fat Mac’s inclusion in MTV News’ Top 50 TV Characters of 2011 , we spoke to McElhenney about piling on the pounds, the silky comfort of Tommy Bahama shirts, and how, someday, he hopes to be considered “the De Niro of basic-cable comedy.” MTV News : First off, congratulations on making our list of the Top 50 TV Characters of 2011. Fat Mac actually came in at #8 on the list. Rob McElhenney : I made the top 10? F— yeah! That’s really awesome. Who was ahead of me? [We start reading McElhenney the list, but he makes us stop when we reveal that Snooki came in at #3.] What? Are you f—ing kidding me? I refuse to hear anything else. Jesus Christ. MTV : Mac’s transformation was one of the television highlights of the year, and not just because it’s funny to see him, you know, lug around a garbage bag filled with chimichangas. You just don’t see characters put on that kind of weight on sitcoms now, or really ever before. McElhenney : Yeah. Vanity is such a huge part of television, and if you watch any average sitcom, you notice that the actors get better-looking as the years go by. And I caught myself sitting in the editing room last year, looking at myself, and I said, “Man, I don’t look very good in this scene; I should try to find a different shirt or something next time.” And I realized, “Wow, that is the first time I’d ever really thought that.” So I realized I needed to go in the extreme opposite direction. It’s always been our goal to do the opposite of what any sitcom on network television would do, so that’s what I did. MTV : So it went beyond, just, “It would be funny to see Mac gain an obscene amount of weight …” McElhenney : It wasn’t just a stunt. I thought, if we were being true to the characters, and we were really showing what these people would look like if they lived the way that they claimed to live, this is what we would look like. All we do is sit around and drink and eat terrible food, and there’s certainly no exercise going on, and we don’t seem to really care about our health. So when you hit a certain early-30s, mid-30s range, it’s going to start to fall apart. So, to me, it was less of a stunt or a gag and more of an actual representation of what Mac really might look like at this point in his life. MTV : So once you decided you were going to gain the weight, how’d you go about doing it without, you know, totally destroying your body? McElhenney : Oh, I was basically trying to destroy myself physically as much as I possibly could. I was trying to eat around 5,000 calories a day, and at first I was doing it as healthy as possible, but after like the 3,000th calorie of grilled chicken breast and rice, you realize you literally have to consume twice as much volume as opposed to just eating a cheeseburger. So after a while, I started eating a lot, a lot of doughnuts. It was really hard, man. The key to it was force-feeding myself this milkshake that I made every day that had weight gainer, chocolate milk, chocolate ice cream, and creatine, which creates bloating, and force-feeding myself two of those every day, and those were about 1,000 calories a piece, and that’s what really put it over the edge. MTV : You know, it’s funny, because you hear about all these actors gaining or losing weight for roles, and they’re almost always lauded for doing so. Does it bother you that, after going through so much, people only see Fat Mac as this sort of stunt? McElhenney : Well, I’d like to enter that conversation. You know, “the De Niro of basic-cable comedy.” [ He laughs. ] Nah, it doesn’t bother me. We’re not that kind of show. But I don’t think people understand how hard it was to just gain all this weight. I started at 162 and I got up to 212 … and I was also working out, just doing, like, powerlifting, because I noticed that most of my weight was just going to my gut, and it wasn’t filling out everywhere else and it wasn’t really playing, so to create that sort of non-defined, smooth look, I had to lift weights, and then the fat just sort of sat on top of the muscle. I was trying to create David, and as we all know, Michelangelo had to start with a slab of marble and then whittle it down. So I was just creating the slab. MTV : Another great thing about the character this season is that he introduced the Tommy Bahama shirt into the national conversation. McElhenney : [ He laughs. ] I see a lot of people wearing them. And I think middle-aged guys wear them because they think it hides their gut, and it doesn’t. In a bizarre way, it makes them look bigger, and originally I was wearing these super-tight T-shirts, and since my fat was kind of rolling out from underneath it, you would think that you would look bigger onscreen that way, as opposed to this big, flowing shirt. But for whatever reason, they actually accentuate the size. They’re like a muumuu. And the truth is, once you slip one of those bad boys on, they’re unbelievably comfortable. They’re made out of silk, and they really just flow and they breathe, and I was like, “Goddamn, I kind of really love these shirts.” I took some home, but my wife [“Sunny” co-star Kaitlin Olson] wasn’t