‘Twilight’ actor will play a thief in the Australian outback. By Fallon Prinzivalli Robert Pattinson Photo: Frazer Harrison/ Getty Images Robert Pattinson is on a roll, Twilighters. It was just announced that the beloved actor has joined director David Michod’s “The Rover,” also starring Guy Pearce. While there is little known about the project, Deadline Hollywood reports the film takes place in the near future and follows a man (Pearce) who ruthlessly hunts a group of thieves through the rough Australian outback after they steal his car. Pattinson will play a thief named Reynolds. According to Variety, Michod will pen the script based on an original idea from “Animal Kingdom” star Joel Edgerton and himself. David Linde and Liz Watts are set to produce under Lava Bear Films and Porchlight Films. The news immediately follows the announcement that Pattinson signed on for “Mission: Blacklist,” the movie adaptation of Eric Maddox’s book “Mission: Blacklist #1: The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein — As Told by the Soldier Who Masterminded His Capture.” The actor will star as the man who led the hunt. Both “Rover” and “Mission” are still in development, but Pattinson has a busy year ahead of him. He travels to the Cannes Film Festival to promote David Cronenberg’s mind-tripping “Cosmopolis” and closes out “The Twilight Saga” as Edward Cullen one last time in “Breaking Dawn – Part 2.” Also available on VOD beginning Friday is the titillating drama “Bel Ami,” which opens in Los Angeles, New York and select cities June 8. For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com .
‘Twilight’ actor will play a thief in the Australian outback. By Fallon Prinzivalli Robert Pattinson Photo: Frazer Harrison/ Getty Images Robert Pattinson is on a roll, Twilighters. It was just announced that the beloved actor has joined director David Michod’s “The Rover,” also starring Guy Pearce. While there is little known about the project, Deadline Hollywood reports the film takes place in the near future and follows a man (Pearce) who ruthlessly hunts a group of thieves through the rough Australian outback after they steal his car. Pattinson will play a thief named Reynolds. According to Variety, Michod will pen the script based on an original idea from “Animal Kingdom” star Joel Edgerton and himself. David Linde and Liz Watts are set to produce under Lava Bear Films and Porchlight Films. The news immediately follows the announcement that Pattinson signed on for “Mission: Blacklist,” the movie adaptation of Eric Maddox’s book “Mission: Blacklist #1: The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein — As Told by the Soldier Who Masterminded His Capture.” The actor will star as the man who led the hunt. Both “Rover” and “Mission” are still in development, but Pattinson has a busy year ahead of him. He travels to the Cannes Film Festival to promote David Cronenberg’s mind-tripping “Cosmopolis” and closes out “The Twilight Saga” as Edward Cullen one last time in “Breaking Dawn – Part 2.” Also available on VOD beginning Friday is the titillating drama “Bel Ami,” which opens in Los Angeles, New York and select cities June 8. For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com .
