In ‘Twilight’ Tuesday, Josh Hutcherson says he understands the connection, but ‘the challenges the characters face are very different.’ By Kara Warner Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence Photo: MTV News Disclaimer: This is not a story about warring fanbases, nor is it intended to instigate a fan war. This is about how the smashing success of “The Twilight Saga” has led to Hollywood’s search for another young-adult mega-franchise and the media’s tendency to compare every teen-targeted film to it. “Twilight” is its own magical, mysterious beast, the overwhelming success of which we will very likely not see replicated anytime soon. While there are indeed similarities between the Stephenie Meyer-created behemoth and other successful franchises like “Harry Potter,” they are very, very different. The latest “Twilight”-vs.-X conversation features the highly anticipated “Hunger Games” movie. In my opinion, there are only two comparable elements: They are both based on very popular young-adult novels and feature two romantic interests for the female protagonist. MTV News recently posed the comparison question to “Hunger Games” stars Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence, who both said they understand the link. “I get why people make the connections, because it’s a very popular book, especially amongst young people,” Hutcherson said. “However, I think it’s an entirely different world, and the challenges the characters face are very different.” Those of us who have read both series — and “Potter,” for that matter — likely agree with Hutcherson and know they are completely different stories. As long as the greater population at large can accept and understand these differences, I am completely OK with the many comparisons. Just don’t lump the two together for the sake of convenience. The best thing I’ve seen so far in the “Twilight” and “Hunger Games” comparisons is the fact that Edward Cullen himself, Robert Pattinson, has read “Games” and is just as excited as we are to see the film — in addition to “Breaking Dawn – Part 2,” of course. “I sort of came across it last year, and I didn’t realize it was the most enormous thing in the world,” Pattinson told Entertainment Weekly last year. “It’s good! It will be a good movie.” Now if I can just get a slightly out-of-touch colleague to stop harassing me with “But where are the sparkly vampires?” questions every time a new “Hunger Games” trailer or teaser premieres, I’ll feel as though we’ve made some headway on the subject. What do you think of the “Twilight” and “Hunger Games” comparisons? Tweet me @karawarner with your thoughts and ideas for future “Twilight” Tuesday columns! Check out everything we’ve got on “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Photos The Hunger Games
Days before her big halftime show, MTV News counts down the Queen of Pop’s most-iconic moments on our stage. By John Mitchell Madonna at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards Photo: Getty Images America will be the first audience for the Queen of Pop in over two years when Madonna takes the stage at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis as the halftime act for Super Bowl XLVI . If her history with MTV is any indicator, she’s likely to blow the roof off the joint. Madonna is known for her over-the-top live performances and will most assuredly have her game face on with the world watching this Sunday. Not that she ever slacks in the live performance department: Her most recent tour, Sticky & Sweet, was the highest-grossing tour ever by a solo artist and the fourth-biggest tour of all time. From Live Aid in 1985 to Live 8, 20 years later, she’s headlined some of the biggest musical events of the past quarter century. Check out photos of Madonna’s iconic MTV performances! Some of her best and most-iconic performances, though, have taken place on MTV. Her relationship with the channel has been a symbiotic one: We gave her a nice big platform early in her career and she ran with it, writhing onstage to “Like a Virgin” at the 1984 Video Music Awards, earning heaps of press for herself and our first big show while helping to establish the VMAs as the performance event they are today. She’s since thanked us by returning again and again to tear up the stage with some of her biggest hits. As we gear up for Madonna’s big gig at the Super Bowl, we take a look back with a countdown of her biggest and best MTV performances. 