having it. MTV : One of the key episodes this season was “How Mac Got Fat,” which, as the title implies, explained why he put on all the weight. There are scenes of you in flashback when you were skinny. Can you explain the backstory of that episode? McElhenney : We shot it last season, and it was a completely different episode and we were going to air it this year, because we had one less slot last year. So that was always the intention, and then as we started the season, and I went through this endeavor, we realized we couldn’t just air this episode because it wouldn’t make sense anymore. So we sort of broke down the episode and said, “How can we tell this as a flashback, and create this as being the reason why Mac did this in the first place?” So we rewrote it, based on the cut and based on the footage we had, and then we went back and created this completely different episode. It was literally the last thing we shot this season. MTV : So, finally, we know you’ve dropped most of the Fat Mac weight now. Looking back, how do you feel about the entire endeavor? McElhenney : Yeah, I’ve dropped almost all of it. I think the remaining 10 to 12 pounds are probably just going to stay. I’m OK with that. [ He laughs. ] And, you know, I’m really happy I did it. It was hard, but it was worth it. I can tell you right now that this never would’ve happened on network television. Because when I would’ve gone in to pitch it to the network executives, they would’ve said, “Absolutely not.” Because the glamour is such an important part of how they sell their shows, so trying to make the actors look as good as they possibly can is an important part of the process. And our show has never been about that. MTV will reveal the best artists, songs and movies of the year. Come to MTV News each day to see more big reveals and check out more of MTV’s Best of 2011 music, TV, movies and news coverage.
His Gus Fring is part of MTV News’ Top 10 TV Characters of 2011. By Kevin P. Sullivan Giancarlo Esposito as Gustavo ‘Gus’ Fring on “Breaking Bad” Photo: Ursula Coyote/ AMC “Breaking Bad” found itself in a unique position at the beginning of its fourth season. Critics and fans alike had heralded it as “the best show on television” for years, and heading into the most recent season, creator Vince Gilligan and the team behind the show had the seemingly impossible challenge of topping the three previous years of nail-biting episodes. So what did they decide to do? They made the main character, Bryan Cranston’s Walter White, into a weakling. His nemesis, the mild-mannered but perpetually dangerous Gustavo Fring, played by Giancarlo Esposito, beat him at every turn. The action slowed to the point where some fans declared it boring, but that was all part of the game. In the slow-down, we learned more about the characters, in particular Esposito’s Gus Fring, who had emerged after two menacingly quiet years on the show as a fan favorite. Each seemingly docile moment added up to what may go down as one of the greatest slow burns in the history of television. It all led to the most-talked-about moment in television this year — SPOILER ALERT! Gus Fring’s explosive death. MTV News spoke with Esposito about his character, why Gus caught on with fans like he did and filming the infamous “Face Off” scenes. MTV : Giancarlo, I think some congratulations are in order. You made it into the top 10 of MTV News’ Top 50 Television Characters of 2011 . Giancarlo Esposito : Oh, awesome! Really awesome. See our Top 50 TV Characters of 2011, 50 to 41, including a masked bachelor and dashing novelist/crime-fighter. MTV : What did you like about Gus as a character? Esposito : I had loved what I was reading in season four when the writing started to come down for each episode, and I realized I had the opportunity to do a couple different things. One was to play an extremely villainous character, but also to layer him with a lot of grace and kindness and make him a likable bad guy, in a way. The way I created Gus and the way I started to read it was I was very impressed he was someone who would work in his own restaurant and serve his own customers from the very beginning. I thought if I could play him with this very caring, sensitive attitude that it would go a long way. So I was a bit surprised when people got more wrapped around who Gus really was and started to like him, even though he had such deeply evil aspects to him. See our Top 50 TV Characters of 2011, 40 to 31, including a “hootie hoo!”