‘I think Armie Hammer was always their #1 choice,’ he says of ending up alongside Kristen Stewart in ‘Huntsman’ instead. By Jocelyn Vena Sam Claflin Photo: MTV News “Snow White and the Huntsman” star Sam Claflin apparently had enough charm to be up for the role of the prince in both big-screen adaptations of the classic Snow White fairy tale. In the end, the “Mirror Mirror” producers had their eye on a different young man. “I think Armie Hammer was always their #1 choice,” the “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” star told Teen.com . “But I kind of saw more similarities in their prince and the part I played in ‘Pirates,’ whereas [with this] I thought I wanted to pick up a sword and I wanted to do a bit of fighting and get a bit grittier and hopefully sort of open a few more doors for me.” Claflin isn’t the only one adding some grit to his part: Kristen Stewart’s version of Snow is light-years away from “Mirror” star Lily Collins’. “She tends to sort of not be in any princess-like costumes, which is good for her and kind of gives her that badass sort of fighting spirit, I suppose,” Claflin said of the armor-clad heroine . “But she looks pretty damned awesome. Thumbs up.” “Snow White and the Huntsman,” which also stars Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman and Charlize Theron as the film’s Evil Queen, opens this summer. A trailer for the darker take on the “Snow” story dropped back in November and gave fans an eyeful of what they should expect from the film, which includes snowy landscapes and even chillier emotions. “Snow White and the Huntsman” follows Stewart’s Snow White and her hunting mentor. After the evil queen, Ravenna, calls for her death, Hemsworth’s Huntsman takes it upon himself to train Snow to fight off the Evil Queen after he disobeys her and allows her to live against the queen’s orders. Check out everything we’ve got on “Snow White and the Huntsman.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com .
Charlize Theron is one of those actresses in Hollywood that you might see stripping a lot in movies but of course we are not complaining and here she is again Continue reading →
In a world where Spike Lee has his own variety of Absolut and Will Ferrell devotedly shills for Old Milwaukee , it’s important to point out when the intersection of celebrities and booze actually results in something encouraging. Take Charlize Theron, who was photographed Sunday carrying some of America’s finest craft beer to a Super Bowl party. A whole case of it . The Delaware brewery Dogfish Head is renowned far and wide for its IPAs, particularly the 60-minute variety of which Theron rocked over the weekend. At 6 percent ABV, it is the brewery’s smoothest, least potent IPA; the 90-minute and 120-minute versions top out around 9 percent and 20 percent, each named after the length of the brew’s sustained boil and continuous hopping. Which may not mean anything to non-beer enthusiasts, but trust me: After having to sit through five minutes of Super Bowl ads for something called “Bud Light Platinum,” little is as refreshing to a connoisseur as seeing an A-list, Oscar-winning actress treat our biggest sporting event as the stepping-up opportunity that it is. Anyway, Theron should be commended, and may all of Hollywood take note. Also: I will totally lend my likeness out to any brewer needing a little push on upcoming game days. Inquire within . I’m looking at you, Ommegang . Ahem. [via Daily Mail ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Complicated voting rules shut out songs by Elton John, Lady Gaga, Mary J. Blige and Pink. By John Mitchell Blu and Linda in “Rio” Photo: 20th Century Fox Tuesday morning’s (January 24) announcement of the 2012 Oscar nominations delivered plenty of surprises. Michael Fassbender (“Shame”), Albert Brooks (“Drive”) and Charlize Theron (“Young Adult”) were overlooked in the acting categories, while Melissa McCarthy (“Bridesmaids”), Rooney Mara (“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”) and Max von Sydow (“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”) scored surprise nominations. But perhaps no category was more head-scratching than Best Original Song. Despite the fact that a short list of 39 tracks were eligible for nomination , only two were named — ” Man or Muppet ” from “The Muppets” and “Real in Rio” from “Rio” — leaving tunes from Elton John and Lady Gaga, Pink, will.i.am, Zooey Deschanel, Elvis Costello and Mary J. Blige shut out of the competition. Many Oscar-watchers were left wondering why the Academy would opt away from the traditional five contenders in favor of just two little-heard songs. Well, a closer look at the Oscar rule book shows it’s probably less a case of choosing to nominate only two songs than it is simply a case of a single song scoring enough points to secure a nod, and then bringing its closest competition along for the ride. Oscar nominations are arrived at using a very complicated weighted system in which members of the Academy, voting exclusively for members of their own branch (i.e. actors chose the acting nominees, directors vote for directors, etc.), rank contenders in order of preference. From there, a “magic