Casting Kathleen Turner as a small-town mom nominated for “Catholic Woman of the Year” is about as risky as it gets in The Perfect Family , first-time director Anne Renton’s soft-willed religious tolerance parable. The whiskied voice alone makes it sound like Tallulah Bankhead has risen from the dead and crashed the sacristy where Monsignor Murphy (Richard Chamberlain) is laying out his vestments for Sunday Mass. But as the anodyne network drama title suggests, petty ironies are more this movie’s speed. Turner plays Eileen Cleary, pious community pillar and well-blinkered mother of a lesbian daughter named Shannon (Emily Deschanel) and philandering son Frank Jr. (Jason Ritter). Eileen’s husband Frank Sr. (Michael McGrady) first appears to be the long-suffering one: Eileen quietly relishes her identity as the local do-gooder; if her insistence on the Clearys’ arid weekly family dinners is any indication, maintaining that identity may have more to do with her good works than Christian selflessness. In fact Frank Sr. was a handful in his day; 10 years sober, his role in their relationship has a distinctly penitential vibe. But then everyone seems to humor Eileen. A religious dinosaur roaming a modern world, for much of the film she is the one who requires tolerance. Shannon is five months pregnant and set to marry Angela (Angelique Cabral), a union everyone but Eileen accepts, including Angela’s brassy Latina mother (Elizabeth Peña). After her poor reaction to this news sends Shannon to the hospital (a soap opera move that happens twice), Eileen goes into charitable mode, bestowing kindness on the sinner but continuing to hate the sin. Frank Jr. gets stricter treatment, but then he is leaving a wife and kids for a manicurist (Kristen Dalton); the suggestion of vaguely defined unhappiness in his marriage is meant to instill sympathy. The plot hinges on the anticipation of the Archbishop of Dublin’s arrival, when he’ll forgive everyone’s sins and decide who’s the Catholic-est of them all. Eileen’s main competition is a supercilious church groupie and longtime rival named Agnes (Sharon Lawrence). Agnes is open about her hypocrisies, where Eileen keeps up a tight social front. That she doesn’t seem to have a problem lying about her loved ones opens the quality and function of Eileen’s faith to question, but the script (by Paula Goldberg and Claire V. Riley) falls short of matching Turner’s game performance with a character study that teases out the complications of a self-identifying good Christian. Instead the tone hovers between mild satire and soapy melodrama. Launched into the space between those two modes, a line like “I don’t have to think, I’m a Catholic!” — Eileen’s response to an accusation of closed-mindedness — falls flat. Especially when compared to the recent Natural Selection , in which a woman stifled by a dogma-driven life goes rogue, The Perfect Family seems to resist introspective pit stops, cruising toward its tidy resolution with a host of missed opportunities in its wake. Even Eileen’s climactic confession feels like a clockwork bid for empathy. At critical moments Renton’s direction feels a couple of seconds off the beat; often the dramatic center of an obviously dramatic scene (Eileen’s home interview with a church delegation and Frank Senior’s sudden flight from the marriage are two examples) never quite materializes. It’s still a kick to watch Kathleen Turner don a housedress and trade soothing pieties with Richard Chamberlain. The Perfect Family feels like it could have been more than that, but I suppose counting its blessings is the more Christian thing to do. Follow Michelle Orange on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The Avengers is less a movie than a novelization of itself, an oversized, self-aware picture designed mostly for effect: That of reliving the experience of a movie you’ve seen before and just can’t get enough of. The picture is broken down into narrative chunks that ultimately don’t tell much of a story – what you get instead is a series of mini-climaxes held together by banter between characters. The idea, maybe, is that people already love Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk and Thor so much — like, so, so much — that all a filmmaker really needs to do is put them all into a big stock pot filled with elaborate set pieces and some knowing dialogue and he’s golden. And maybe, given the heightened-lowered expectations of movie audiences, that really is all he has to do: It’s possible to have looked forward to a movie all year, to enjoy watching it, and then to have completely forgotten about it the following week. The Avengers isn’t terrible. It has a welcoming, communal spirit, especially for a big-budget, early-summer picture. But its director, Joss Whedon — who also cowrote the script, with Zak Penn, based on the characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby — seems to have gotten lost in mythology on his way to the story. It’s odd that last year, the arrival (and popularity) of The Artist and Midnight in Paris elicited dozens of cranky essays — or at least Tweets — about how lame it was that these movies traded in “nostalgia,” a sentimental longing for an old-timey world of bowler hats and flapper dresses (or, at least, moviemaking with less green screen). But movies built around comic books never get the same treatment, even though they wouldn’t exist if not for a past kept in boxes under countless beds, a past that you get really mad at your mother for throwing out. We have to carry some of the past along with us. How else do you shape the future? But The Avengers isn’t so much a movie as a kind of G-8 summit for action figures who have finally been allowed out of their cellophane boxes. They do action stuff, then they talk a little, then they do more action stuff. It’s a movie that, for all its dazzle, has forgotten that the whole point of reading comic books is for story and character development. The Avengers certainly doesn’t lack for characters, most of which will be familiar even if you’ve never read a Marvel comic book in your life, provided you’ve been to the movies at least a couple of times in the past few years. As the picture opens, Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, the godfather of the military law-enforcement outfit known as S.H.I.E.L.D., is just about to put a shiny cube known as the Tesseract away for safe-keeping when out of the sky drops pissed-off alien Viking Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston, who has a fantastic anemic-schoolboy look). Loki possesses a mysterious staff that can steal the hearts of men, even superhuman ones, and he uses this dastardly magical doohickey to take a number of Nick Fury’s employees hostage, among them Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton, AKA Hawkeye, a bow-and-arrow guy. He also takes possession of the Tesseract, which has the power to destroy worlds and to remove that pesky ring-around-the-collar — seriously, this rock can do anything. Nick needs to get the rock back, and fast, so he summons the most awesome assemblage of superhuman superheroes ever, in the form of Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America (Chris Evans), Bruce Banner, AKA the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Natasha Romanoff, AKA Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). Later, Loki’s linebacker-sized half-brother Thor (the casually appealing Chris Hemsworth, a collegiate, big galoot of a guy) joins the fray, as Hawkeye does once he’s freed from Loki’s spell. It’s not giving too much away to tell you that these guys do recover the Tesseract, because luckily, someone has had the foresight to build a reversible thingie into the thingie — smart thinking! And maybe, when it comes right down to it, The Avengers doesn’t need much in the way of plotting to deliver base-level blockbuster satisfaction: It moves forward, set piece by set piece, in a way that can easily fool you into thinking it’s exciting, or at least not boring. In one sequence, Iron Man and Thor — his mighty hammer looking looking comically, wonderfully tiny in his gigantic hand — duke it out in a forest; Captain America swoops in to intervene, and the three engage in a vaulting, clanging, technically souped-up version of rock-paper-scissors, each trying to outdo the others with his own personal superhero superpowers — they don’t yet realize that their powers complement each other more than they clash. Later, Thor breaks up more shenanigans among the group with a rebuke: “You people are so petty! And so tiny.” He’s got that right. The Avengers suffers from the thing that mars so many movies peopled with outsize characters: Everyone is jostling for our attention, and naturally, some are going to grab more than others. Ruffalo is characteristically understated as Bruce Banner, which makes his transformation into, as Stark puts it, “an enormous green rage monster” quietly satisfying. Renner’s Hawkeye is a little lost — it can’t be easy, being the bow-and-arrow guy. Similarly, even though Johansson’s sultry Natasha gets a smashing opening — she vanquishes a bunch of thugs even as she’s tied to a chair, a magnificent feat of bondage combat — she’s quickly relegated to the superhero back burner. And Downey’s Stark, strutting around in his off-hours in a Black Sabbath T-shirt, is amusing until his self-important wisecracks begin to wear ruts in the movie. One thing The Avengers doesn’t have going for it — which is hardly the movie’s fault — is that it can never be the sneak attack Jon Favreau’s first Iron Man movie was. That picture stands as the best in a wayward series of Avengers movies that include Kenneth Branagh’s crazy-Wagnerian Thor and Joe Johnston’s well-intentioned but wobbly Captain America: The First Avenger . Of all the characters here, Chris Evans’s Captain America best acquits himself, partly because Evans never looks as if he’s trying too hard and partly, maybe, because his character’s suit — an old-fashioned padded red-white-and-blue number, with matching helmet mask — is so old-school that you never lose sight of the superhuman human being inside it. Maybe that’s