-hollering chef and funnyman talk-show host. MTV : Did you see him becoming such a highly regarded character? Esposito : No, no I did not. I was just going about doing my work, and I had no expectations other than enjoying what I was doing in trying to create a full and measured character that I could enjoy and I would imagine the writers would love. I had no idea the audience would get so wrapped around what I was doing as an actor and what Gus was portraying as a character. Check out our Top 50 TV Characters of 2011, 30-21, including a depressed meth cook and a football coach with a heart of gold. MTV : What was your favorite part about playing him? Esposito : I think my favorite part was the idea that you could have a man hiding in plain sight, that here is the man who is not afraid to be gracious and kind and have a great amount of courage avoiding being found out. I think the smart part of Gus really appealed to me. I think it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a character so well put together and so intelligent and so graceful, and he pulls it off. For me that was my favorite part of the character. I also loved that he had such great dominance over Walt, that he was an adviser, that he was trying to get Walt to do what he wanted to do, but he also wanted Walt to become a better person. I love that fact as well. He wasn’t just someone who was a bully. He was someone who was saying, “Your life will be better. You should provide for your family. This is what a man does. He provides.” In a way, Gus was a partner to Walt in many aspects of his life, not only economically through the business, but also advising him on how to live his life. I think that has to be the favorite parts for me. MTV : What was your initial reaction to reading the “Face Off” scene? Esposito : I knew we were going to kill Gus in that way, so I was a bit prepared for the possibility that it would be quite brutal and quite gruesome. What I loved about it was that it was a much more intimate moment than I had ever expected. Vince and I had talked, and he had asked me what Gus might be doing if this explosion happened. I said, “You probably observed me and what I do. I make sure my buttons are buttoned when I get up from a seated position and walk out of a room. I check my tie to make sure I’m completely put together and acceptable when I’m leaving space into another space,” and [Gilligan] chose to make the move the tie, and I was really honored by that, because it is something that I do. I was shocked because the way it was done was so absolutely perfect. You really don’t know. You’re held in suspense until the camera comes around and I turn a little bit and you realize, “Oh my gosh. He’s not going to make it through this. He really has lost half of his face.” To me, that was the most shocking moment, in the way that it was done, in the way that suspense was held at bay and in the intimate moment. It was a very intimate moment personally that [Gilligan] captured. I believe it was the right way to go. I was absolutely shocked! All I could think of was, “Can I render this believable?” Check out our Top 50 TV Characters, 20-11, featuring a sword-wielding 9-year-old and a Trouble Tones teen. MTV : What was it like watching the finished scene? Esposito : I was shocked. I was pleased that it came out so well, but always when I die a character death, part of that character death is a personal death as well. I was overwhelmed. I don’t often watch myself die on television, but in this case, it was important for me to see what the team put together. I watched it once, and I couldn’t watch it again, because it was so disturbing. MTV : What did the effects involve for you? Esposito : I got my head cast. That took about an hour to get all the stuff lined up in terms of how to create the mask on my torso. It took about two, two-and-a-half, three-hour makeup to get all that on me. After that, we had to also position dots to be able to add whatever we needed later on, so it was a quite extensive process. Not just a mask out of a store for Halloween. That was my only hesitation about the way all this happened in the end, that it might look cheesy. I didn’t want it to look like a Freddy movie. It had to be something where your mouth would drop and you would look at it and say “Oh my God. That is so real,” and that’s something we’ve never seen on television before. Don’t miss our Top 10 Characters of 2011, including a “Jersey Shore” guidette and a real daughter of New Jersey. MTV : What do you think of the choice to end Gus’ story there with so many questions still unanswered about his background? Esposito : I think it was really difficult for all involved to not have found out more about Gus. I know that the season really called for this showdown, that the town wasn’t big enough for Walt and Gus. For me, it was a little disappointing not to be able to get to some of what I had hoped they would get to, which was his background. In a way I was disappointed. In another way, Vince kept focus. The show is about Walt and what happens to him. Obviously, season four allowed Gus to excel and to see his story. It also gives me pause because there is an opportunity now to go back and find what about Gus that we didn’t know moved him to be as powerful as he is, as gracious as he is, and how did those building blocks come about in his character? I think we still have the opportunity to go back and find that out. MTV : Will that be in flashbacks or just other characters looking into his background? Esposito : I don’t know, but I know that it is an option for us to know. Flashbacks are an option, but I think there are a few other options which I haven’t thought of or, as time goes by, that are a possibility. I wouldn’t count Gus out. I’d also be very interested in seeing what this team does with this end of Gus and move toward the end of Walter’s character arc. I think Gus will be a part of that. MTV will reveal the best artists, songs and movies of the year. Come to MTV News each day to see more big reveals and check out more of MTV’s Best of 2011 music, TV, movies and news coverage. Related Photos Best TV Characters 2011
