‘It could have been one of the most incredible records ever,’ he says of his attempt to record with Winehouse. By Gil Kaufman, with additional reporting by Christina Garibaldi Usher Photo: MTV News It’s one of the great R&B duets that never was. While Usher was working on his seventh studio album, Looking 4 Myself , he was determined to take fans on a musical journey and experiment with sounds he’d never explored before. So, in addition to teaming up with Diplo for the seductive lead single, “Climax,” , as well as EDM giants Swedish House Mafia, Usher said he sought out producer Salaam Remi because he was very interested in doing a song with Remi protege, Amy Winehouse , before the singer died unexpectedly died at age 27 in July 2011. “We met and we talked about it for a moment when I saw her,” Usher said of a brief sit-down with the troubled crooner to discuss the potential soul summit. “There was a few conversations that took place, but we never quite made it to it … I would have loved it.” One of those talks occurred while the unlikely duo were shopping at the ritzy London department store Selfridges. “I was shopping and she was doing some private shopping and she came out and we kind of crossed each other’s [paths] and, [I was like] ‘Is that Amy Winehouse?’ … And before you know it we talked and exchanged information and I invited her to a show … and she didn’t come.” Winehouse was out of the country at the time and sent a relative to the gig in her stead, but that missed connection has stuck with Usher to this day. “It could have been one of the most incredible records ever,” he said. “A voice like that comes once in a lifetime.” Usher still wanted to get in the studio with Remi, and though it was a hard time for the producer, the pair met in New York and worked it out. “The style and the sound that we worked, I felt would definitely compliment what he does as a producer and what I have to offer.” The story that the two explored on “Sins of My Father” was a new one for Usher, who had never spoken about his feelings for his dad in song before. “That was a hard one, but he gave me a palette that really worked.” Related Videos MTV News Extended Play: Usher
Look out, One Direction . Justin Bieber is totally gunning for your fan base. The teenage icon conducted an interview with Capital radio station in England Saturday… and he did it entirely in a British accent! The chat took place backstage of the Summertime Ball 2012 in London, during which Justin appeared on stage with protege Carly Rae Jepsen and danced along to the Song of the Decade, “Call Me Maybe.” Watch the Biebs do his best Prince William impression below, as he discussed Carly Rae, losing his Rolex and winning a Grammy someday: Justin Bieber British Accent Interview
The Rock of Ages cast came out to London this weekend for that movie’s European premiere, and while a shirtless Tom Cruise – as singer Stacee Jaxx – has been receiving a bulk of the film’s attention so far, take note, fellas: The movie features some serious female hotties as well. Two cases in point: Julianne Hough, who portrays Sherrie Christian; and Malin Akerman, who takes on the role of Constance Sack. Both attended the aforementioned premiere and both are featured below. Vote on your preferred look now:
Following a whirlwind rise to fame in his native Sweden, actor Joel Kinnaman is beginning to make his mark on American audiences thanks to a breakout turn as Detective Holder on AMC’s The Killing and his high-profile casting in the upcoming RoboCop remake . For the Stockholm-born 32-year-old, who breaks Greta Gerwig’s heart at the start of this week’s Lola Versus (but manages to remain sympathetic — a rarity in romantic comedies), setting out for Hollywood couldn’t have come at a better time. And according to him, taking risks — in work and beyond — is what living is all about: “Nothing is more important than the choices we make and the life we choose to live.” Over the course of a decade, the blond, strikingly handsome Kinnaman has emerged as one of Sweden’s most promising talents. Crossing over to Hollywood, he appeared in The Darkest Hour , The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo , and Safe House , while his 2010 Swedish crime thriller Snabba Cash — set to be remade in English with Zac Efron — will debut stateside this summer. In Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister Jones’s Lola Versus Kinnaman takes a slight detour from the “darkness and grittiness” he’s embraced for years, playing Luke, the NYC artist who gets cold feet and breaks his engagement to Greta Gerwig’s Lola, forcing her to re-examine herself and her fairytale expectations of life and love. Kinnaman rang Movieline from London for a wide-ranging conversation about living without regret, leaving Sweden in time to avoid waking up at 45 years old “doing auditions for the third swordsman on Game of Thrones ,” why he quit Twitter but can’t help Googling himself every now and then, and (of course!) our robot future. Hi there! Where are you calling from, by the way? I’m walking around in my robe in a hotel room in London. What are you doing in London? I’m shooting an H&M commercial. Aha! So, let me get this out of the way right off the bat: I got hooked on The Killing and watched all of the first season, on demand, in a matter of days. [Laughs] That’s the way I like to watch stuff, too! Given that most folks here know you as Holder from The Killing , Lola Versus is an interesting project