5. “Hung Up,” 2005 MTV EMAs Less than three months after a fall from a horse broke her collarbone, hand and three ribs, Madonna opened the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards with a performance of the lead single from her Grammy-winning Confessions on a Dance Floor . Wearing a purple leotard and matching leather boots, Madonna emerged from a massive disco ball looking and sounding as strong as ever to perform the Stuart Price co-produced track, which went on to become her 36th top 10 hit in America and topped the charts in 41 countries. Madonna’s dancing and energy here proved what we’ve long suspected — that she is a real-life “X-Men” character with superhuman regeneration powers. How else do you explain the then-47-year-old’s ability to put on a show-stopping performance after a fall that would have sidelined far-younger performers for much longer? 4. “Like a Virgin/Hollywood,” 2003 VMAs Yeah, you knew it was coming. It was the kiss heard ’round the world. The performance opened as a tribute to Madonna’s iconic 1984 VMA take on “Like a Virgin” (more on that below) with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera trading vocals before segueing into a performance of “Hollywood” from American Life . The audience rose to its feet as Her Madgesty descended from atop a wedding cake, dressed in a feminized tuxedo, to dance, sing and, yes, smooch, Spears and Aguilera. The kiss caused a firestorm of controversy and remains one of the biggest pop-culture moments of the past decade. 3. “Like a Virgin,” 1984 VMAs There she was: Then an up-and-coming singer with a few hits (“Holiday,” “Lucky Star”) under her trademark “Boy Toy” belt, wearing a wedding gown and shimmying her way down a wedding cake at the first-ever MTV Video Music Awards. It remains arguably one of the most landmark live musical performances in history and was a fitting national introduction to Madonna. Oh, and her famous roll-on-the-floor dance move, you know the one — M rolling around onstage with her dress up over her head — well, Madonna didn’t mean for that to happen. As she told Jay Leno earlier this week, she lost her shoe as she was descending the wedding cake set piece and, in an effort to dive for it without being obvious, she rolled across the stage. After she came offstage, her then-manager Freddy DeMann told her that she’d gone too far and her career was over. What do you think about that now, Freddy? 2. “Express Yourself,” 1989 VMAs It might not be as iconic as her VMA debut or as controversial as “The Kiss,” but Madonna’s simple, full-voiced performance of “Express Yourself” at the 1989 VMAs is one of her best and serves as a roundup of everything we loved about ’80s Madonna (that hair, those baggy pants!) and a preview of what was to come in the ’90s. Unlike many of her performances, this take on “Express Yourself” feels very stripped down — just Madonna, two backup singers (longtime touring collaborators Niki Haris and Donna DeLory) and a light-up staircase. The choreography and staging largely foreshadowed how Madge tackled her tune as the opening number for her legendary 1990 Blonde Ambition World Tour, but late in the performance, she gives the audience their first taste of voguing months before “Vogue” actually hit radio in 1990. We also get a pre-cone-bra look at Madonna in a Jean Paul Gaultier bustier, a look she would rock well into the new decade. Perhaps best of all, as she walks offstage knowing she just nailed it, we get a glimpse of that signature Madonna confidence when the pop superstar high-fives Haris and DeLory and simply proclaims “Yeah!” as she disappears offstage. 1. “Vogue,” 1990 VMAs A year later, Madonna returned to the Video Music Awards to present what could be the most-influential pop performance in the awards’ history. With the stage ornately decorated to resemble an 18th century French parlor and her dancers in period grab, Madonna took the stage dressed, massive powdered wig and all, like Marie Antoinette to launch a full-on performance-art spectacle set to her #1 hit “Vogue.” Backed by her Blonde Ambition dancers as well as Haris and DeLory, Madonna lip-synched and fan-danced her way through the elaborate, sexy and innovative act with so much superstar swagger that it practically radiated from the TV. And 21 years later, you can see the impact of this performance — and more broadly, this period of Madonna’s career — everywhere, from Lady Gaga’s VMA performance of “Paparazzi” in 2009 to just about every tour any female pop star has launched since. Madonna didn’t just give her peers license to put on theatrical concerts and over-the-top TV performances, she made it a pop necessity. Share your predictions about Madonna’s Super Bowl halftime show in the comments below! Related Videos Madonna’s Top MTV Performances MTV Rough Cut: Madonna