also why Gwyneth Paltrow, who appears in only a few scenes as Tony Stark’s main squeeze Pepper Potts, is such a blessed vision: She pads around Tony Stark’s space-age Manhattan headquarters in her bare feet, dressed in a white shirt and cutoff shorts, a sexy vision of down-to-earth braininess — she also happens to be coordinating the technology that makes Stark and his Stark Enterprises such a success. But maybe you don’t really need a Pepper Potts when you’ve got a crashing, galloping extended climax in which a portion of New York City is destroyed by massive flying metal beasties before the Avengers can restore order. Whedon does a pretty valiant job of orchestrating set pieces like these. And yet — is that what we really want from Whedon? In my book, Whedon will always be a genius for creating and shaping Buffy the Vampire Slayer — a show that addressed not just the major traumas of teenagerhood but of this goddamned thing we call life — and shepherding it through seven remarkably sustained seasons. The Avengers is far less intimate than Buffy — a show whose proportions reached majestic heights — ever was. And Whedon’s 2005 feature directing debut Serenity , based on his ill-fated but marvelous television series Firefly , offers the kind of satisfying, bare-bones storytelling that’s lacking in The Avengers . (I also think it’s time for Whedon to retire the idea of the hole in the sky that suddenly breaks open, unleashing horrors upon an unsuspecting world, a device that also features in the smug, tricky, meta-horror movie Cabin in the Woods , which Whedon cowrote and produced. He never met a portal he didn’t like.) The Avengers is at its best when Whedon takes the time to shape small moments between the characters, as when tight-ass Agent Phil Coulson (played by the likeably noodgy Clark Gregg) goes all stammering and tongue-tied in the presence of Captain America, his childhood idol. Coulson’s awkward hero worship is a gentle metaphor for The Avengers ’ whole reason for existence — these are characters people love, for understandable reasons. But the movie’s scale and size does little to serve those characters, and there’s something self-congratulatory about Whedon’s whole approach, as if he were making a movie only for people who are already in on the in-joke. Comic-book aficionados who have always loved the Avengers may very well love The Avengers ; those who wouldn’t know a Tesseract from a Rubik’s Cube may feel differently. That’s the thing about other people’s nostalgia: It’s always a bitch. Follow Stephanie Zacharek on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
This morning’s Biz Break includes news of Webby Award winners, more Hulk gigs for Mark Ruffalo, a Rascal -y pick up by Warner Bros. and a new venture by the founder of Summit Entertainment. 2012 Webby Awards Congratulations to our friends and colleagues at Indiewire which won the Webby Award in the Movie and Film category today. Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures’ The Muppets Mahna Mahna won the People’s Voice prize in the same category. Louis C.K. was recognized as Webby Person of the Year for his groundbreaking digital-only release Louis C.K. – Live at the Beach Theater , while also taking prizes at the 16th annual event were Pinterest, Spotify and Google+ — all of which took their first Webbys. Facebook was recognized with the inaugural People’s Special Achievement for Social Change prize, singer Bjork will be presented with the Webby Artist of the Year Award for her “Biophilia” album, and Instagram won the Webby Breakout of the Year award. The Webby Awards will be held May 21 in New York; Patton Oswalt will host. Visit the Webby site for more winners. From around the ‘net… Mark Ruffalo to Return as Hulk in Five More Films? Ruffalo talks about his six-picture deal with Marvel, which would have him returning as Bruce Banner/The Hulk in five more films after his incarnation of the green creature in Avengers explodes in the U.S. box office this weekend. Collider reports . Summit co-Founder David Garrett and Constantin Film Launch New Venture David Garrett, co-founder of Summit Entertainment, and former President of Summit International, announced today that he is launching a new company, Mister Smith Entertainment, at the upcoming 2012 Cannes Film Market, Deadline reports . Warner Bros. Picks Up Rascal Raccoon for Harold & Kumar Director The studio has picked up Rascal Raccoon’s Raging Revenge with Harold & Kumar Christmas director Todd Strauss-Schulson attached to direct and Matt Fogel set to adapt the screenplay. THR reports . Atlas Independent Gets Revenge Tribeca premiere Revenge for Jolly! , the first completed film of Atlas Entertainment’s year-old label Atlas Independent, is set to hit the Cannes Market for international sales via Highland Film Group, Variety reports . Once Dominates Tony Award Nominations The romantic comedy involving a flower seller, a street musician, and a vacuum cleaner repairman — received 11 nominations including Best Musical, Best Actor in a Musical, and Best Actress in a Musical, Deadline reports .