Pint-size guidette lands at #3 on MTV News’ Top 50 TV Characters of 2011. By Jocelyn Vena Snooki Photo: Sonia Recchia/ WireImage Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi is America’s favorite self-proclaimed “meatball.” As one of the tanned, colorful stars of “Jersey Shore,” Snooki has charmed America with her devil-may-care attitude, her search for love and her ability to put guys in their place without flinching thanks to her scrappy attitude. This year, Snooki traveled the globe with her “Shore” pals, taking their visa-revoking-worthy antics to Italy. Come 2012, the crew will be back home in Seaside Heights , where they’ll once again GTL their way through parties and drama for season five of the hit MTV show. Snooki also appears in the highly anticipated “Three Stooges” flick , due in the spring. Sure, it’s hard not to love everyone on “Jersey Shore,” but in 2011, Snooki proved she’s more than just a small-screen sensation. She became an author, pistachio spokesperson and mini-mogul, putting her name on a variety of products ranging from slippers to perfume. She also sits at #3 on our list of the Top 50 TV Characters of 2011 . See our Top 50 TV Characters of 2011, 50 to 41, including a masked bachelor and dashing novelist/crime-fighter. MTV News got on the phone with Snooki on Friday (December 9) to talk about her whirlwind 12 months. MTV : You landed at #3 on our list of favorite TV characters! As you reflect back on 2011, what was your favorite moment? Snooki : Oh, cool! Great! I would probably say Wrestlemania [back in March]. It was really fun to be in the ring and just doing back flips. See our Top 50 TV Characters of 2011, 40 to 31, including a “hootie hoo!”-hollering chef and funnyman talk-show host. MTV : We are very close to the next season of “Jersey Shore.” The trailer came out this week, and there’s a lot of crazy stuff in there. What was your reaction to the trailer? Snooki : Kind of like with every season, just memories. They’re gonna be excited to see us back in Seaside. Check out our Top 50 TV Characters of 2011, 30-21, including a depressed meth cook and a football coach with a heart of gold. MTV : Watching the trailer, there seems to be some situations between you and the Situation. Can you talk a little bit about what’s happening between the two of you? Snooki : We can’t really give it away; it’s just our relationship and how it progresses, whether it be really good or really bad [with the Situation]. Check out our Top 50 TV Characters, 20-11, featuring a sword-wielding 9-year-old and a Trouble Tones teen. MTV : As we look forward to 2012, what are you most looking forward to in the next phase of your life? Snooki : I’m just really excited about my brand and all my products that are coming out. I definitely want to brand myself and have a big line of things. So I’m really excited about that. MTV : When the “Three Stooges” trailer came out this week, “Shore” fans were surprised to see you and JWoww at the end. Can you talk about your part in the film? Snooki : We’re pretty much playing ourselves, like what you see on “Jersey Shore.” So it was pretty easy just to be yourself. I definitely want to do more movies like that. We [Snooki and her “Jersey Shore” castmates] went to L.A. for four days. I’ve seen [the original], when it was in black-and-white and stuff like that. It was fun to be on set. Don’t miss our Top 10 Characters of 2011, including a Parks & Rec boss and a real daughter of New Jersey. MTV : As we reflect and look forward, what’s it like to be Snooki right now? Snooki : I’m still just the same person that I was before everything happened. I’m still the same person. Obviously, there’s a lot more opportunities that we get to do, but I’m still the same person. When I’m not doing the stuff with the show or promoting myself, I’m still just hanging out with my friends and doing the same stuff. The fifth season of “Jersey Shore” premieres Thursday, January 5, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on MTV. For continuing “Shore” coverage, be sure to check in with MTV’s Remote Control blog. Related Videos Jersey Shore (Season 5) | Trailer Related Photos Best TV Characters 2011
‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Community’ stars also make MTV News’ top 50. By MTV News staff Joseph Morgan as Klaus on “The Vampire Diaries” Photo: Bob Mahoney/ CW What do Mandy Patinkin, Anthony Bourdain and Aaron Paul all have in common? They’re all on MTV News’ list of the Top 50 TV Characters of 2011, for one thing — and for very different reasons too! Whether it’s Patinkin busting terrorists as the Jewish Jack Bauer on “Homeland,” Bourdain traveling the globe for his two Travel Channel shows or Paul up to no good again on “Breaking Bad,” each one of these actors — and more, mind you — are easily among the best television characters of the year. See who else ranked up there with Mandy, Tony and Aaron as our countdown of 2011’s Top 50 TV Characters continues! 30. Adam Demamp (“Workaholics”) “Workaholics” is the best new show on television, and Adam is the best character. I can’t actually verbalize why he’s so amazing, so here’s a list of memories: 1. When he entered a bodybuilding contest; 2. When he couldn’t party at Hedonism II because his penis fell off; 3. When he explained that Fred Durst is “a dry guy.” Honestly, you kind of had to be there. But rest assured, it’s worth going! -Rya Backer 29. Tammy One (“Parks and Recreation”) As you read this, Tammy 1 might be out there in the world plotting some terrible ways to make Ron Swanson’s life a living nightmare. Cold, calculated and a complete sociopath, Patricia Clarkson’s interpretation of the most feared person to ever walk through Pawnee, Indiana, is nothing less than brilliant. Plus, any woman who can convince Ron that voluntarily shaving off his signature mustache is good for him gets a free pass to be on this list. -Jocelyn Vena 28. Saul Berenson (“Homeland”) To the young patriots out there who are thinking about a career with the CIA, please first consider the life of Saul Berenson, Mandy Patinkin’s character on “Homeland.” It’s a life filled with high-pressure days and lonely nights that often include eating in a dark, empty office, spreading peanut butter with a ruler found in a desk drawer. Yet even while carrying the weight — and fate — of the world on his shoulders, Berenson manages to do it with a wicked sense of humor. And mellow, even-keeled Berenson is a great foil for his moody, impulsive prot
Justin Timberlake’s sci-fi thriller has audiences and critics divided. By Kara Warner Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried in “In Time” Photo: 20th Century Fox What do you get when you mix a futuristic, time-as-money/life-or-death premise; a cast of pretty young things, including Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Matt Bomer and Cillian Murphy; plus the sound sci-fi sensibilities of writer/director Andrew Niccol (“Gattaca,” “The Truman Show”) and appropriately stylized cinematography by Roger Deakins (“True Grit,” “The Reader”)? “In Time” is what, a complex, visually appealing sci-fi thriller that has audiences and critics somewhat divided. (The critical collective over at Rotten Tomatoes is at 36 percent rotten, while its audience rating sits at 76 percent fresh.) Take a few moments to check out the film’s ticking points, if you will, as we sift through the “In Time” reviews! The Story “The premise builds on the notion that time is money. In the movie’s dystopian future, where today’s cars have tomorrow’s grilles, time has replaced money. People are born with genetic clocks that stop at the age of 25; after that they’ve got one year in which to beg, borrow, steal or even earn more time. If they don’t, the digital clocks embedded in their forearms dwindle down to zero and they time out, i.e., die. That’s clever, right? But then there are roving gangs called Minute Men (Teddy Boy types out of ‘A Clockwork Orange’) who steal time; the borderline-silly spectacle of almost everyone looking 25; the polemic element of social injustice (the richest of the rich can live forever because they’ve got eons socked away); and the action-adventure element, a clumsy amalgam of Robin Hood, ‘Bonnie and Clyde,’ ‘The Avengers,’ ‘Les Mis
“Watch as the fifth installment in the Elder Scrolls series comes to life in this live action trailer for Skyrim.” WOW!! I can’t wait to play Skyrim. This game is going to be great. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will release worldwide on November 11, 2011. Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : PS3Blog.net Discovery Date : 24/10/2011 14:49 Number of articles : 2
Tony Regalbuto’s father has a penchant for decorating the family’s front yard with whimsical, sometimes frightening, humanoid decorations. Many of the characters are based around Posables, a system of configurable mannequins demonstrated at Maker Faire Bay Area 2011. These Broadcasting platform : Vimeo Source : Craftzine.com blog Discovery Date : 24/10/2011 19:00 Number of articles : 2
Twelve years after critics found it to be totally decent (and refreshingly stereotype-free) and audiences made it a solid $34M box office hit, the 1999 Taye Diggs vehicle Best Man will be getting a sequel! So if you’ve been holding your breath to find out what happens after interpersonal secrets and scandals among friends come to a head on one dramarama-filled wedding day, you’re in luck. Writer-director Malcolm D. Lee is set to script and helm Best Man 2 for Universal, and reportedly got the idea after a cast reunion dinner; take that as good indication that the likes of Diggs, Morris Chestnut, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Nathan, and Nia Long might reprise their characters. [ Deadline ]