to come out for you now that you’re starting to cross-over from Swedish film and TV into Hollywood. Was it appealing, the variation? Well, yes — it was a very welcome light side step from all the darkness and grittiness that I’ve been involved with, pretty much throughout my whole career. I’m a pretty light and light-spirited person; I’m not a depressed guy. I think that in Sweden and a lot of European countries there’s this whole mythology of the wounded artist, that you can’t really do any great art unless you’re suffering. And I always thought that was bullshit, I thought it was out of not being able to trust yourself to dive into those deep waters, so you create this persona of a struggling person that in turn would make it believable that you could portray these characters. But I’ve usually been cast as these dark, complex, struggling people. Why do you think that is? I don’t know. Of course I have that in me, too, but that’s not what I nourish in life. I don’t think that anybody that is depressed wants to be depressed, and that’s often what you see from performances with actors like that; it’s a depressed character from the first step onstage or the first frame of a movie and it’s like [sighs] and there’s no real journey to it. Does this make you a sort of anti-method actor? Well, I’m not a method actor per se, but if I’m playing a character that at its core of its persona has experiences I don’t have, I try to search out and get firsthand experiences of similar sorts so I have something to fantasize about. I think my technique is always evolving, and I think every character has its technique, but the thread through the way I work is that I usually try to get myself real experience doing what the character does so I have something real to fantasize about. Along those lines, you did ride-alongs with police officers to prepare to play Holder on The Killing , so I’m assuming you’ll spend some time with robots for RoboCop … [Laughs] Yeah, I’m going to Japan and spending time with [real life robots]. Have you seen those? Pretty cool. I have, and it blows my mind that a RoboCop -like future may not be too far away. It’s not. Have you seen these Japanese hospital droids, or humanoids, or whatever they call it? They’ve perfected the skin, and the skin looks so real. They have these motors between the eyes for when they smile. It’s just mind-blowing. We’re pretty close already. You can find it on YouTube! It’s spooky. Lola Versus is a relationship movie, an alternative romantic dramedy, but it’s surprisingly balanced and complex as these movies go — your character is a character who in any average rom-com might be written as evil, so we can hate him off the bat for dumping Lola. But we can’t really do that here. Yeah, it feels more balanced and not so formulaic in that sense. And I like that it starts out where most rom-coms end. And the message of the movie was one of the things that drew me to it; this message of ‘freedom for solitude.’ But at its main core it says, don’t throw your life away by living your life by a formula, like how things are supposed to be done. I think that’s what freaks Luke out — he’s realizing that life is a precious thing and maybe he hasn’t given it everything he could. It’s like being a little bit of a coward. One of the things that came to mind when I read the script, and something I think about a lot, is I believe that this life is everything that we have, and nothing happens after it — nothing is more important than the choices we make and the life we choose to live. There was this, I think, Danish documentary where they did interviews with old people, in their 80s, all over the world, from different classes and histories of wealth, different ethnicities, different religious backgrounds. Interviewing them on life; how they looked upon life. And of course the answers were all across the board, because everyone has such a different outlook on life, because of where they’re from. But there was one question that had a much higher resonance of the quality of answers, all over the world, in different classes and ethnicities, and that was, “What is your biggest regret in life?” And the answer that was common was, “That I didn’t take more emotional risks.” I’m turning 31, and having been thinking about those kinds of questions lately, I’ll be honest with you — watching Lola Versus at times was a little too real for me. [Laughs] Those are the kinds of reality checks that we need! If you got that feeling, that’s the best thing that can happen to you. I think that being a coward within yourself and not exposing yourself to life, giving yourself an opportunity to be everything that you can be — giving yourself the opportunity to evolve fully, to the furthest extent of where you could come — that’s a crime to yourself. You have to be brave. Speaking of such things as bravery, the leap you made from Sweden to Hollywood seems like a challenging transition to make. You’ve talked about going out for auditions, having to deal with not having a big enough “name”… I got out of acting school in 2007, and I had two very intense years — I did nine features in 16 months, where I played the lead in all of them, and at the same time I was playing the lead, Raskolnikov, in Crime and Punishment . It was like a three hour and 45 minute play that was a big success in Sweden. So I had a very intense two first years after I got out of acting school, and it was after that whole period before those movies had come