number” is determined that relies on the number of ballots cast for a category, along with a specific mathematical equation. Ballots are tallied and contenders are eliminated through several rounds in a process that tabulates factors like first-place mentions and so on. Once a contender reaches the magic number, they are an Oscar nominee. (The folks over at EW ‘s PopWatch break down the selection steps in great detail.) So this is how the nominees are determined — with one exception: Best Original Song. In 2009, when the Academy opted to up the number of Best Picture nominees to 10 (the voting body has since altered that number), it also changed the rules for Best Original Song. As Billboard points out, members of the Academy’s music branch now “assign each song a numerical score between 1 and 10, and if no song receives an average of more than 8.25, there are no nominees. If only one song tops the threshold, as clearly happened here, the next highest vote getter secures a nomination as well.” This year’s Best Original Song category boils down to this: either Bret McKenzie’s “Man or Muppet” or “Real in Rio” by songwriting trio Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett secured a score of 8.25 or better, earning a nomination and pulling the #2 vote-getter into the fray. Simply put, members of the music branch didn’t award any other song, including John and Gaga’s duet “Hello Hello” or Blige’s “The Help” track “Living Proof,” a score high enough to secure a nomination. But lest you think that this means the category is all but locked, think again. While selecting the Oscar nominees is an intensely mathematical process, picking the winners is much easier. Once the nominations are decided, every member of the Academy can vote in each category and the nominee that receives the most votes wins. Easy enough. And since actors are the largest voting block of the Academy— and would have had nothing to do with the tracks selected to contend for Best Original Song — it’s anyone’s game. See the complete list of Academy Awards Nominations . Related Artists Mary J. Blige Lady Gaga Elton John Madonna
The 2012 Golden Globe Awards have come and gone. Homeland and Modern Family were recognized on the television side of things, The Artist and The Descendants represented in major movie categories and… … do you really care? Let’s face it: these events are all about the red carpet. That’s why THG staff members spent the majority of their day posting Fashion Face-Offs , pitting one celebrity against another in a showdown of styles. Based on those matchups, we can use actual poll results to recap the best and worst from the ceremony. WINNERS LOSERS
Reese Witherspoon, Charlize Theron and Nicole Richie shine. By Christina Garibaldi, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Reese Witherspoon attends the 2012 Golden Globes Photo: Getty Images On Sunday night, the hottest celebrities in Hollywood gathered for the 2012 Golden Globes to celebrate one of the biggest nights in movies, television, and, of course, fashion. The stars shone bright on the red carpet, showing off gorgeous mermaid-style gowns, plunging necklines and sparkling headbands . Yet, it wasn’t all about bright colors: The big trend for the night was nude-hued gowns , worn by everyone from Jessica Biel and Heidi Klum to “Modern Family” actress Sarah Hyland. “This one is really different,” Hyland told MTV News of her beige lace Dolce & Gabbana gown. “I never really wore lace before so I feel very feminine in it. It’s very vintage-y, classy, and I like that.” While Hyland’s dress was covered in lace, first-time attendee and Best Supporting Actress nominee for “The Help,” Jessica Chastain decided to adorn herself from head to toe in pearls. “It was love at first sight with this dress,” Chastain said of her white Givenchy gown. “This is my first Golden Globes. There’s something very pure about this dress. I’m a very pure girl.” Looking radiant in a silver Julien Macdonald gown was Nicole Richie, who finished off her look with her very own House of Harlow bag. “I thought she looked amazing,” Celebuzz producer Rachel Maresca told MTV News. “We haven’t seen her on a red carpet in a long time, and she came out wowing everybody. She’s in Julien Macdonald with a fully beaded dress. She said it was little bit heavy, but she looked very comfortable in it, and she’s rocking a House of Harlow, her own designed bag.” A-list actresses flooded the red carpet, including Angelina Jolie in a draped ivory Atelier Versace gown with red accents, Charlize Theron in a pink Dior Couture gown complete with high slit and Cartier headband, and Emma Stone in a purple and red accent Lanvin gown with a plunging neckline. Yet, it was a lady in red that might have stolen the show: Reese Witherspoon dazzled in a tight-fitted scarlet Zac Posen dress with a sweetheart neckline, deciding to keep the rest of her look laidback with wavy hair. “Her hair for me looked ‘gorgeous without trying’ type of look,” Maresca said. “The dress was made for her; it looks great.” Who do you think was the best dressed at the Golden Globes? Sound off below! Check out the 2012 Golden Globes winners , our fashion coverage from the Golden Globes red carpet, and stay with MTV Style during awards-show season! Related Videos On The Red Carpet At The Golden Globes 2012 Golden Globes: Highlights From The Show Related Photos Golden Globes 2012 Press Room Golden Globes 2012: The Afterparties