Singer says the finished film is of a ‘completely different magnitude’ than what she expected. By Kara Warner, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Rihanna Photo: MTV News Given the colorful theatrics Rihanna employs in her stage performances, music videos and personal style, it’s difficult to believe that her first-ever movie role is in this summer’s “Battleship” . The Caribbean-born singer admitted that filling her in the Peter Berg-directed film made her nervous in the beginning. “I had trepidation. It was my first film, and I was coming into an environment full of professionals so I had to keep up,” Rihanna said during our “MTV First: Battleship.” “There were also real [military] vets on set, [who were] a part of the film, so you’re definitely [minding] your P’s and Q’s at all times, you don’t want to do anything that was disappointing to their customs.” Being back on the USS Missouri (where they filmed scenes for the movie) for “First” reminded the singer of the nervous energy she had on set. “The butterflies, that nervous feeling I have being here again,” she said. “You’re not comfortable, you have to be alert all the time.” So the big question: What did the singer/actress think when she saw the finished film and her performance for the first time? “I was extremely blown away,” she said. “I hadn’t expected anything like that, because you have to create it in your mind, everyone had their own idea of what it would look like and seeing it back, it was a completely different magnitude. I definitely was weirded out in seeing myself onscreen, and hearing myself speak in an American accent,” she admitted. “It was weird but cool I think.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Battleship.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos MTV First: Battleship Related Photos ‘Battleship’
It’s not every day that a studio turns 100. As such, Universal is making the most of its centennial with a host of events including the recent Tribeca Film Festival shout out to the the company courtesy of Robert DeNiro and Judd Apatow . But today, April 30, is the big day itself, and to kick off the first day of its second century, the company released “100 fun facts” from its history. The list includes many factoids sure to show up on a crossword puzzle near you, such as the name of the mechanical shark in Steven Spielberg’s Jaws , what happened to the hole left by John Belushi when he smashed in a wall with his guitar in Animal House , and the store where the crew from American Pie bought that “warm apple pie” subsequently deflowered by Jason Biggs. There’s the skinny on what inspired Carl Laemmle to name his studio Universal a century ago. Fans and film enthusiasts can celebrate online today at the official Universal Centennial website . Meanwhile, read on for 100 facts about Universal: 1. Universal Film Manufacturing Company was officially incorporated in New York on April 30, 1912. Company legend says Carl Laemmle was inspired to name his company Universal after seeing “Universal Pipe Fittings” written on a passing delivery wagon. 2. The only physical damage made during the filming of National Lampoon’s Animal House was when John Belushi made a hole in the wall with a guitar. The actual Sigma Nu fraternity house (which subbed for the fictitious Delta House) never repaired it, and instead framed the hole in honor of the film. 3. The working title for E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial was “A Boy’s Life.” 4. In the movie All Quiet on the Western Front , the Greek writing on the blackboard in the schoolroom is the beginning of Homer’s Odyssey: “Tell me, oh Muse, of that ingenious hero who traveled far and wide.” 5. In 1969, a then 22-year old Steven Spielberg was assigned to direct the Universal Television series pilot, Night Gallery . It’s safe to say things went pretty well for Steven after that. 6. The word “dude” in The Big Lebowski is used approximately 161 times in the movie: 160 times spoken and once in text (in the credits for “Gutterballs,” the second dream sequence). The F-word or a variation of the F-word is used 292 times. The Dude says “man” 147 times in the movie — that’s nearly 1.5 times a minute. 7. The first feature filmed at Universal City was Damon and Pythias in 1914. 