out, that I made the decision to move. It was a good choice, and I was aware of my situation, [thinking] it’s a good time to go now, because in three or four years I’ll be established in a way, in Sweden, where I’m going to be used to being treated in a certain way and that can be difficult to change. So it was very easy to come over to the State without having an ego about things like that. You were afraid that a few more years of success in Sweden and you’d be too famous? Maybe you get too used to not having to fight for stuff. It’s more difficult when you’ve been working as an established actor for 20 years and then as a 45-year-old, everyone respects you and knows your body of work, and then all of a sudden you come to the States and nobody knows who you are, and you’re doing auditions for the third swordsman on Game of Thrones . That can be humiliating, but… so it was a good time for me to come over. You’ve got The Killing and Lola Versus out and, soon, American audiences will see you in a Swedish film, Snabba Cash . And then, Robocop . When I spoke with Jose Padilha about his Elite Squad films, he shared his take on RoboCop and why it was compelling on a human level and it was really interesting to hear his philosophical approach. I mean, he’s a young master, and a very strong visionary. He wants to make something with a lot of substance. And if you’ve seen Elite Squad , you know that the action sequences are a walk in the park for him. He can portray action very realistically — and that’s how he wants to do this movie. It takes place in the future, and it’s RoboCop , but it’s still going to feel like a gritty, down to earth movie… with a lot of fireworks around it. You’ve described a difference in your acting approach to the character, that this RoboCop would be more of an “acting piece” than the original. How so, and why? It just comes from the realization of, as we were talking about robots earlier, our vision of a robot 30 years from now is very different from what a robot was in the future in 1987. That is the main thing, and then there are obviously some things in the script that lead into that that I can’t talk about. Lastly, you spoke about your fame in Sweden and there is certainly a wealth of admiration online for your work there. Now that you’re carving out a career here, do you go online and read what’s written about yourself? Are you tempted to be on Twitter, as some actors and filmmakers are? I did have a Twitter account, but five episodes into The Killing I terminated it. [Laughs] I felt that it’s enough of a struggle to keep my narcissism at bay, I don’t need to know what everybody’s saying about me. It’s just not healthy. But of course, I’ll Google my name time and again. But I try not to dive too deep into it. Of course, it’s always tempting, and it’s always there and it’s fascinating to hear what people say about you, but my experience of doing that is it’s like Russian roulette. You won’t stop looking until you find somebody saying something really nasty about you, and that’s the only way you’re satisfied. It doesn’t matter if there are 200 people saying great things, you’re only going to remember that one person that said something horrible about you, and there’s no point in that. Lola Versus is in select theaters today. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Also happening Friday morning in news, Warner Bros. is going for a new action-adventure project using Chinese mythology and Hugh Jackman takes a short leave at Les Miserables for Tony. RIP J. Michael Riva and Pinochet doc sparks protests in Chile. Snow White and the Huntsman Sequel Gets Going Universal is in talks with director Rupert Sanders about a return after directing the first version. The actors in the film apparently have options for two sequels, so more Snow White is apparently in the on the way, Deadline reports . Warner Bros. Picks Up Temple of Heaven The studio picked up the action adventure project thought up by former Disney execs Jason Reed and Michael Andreen. The story apparently combines bits of Chinese mythology to create an action adventure story, Deadline reports . Madagascar 3 a Possible Prometheus Upset this Weekend? Madagascar 3 from Paramount-Dreamworks opens today at 4,258 locations and is poised to fetch as much as $65M through Sunday. Fox’s Ridley Scott Sci-Fi Prometheus , however has some tracking services giving the feature an opening of $40M – $45M though the film will bow at a comparative 3,394 theaters, Variety reports . Hugh Jackman to Take off from Les Miserables for Tonys Appearance Jackman is heading off the London set of the theater to big screen project to receive an award for his “contributions to the Broadway community at the Tony Awards this Sunday, THR reports . Django , Spider-Man Production Designer Passes at 63 J. Michael Riva was nominated for an Oscar in 1985 for The Color Purple and won an Emmy in 2007 for The 79th Annual Academy Awards . He apparently passed away in a hospital, but no cause of death was immediately given. Django Unchained had been shooting in New Orleans, Variety reports . Pro-Pinochet Documentary Spawns Protests in Chile Titled simply Pinochet , the film will be screened in the South American country’s capital Santiago on Sunday. The divisive leader who ruled Chile for 17 years is a hero to the country’s right-wing who credit him from saving the country from communism, while opponents say he’s responsible for kidnappings and murder, BBC reports .