Traditionally a “guilty pleasure” is something you’d be embarrassed for the world to know you secretly enjoyed or for your Facebook friends to see you clicked on, but you know what? Around here we embrace the bad-to-godawful movies we love, and besides; what the heck does it even mean to like something ironically, you insufferable hipster? Toss away your pretentious hat, sit down in the circle of trust, take a deep breath, and join Movieline in unabashedly celebrating the inane, misguided, off-the-mark, and downright B-A-D but nevertheless shamelessly entertaining movies of the year – the Top 9 Not-So-Guilty Pleasures of 2011 . Because we all love some terrible things, don’t we? 9. Nick Nolte in Zookeeper Maybe I just cribbed from everyone’s Worst Movies of 2011 list. Maybe Nick Nolte’s work as a TGI Friday’s-loving gorilla named Bernie in Zookeeper eclipses his shattering work in Warrior on the basis of its cringe-worthiness alone. And maybe I feel so bad that poor Nolte had to sing Florida’s “Low” in character as a gorilla opposite Kevin James that it’s endeared me to his scenes. Also: Primates instantly make any movie better. Everybody knows that. 8. The year in Armond White-isms Call for his head all you want, I’ll staunchly defend notorious film critic Armond White (The man who once coined the phrase “abortionhorny” and thought Lady Gaga would make for better Lisbeth Salander casting!) to the end, purely because his reviews are so goddamn entertaining. Add to that the iconoclast take on movies, supported by left-field arguments that are sometimes so crazy they make complete sense, and you’ve got an essential voice in contemporary movie writing. Even if he raved over Adam Sandler in drag; let that be an exception. 7. The Footloose soundtrack I have no fondness for Blake Shelton’s feeble country mimicry of a Kenny Loggins cover, but Movieline’s Louis Virtel was won over by the Footloose remake’s contempo-pop soundtrack of redos. They can’t all be Karen O-Led Zeppelin covers, I suppose. Let’s hear it for the art of pop homage done toe-tappingly well enough? 6. Gerard Depardieu PeeGate At first, it seemed like French acting legend Gerard Depardieu, to quote 2011′s viral sensation the Honey Badger, simply did not give a shit. But unlike the year’s other infamous celebrity incidents (Lars and the Nazi Joke Heard ‘Round the Word, Madonna’s HydrangeaGate), this one boiled down to one man’s humble humanity (and prostate issues). So ridiculous was the tale that Anderson Cooper broke his dashing resolve to giggle through his on-air report, but think of Gerard and embrace his moment of weakness; there’s no shame in acknowledging our fragile human vulnerabilities from time to time. 5. Season of the Witch / Drive Angry / Trespass (AKA A Good Year for Nic Cage) I wouldn’t call it a banner year for Nicolas Cage himself, but it was a great year to be a Nic Cage watcher. He started out 2011 with the medieval gift of silliness that was Season of the Witch , guzzled beer from his enemy’s skull in the genre pic Drive Angry , and (with the other Nic – Nicole Kidman) bequeathed us with Joel Schumacher’s Trespass , a film Movieline’s S.T. VanAirsdale loved, and laughed through, unapologetically. All one big set-up to watch him pee fire! 4. Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family My personal conversion to the church of Tyler Perry happened earlier this year when I found myself rolling in the aisles during Madea’s Big Happy Family . Is Perry’s Madea a cartoonish, hulking hurricane of a woman? Does she reinforce unfortunate cultural stereotypes even as she doles out totally reasonable life advice? All I know is Perry – the performer, the director, the check-cashing media tycoon (and sensitive man of the world) – is some kind of genius to have made an empire out of a wig, a muumuu, and an attitude, one that further allows him a pedestal from which he geniunely consoles and encourages his fans. Hallelujer, indeed. 3. Lonely Island’s “Jack Sparrow” All you need to know, if you don’t already, is that Jorma Taccone, Andy Samberg, and Akiva Shaffer – AKA Lonely Island – wrote an inspired ditty and snared icon of yesteryear Michael Bolton to sing the hook. Only ginormous film fan Michael Bolton turned it into a song about Pirates of the Caribbean , Forrest Gump , and all of his favorite movies — an ode to the cheesy, cliched movies we all love. Instant karaoke classic. 2. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Love it or hate it, the Twilight Saga is what it is. And when Robert Pattinson started chowing down on Kristen Stewart’s pregnant belly in the kooky denouement of Bill Condon’s vampire sequel, shit started getting so, so real. AND THEN THE WOLF GUY FELL FOR THE BABY AND OH MY GOD YES. 1. Abduction Speaking of Twilight , the universe that Stephenie Meyer created inadvertently led, in turn, to my number one most enjoyable film experience of the year: Sitting through the entirety of Abduction . Terrible line readings, second unit typos, Taylor Lautner’s posturing ’80s action-inspired swagger – it was all there, and it was all insanely terrible and great at the same time. Does this border on liking Abduction ironically? Maybe, but I couldn’t help it. Just know this: Every second of feeble-handed acting, directing, and writing held my attention rapt and engaged my senses; I came alive imagining the winding thicket of talent, dollars, and choices that could’ve churned out such a product. Was any of it intentional – was John Singleton just fucking with us all? Probably not, but still; this holiday season give yourself the gift of watching Abduction and soak in the glory of the ultimate Bad Movie We Love of 2011. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