Donald Trump endorsed Mitt Romney today in Las Vegas, Nev., contrary to earlier reports that he would get behind Newt Gingrich for the GOP nomination. “Mitt is tough. He is smart,” Trump said, Romney at his side at a Las Vegas hotel bearing his name. “It is my honor, and privilege to endorse Mitt Romney.” Perhaps not coincidentally, Trump’s announcement comes two days before the Nevada caucuses, and 10 days before the premiere of Celebrity Apprentice . Probably more so the latter. While some questioned whether Romney, a clear favorite in Nevada, would even want the endorsement of Trump, the Republican said he was glad to have it. “It means a great deal to have the endorsement of Mr. Trump,” Romney said, referring to the publicity maven the same way contestants on his show do. Trump told reporters in Las Vegas ahead of the official announcement that he would hit the campaign trail on behalf of the Republican front-runner. “Well they’d like me to and I’ll do as much as I can,” Trump said, adding that he would also consider donating to the Super PAC supporting Romney. Several media outlets, including CBS News, The AP and The New York Times , erroneously reported that Trump would endorse Newt Gingrich instead. Trump blamed the Gingrich campaign for spreading that word. Referring to the Gingrich campaign, he said: “They put that out. You know that right?” If so … what an epic fail by Newt.
First Lady Michelle Obama talks the talk and walks the walk. When the 48-year-old campaigns for the importance of health and physical fitness, she leads by example, as she proved today on
Talk about perfect timing. Just as our friends at Movie Fanatic are offering readers two free tickets to The Hunger Games premiere in Los Angeles, Lionsgate has released the second official trailer for this March blockbuster. It features an extended look at the Reaping; a long look at Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman; and heavy emphasis on the all-important Mockingjay, along with plenty of Jennifer Lawrence, of course. But enough from us. Sit back and take in the new footage below! The Hunger Games Super Bowl Trailer
Romney’s deluge of negative campaign ads seemed to have their desired effect. By Gil Kaufman Mitt Romney Photo: Joe Raedle/ Getty Images TAMPA, Florida — Mitt Romney climbed back into the driver’s seat Tuesday (January 31) with a big win in the Florida primary . Shortly after polls closed, CNN projected that Romney would win the state with 47 percent of the vote to Gingrich’s 31 percent. Thanks to his two solid debate appearances and his huge money advantage over Newt Gingrich, Romney seemed relaxed and confident in the 24 hours before the results came in when MTV News spent time trailing the campaign all over the state. With more than 4 million GOP voters eligible to vote in the primary, early reports indicated that between 1.5 million and 2 million could cast votes. The win is an important one for Romney for several reasons. It erases the memory of his five-point loss to Senator John McCain in the 2008 Florida primary , and it also means that this time he scoops up all 50 delegates in the winner-takes-all state. He was helped along by the massive infusion of cash for (mostly) negative ads attacking Gingrich funded by his own campaign and the Restore Our Future SuperPac, which outspent Gingrich and his allied Pac, Winning Our Future, by a 4-to-1 margin. Together, the men spent more than $20 million on the bruising battle in the important swing state with the highest foreclosure rate and one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. In a stark contrast to the three previous contests, according to CNN exit polls in Florida, Romney finally broke through to young voters (18-29), a group he had previously not clicked with. While Romney had reliably scored with older voters, in Florida, he won 39 percent of the youth votes to 26 percent for Congressman Ron Paul, 23 percent for Gingrich and 12 percent for Rick Santorum. In part, Paul lost his usual pull with young voters in the Sunshine State because Tuesday’s contest was a “closed” primary, which meant that only registered Republicans, and not independents, could cast ballots. The Libertarian-leaning Paul did not spend much time campaigning in Florida, preferring to focus on the upcoming Nevada primary on Saturday. He came in a distant fourth place with just 7 percent of the vote, bested by former Pennsylvania Senator Santorum (13 percent), who was forced to quit campaigning over the weekend to attend to a sick child. There were also not early results on if the state’s controversial new voter-registration laws had any impact on the turnout. Should they stay in place through the general election in November — there are currently several lawsuits attempting to overturn the laws — some voting-rights advocate worry they could have a suppressive effect on a number of traditionally Democrat-leaning voting blocs, including young and minority voters. The next contest takes place Saturday in Nevada. MTV is on the scene in Florida! Check back for up-to-the-minute coverage of the primaries and stick with PowerOf12.org throughout the 2012 presidential election season. Related Videos Florida Primary: The Race Is On!