‘I have no desire to be super-skinny,’ Stronger singer tells Redbook. By Jocelyn Vena Kelly Clarkson Photo: FilmMagic Kelly Clarkson seems to be feeling “stronger” these days thanks to a healthier lifestyle and a slimmed-down figure. In a new interview with Redbook magazine, the singer talks all about how she lost the weight but said never wants to lose too many pounds. “I do cardio. I run. I strength-train using my own body weight. I don’t like free weights, because I build muscle easily,” she told the magazine. “Really, what I try to instill in my fans is to be healthy and happy. I have no desire to be super-skinny.” In addition to sporting a new dress size in the July issue, Clarkson has recently started rocking a new hair color. After being brunette for a while, she was photographed in London on Wednesday with a deep, honey-blond style . She’s in the U.K. promoting her new single, “Dark Size,” as well as her new gig as a mentor on the U.S. singing competition show “Duets.” As one of the show’s coaches, Kelly definitely has wisdom to share, considering her experience as the first-ever “American Idol” winner. She will probably offer the guidance she wished she had during her time on the Fox show. “I’m going to be completely honest: I had no one looking out for me,” she said. “They were looking out for the show, and it was horrible. I was 19 years old. I was smart enough to know that it wasn’t about me, but that didn’t make it any easier. I’m all cried out about it, but my first four years, I hated my life; I almost quit a dozen times.” These days the singer does have someone looking out for her. She met boyfriend Brandon Blackstock through her pal Reba McEntire; Blackstock is the country star’s stepson. Now, the queen of breakup anthems joked that she’s waiting for the other shoe to drop. “I know — where’s the kick in the ass? I told my assistant that today. I said, ‘I’m just waiting for something to blow up.’ She said, ‘No, that’s what happiness is.’ I’m like, ‘Maybe I’ve never been happy!’ Because Brandon does, he makes me happy.” Share your thoughts on Kelly’s new look in the comments section! Related Artists Kelly Clarkson
Lolo Jones is some Olympic Hurdler….who posted this picture of herself on twitter. I can’t be bothered to see if she’s competing in London 2014, but I can be bothered to look up this rumor that she is a virgin….. According to Wikipedia: In October 2009, Jones posed semi-nude for ESPN.[19] In a 2012 segment on HBO’s Real Sports, Jones revealed that she is a virgin, dates online, and struggles to maintain her virginity.[20] She said “If there’s virgins out there, I’m going to let them know, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life — harder than training for the Olympics, harder than graduating from college, has been to stay a virgin before marriage.”[ Which gives a whole new perspective on her fit, muscular, manly looking athlete ass, even if athlete asses are hotter than fat lazy chick asses, cuz I married a fat lazy chick and so much more beyond their asses are disgusting, and the only thing good about them is their inability to run from me when I want to get my fuck on…. But then again, these virginity claims re from 2009….a lot of sex can happen if the right dude comes along with a boner and false promises disguised as Love…. Here’s her twitter pic….