I realize I may have given away some of these choices with my utterly correct listing of the year’s ten best performances , but no matter! 2011′s finest cinema, specifically the top three choices on my list, gifted us with bleak, but comprehensive glimpses into personal isolation. I love when a movie is resolutely grim — reminds me of home. Here are my top ten films of 2011. 10. Win Win Director Thomas McCarthy’s understated, thoughtful look at a suburban wrestling coach’s (Paul Giamatti) dubious business dealings dredges up your pity and empathy at different moments, but it mostly acquaints you with one of the best teenage performances of the past few years in newcomer and real-life wrestling prodigy Alex Shaffer. It helps that his character is well-written too. As McCarthy explained to us about the emotional lives of teenagers, “They’re struggling with all kinds of things — who they are, what they are, what they want to be. That, for many of those kids, is a very private and scary struggle. A lot of times how that manifests itself is a very deadpan approach to the world: ‘I’m not going to let you see what I’m feeling until I’m ready to really show that.’” When Shaffer is ready to show, it’s a poignant sight. 9. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I knew I was in for a treat the minute I heard Trent Reznor and Karen O’s cover of “Immigrant Song,” but David Fincher’s Dragon Tattoo so improves upon the original Swedish film trilogy thanks to two fantastic assets: blisteringly chilly cinematography and the commanding work of Rooney Mara as well-pierced heroine Lisbeth Salander. It may drag in parts, but Mara’s conviction merits a 160-minute runtime. 8. Weekend Tom Cullen and Chris New play the most insightful lovers of the year in Andrew Haigh’s low-key story of one lonely gay man’s short affair with a candid, self-possessed artist. The movie is especially incisive in its depiction of two men who relate both romantically and — in an empathetic way — fraternally. There’s not a pretentious or cloying moment in this wholly believable story. 7. Midnight in Paris Whimsy: I’m usually not a fan! But Midnight in Paris ‘s droll journey back to the heyday of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Salvador Dali makes a wonderful protagonist out of Owen Wilson, a gorgeous backdrop for Marion Cotillard’s all-consuming charisma, and a weirdly perfect scene for the film’s moral. You either go with this movie’s kooky historical lark or you don’t, but every actor in that post-midnight time portal is just so fun. My favorite: Kathy Bates as a staunchly supportive Gertrude Stein. 6. Young Adult Forget the hype about “unlikable” heroine Mavis Gary, the grizzled authoress Charlize Theron plays in the new Jason Reitman/Diablo Cody joint Young Adult — She’s an imperturbable, amazingly deluded woman-child whose self-assured mania is more engrossing and “likable” than most characters you’ll encounter this year. I’d like to offer a new tagline for this cranky, suburban comedy: Assholes are Awesome .
Less than 24 hours after a messy-looking leak made the rounds, the first trailer for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus is officially in circulation. And from Michael Fassbender’s science projects to Noomi Rapace and Charlize Theron running for their lives from seemingly any and every threat you can imagine, it is a doozy. That said, it goes by by pretty fast. Read on for shot-by-shot breakdown.
Ian Christe is king of the metalheads. We know it’s hard to hear, headbangers, and we’re sure your record collection is appropriately trv, but this guy wrote the book. Literally. His book Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal , first published in 2003, contains over 400 pages of hard-rocking history and has been translated into German, Czech, Finnish, French, Japanese, and Spanish, among others (more on that later). Ian has since translated his incredible knowledge of all things heavy into the popular Sirius Satellite Radio show Bloody Roots , where every week he ” preaches a lesson in heavy metal heritage, with inside stories and tons of rare music from all of metal’s many subspecies,” and Bazillion Points Books , which published Swedish Sensationsfilms earlier this year (read our interview with author Daniel Ekeroth here ) and next year will bring Heavy Metal Movies to life with our own Mike McBeardo . Throw the horns with Ian Christe after the jump!