Actress opens up about her own role-model status and her 2011 MTV Movie Awards speech during ‘MTV First: This Means War.’ By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Taylor Swift and Reese Witherspoon Photo: Christopher Polk/ACMA2011/Getty Images At the 2011 MTV Movie Awards when Reese Witherspoon took the stage to accept her Generation Award , she used the moment to stand up for every young woman out there. During her headline-making speech, she proudly told the girls watching the show that “I know it’s cool to be bad. I get it … but it’s also possible to make it in Hollywood without a reality show.” Now, many months later, Witherspoon sat down with MTV News on Tuesday (January 31) for ” MTV First: This Means War. ” And, during the lengthy chat, she opened up about her speech. “Well, I have a 12-year-old daughter, and I take it all very seriously. I think there’s not a lot of positive images out there for young women, honestly,” she explained. “I don’t know, I just feel like shining the light on the good was an incredible move on MTV’s part and that you don’t have to sell yourself short and objectify yourself in order to be popular or liked or loved. And there’s many different ways to the watering hole and you can maintain you self-respect and still accomplish things. “I don’t watch certain reality shows but there’s ones where people are doing cool, interesting things, like ‘Project Runway.’ But I’m not into women hating on other women or hitting each other or beating the crap out of each other to make money for a bunch of other people,” she continued. “I think that’s not what I want my kids to see.” That feminist stance has made her the go-to role model for a new generation of stars, including Taylor Swift , who cites her as one of her idols. “I think it’s an accumulation of life experiences and hopefully you handle yourself with grace and dignity and life and that’s all you can hope for and hope to pass on to people,” she said of her own role-model status. “And I think [Swift is] just an exemplary young lady,” she added. “It’s kind of interesting to see what a profound songwriter she is. I don’t even think anyone has realized, the long term is going to be the bigger revelation. It’s incredible how quickly she writes songs. We’ve hung out a couple of times; we live near each other in Nashville.” Related Videos MTV First: This Means War Related Artists Taylor Swift
Some of the most beautiful and bad ass young female talents in Hollywood assembled to star in Vanity Fair’s annual Hollywood issue, and they look great. Academy Award nominee Rooney Mara, The Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska share the cover of the publication. Check out their glam, old-school Hollywood look: Famed photographer Mario Testino is responsible for the images, in which The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo star Mara still wears a hint of goth-ish lipstick. Rooney could even pass for a stoic Lady Gaga at a glance! Who else was featured as Vanity Fair ‘s top talent of ’12? Elizabeth Olsen, Adepero Oduye, Shailene Woodley, Paula Patton, Felicity Jones, Lily Collins and Brit Marling all made the list of 11 lucky ladies recognized. Here’s the complete roster of VF ‘s Hollywood issue …
I discounted Olivia Wilde as a person when I found out that Wilde was her stage name in honor of her family who were literary academics or some shit while she ran off to be a useless, low grade, brainless twat actor….the fact that she was sloppy looking, had a bit of a gut that hung over her pants, and a shitty set of tits helped….cuz when a bitch is hot to look at, I’m into any stage name she wants to give me, as full of shit, lame, cheesy, embarassing, or idiotic as it may be….bitch can call herself Unicorn Anus if she fucking wants as long as she looks good….but when these hipster cunts do it…it is annoying….even when they showing off their floppy titty…