‘I wouldn’t dare come on your stage and say something negative about Hot 97,’ Minaj says in heated radio interview. By Nadeska Alexis Nicki Minaj Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images Hip-hop beefs come and go, and while some battles are fought lyrically and others are resolved under wraps, once in awhile they need to be aired out on public radio. Nicki Minaj called in to New York City’s Hot 97 on Monday night to do the latter, and she demanded that her conversation with DJ Funkmaster Flex be aired uncut and unedited. The YMCMB rapper was tuning in to address the controversy that started on Sunday when she pulled out of Hot 97’s annual Summer Jam concert in New Jersey after a brief tweet from Lil Wayne that read, “Young Money ain’t doing summer jam.” Word had gotten back to Weezy that Hot 97 personality Peter Rosenberg had disrespected Minaj, calling her single “Starships” “wack” and panning it for not being “real hip-hop.” To fans who were not at the show or watching the Summer Jam live stream, the first indication that things had gone sour were a series of tweets from Minaj’s account such as, “Wow. U ni–az just f—ed up history. But the President has spoken. #YMCMB.” During their heated discussion, which opened with Flex admitting that they’d already been arguing for an hour, Nicki Minaj was adamant in insisting that Rosenberg chose the wrong time and place to voice his negative opinions. “It’s not about his opinion, because I have opinions about DJs on Hot 97 and I have opinions on Hot 97,” she said. “But when it’s about us uniting people [for] your show, I wouldn’t dare come on your stage and say something negative about Hot 97, leading up to that concert.” “My fans at Summer Jam didn’t appreciate his comments, nor did my fans who were watching the live stream appreciate his comments,” she added. “This is streaming to the world. Nicki Minaj opened up that stream to show to kids in London and Paris. It was hosted on my website and those requests came from your station. I posted the links.” Flex countered that Nicki was overreacting when she listened to Lil Wayne and pulled out of the show, and he accused her of riling up fans on Twitter before dealing with the issue internally. But Minaj wasn’t having any of it, maintaining that what Weezy says goes. “I don’t go against the president of my label. Before I had New York radio, I had Wayne,” she said emphatically. “I will never go against Wayne. I can’t believe after all these years, he’s still teaching me. After a man goes onstage and disrespects me and tries to rile people up, I still was going on that stage, and shame on me. Lil Wayne gave me a valuable lesson in self-worth. He tweeted before he called me, and when I spoke to him he said, ‘Nick, we ain’t doing that show.’ ” Minaj explained that the attack felt extra-vindictive since she was the only woman on the roster (but not because she was the only woman on the roster), and plenty of yelling and screaming took place, sometimes punctuated by Minaj repeating Flex’s name slowly, in an effort to calm him down. One final issue that she needed to address was Flex’s earlier radio rant, when he defended Rosenberg and Hot 97 and made questionable remarks about her music sales . “When you give stats to the world, people listen to you, and it’s important that people know Nicki Minaj is actually out here selling records, singles and making money for Universal,” she said, rattling off the sales numbers she’s raked in with Pink Friday and Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, topping it off with my favorite line, “I get money.” It wouldn’t be completely accurate to say that things ended on a positive note, but it seems like Minaj had the upper hand here. Flex admitted that Rosenberg could’ve picked a better time to criticize her, and she still stuck by Wayne’s decision to pull her out of the show, reiterating, “This is my hometown. I wanted to come onstage for my fans, my Barbz, my babies.” When Flex made one final joking attempt to get an apology out of her, you can probably guess the tone of her response. “Excuse me?” No radio station that allowed someone to disrespect me is getting an apology.” What do you think about Minaj pulling out of the show following Rosenberg’s remarks? Tell us in the comments. Related Artists Nicki Minaj
The family of Amy Winehouse is selling the home in London’s Camden neighborhood where the singer lived, struggled and ultimately died last summer. “It is with regret that we have to sell Amy’s house in Camden Square,” her father, Mitch, tweeted today. “It is empty and costing a fortune to secure it.” The property, where Amy lived until her death at home on July 23, 2011, has become a meeting ground for mourners and fans of the “Rehab” singer. “Amy and I both worked on the house and she loved it so much,” her father added. “I hope a lovely family buys it as it is so full of love. Mitch.” The three-bedroom house was originally earmarked as the headquarters for the Amy Winehouse Foundation, the charity set up by her parents. However, family spokesman Chris Goodman said in a statement that the family staying in the house now was neither practical nor appropriate. “It was not practical to keep it empty while paying the costs of its upkeep,” he said, adding that the family was leaving it “with great regret.” Amy’s former home – purchased for $2.79 a few years ago – is currently on the market with an asking price of approximately $4.2 million. What economic downturn? Maybe it has more cachet now … although you wonder if everything that happened within those walls is net positive.
In a rare interview, Prince William gave ABC News the clearest sign yet that he and his wife Kate Middleton are planning to try for a baby soon. In an interview to mark his grandmother’s diamond jubilee – 60 years on the throne – the future king said starting a family is a top priority. Discussing his military plans, Prince William, who will himself turn 30 next month ( Kate Middleton turned 30 this winter), told Katie Couric: “More importantly, I’d rather like to have children. That’s the key thing really.” Katie Couric Interview With Prince William “But I’m just very keen to have a family and both Catherine and I, you know, are very much looking forward to having a family in the future.” When asked whether there was anything he would like to announce, the prince said coyly: “You won’t get anything out of me. Tight lipped.” Fortunately, Couric didn’t overtly ask about the recent pregnancy rumors . William and brother his Prince Harry opened up during an interview at Clarence House in London for The Jubilee Queen , ABC’s special series on her. Watch another portion of the special feature after the jump: Prince William and Prince Harry Interview