8. President Ronald Reagan starred in the 1951 Universal feature film, Bedtime for Bonzo . 9. Back to the Future ’s DeLorean time machine is actually a licensed, registered vehicle in the state of California. While the vanity license plate used in the film says “OUTATIME,” the DeLorean’s actual license plate reads 3CZV657. 10. The film A Beautiful Mind was shot in sequence in order to help Russell Crowe better develop his character’s emotional and physical arc. 11. American Graffiti ’s budget was exactly $777,777.77, and it was delivered on time – and on budget. 12. In the Alfred Hitchcock classic The Birds , Tippi Hedren was actually cut in the face by a bird during the shooting of one sequence. 13. Throughout his career, Rock Hudson appeared in 46 feature films with Universal including Pillow Talk , All That Heaven Allows and Magnificent Obsession . In 1953, he was elected Mayor of Universal City. 14. The infamous apple pie in the movie American Pie was purchased by the production from Costco. 15. In the movie The Breakfast Club , the students ate the following for lunch: Andrew: A bag of chips, chocolate cookies, three sandwiches, milk, a banana and an apple. Claire: Sushi. Allison: Sandwich with Pixie Stix and Captain Crunch cereal. Brian: Soup, sandwich with peanut butter and jam and apple juice. Bender: Nothing. 16. In Brokeback Mountain , the song Jack plays on his harmonica is “He Was a Friend of Mine,” the same song Willie Nelson sings during the closing credits. 17. The film Buck Privates took in $4 million at the U.S. Box Office (at a time when theater admission ranged between 10 and 25 cents). 18. A sneak preview of the film Buck Privates was held in late January 1941 for soldiers at Fort MacArthur, California. 19. The Munster’s House on Colonial Street was originally built for the 1946 production, So Goes My Love . 20. The title of the movie Do The Right Thing comes from a Malcolm X quote: “You’ve got to do the right thing.” 21. According to reports, during some of the Russian roulette scenes in the movie The Deer Hunter , a live round was put into the gun to heighten the actors’ tension per Robert De Niro’s suggestion. It was checked, however, to make sure the bullet was not in the chamber before the trigger was pulled. 22. In the first scene of the movie Double Indemnity , when Walter first kisses Phyllis, there is a wedding ring on Walter’s hand. Fred MacMurray was married and the ring was not noticed until post-production. 23. When Bela Lugosi, star of the monster classic, Dracula , died in 1956, he was buried wearing a black silk cape similar to the one he wore in the film. 24. At 29,500 sq. ft., Universal Studios’ Stage 12 is the 7th largest soundstage in the world. It was originally built for the 1929 musical Broadway . 25. Carl Laemmle Jr. offered James Whale a list of more than 30 film adaptations he could direct and out of them all, Whale picked Frankenstein . It was his transition from war movies to monster pics. 26. Today’s Universal City officially opened March 15, 1915, nearly three years after Universal film Manufacturing Company was created. The first mayor was Herbert Rawlinson. 27. Vans, the company behind the checkerboard shoes worn by Sean Penn (a.k.a. Jeff Spicoli) in the cult movie classic, Fast Times at Ridgemont High , became a national brand after the film’s release in 1982. 28. Actor Charlton Heston “parted” the Red Sea attraction on the Universal Studios Tour at the attraction’s grand opening in 1973. 29. Neither Michelle Rodriguez nor Jordana Brewster had drivers’ licenses or even learners’ permits before production of the film in Fast and the Furious . 30. Universal pioneered the Academy Award-winning Sensurround Sound System which made its first appearance in the 1974 movie, Earthquake . The Sensurround system caused low-frequency audio waves to be felt by the audience and created a visceral complement to the seismic tremors and destruction depicted on screen. 31. In the movie Field of Dreams , both Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are among the thousands of extras in the Fenway Park scene. Over a decade later, when Phil Alden Robinson worked with Affleck on the production of The Sum of All Fears , Affleck said, “Nice working with you again.” 32. In the coliseum scenes in Gladiator , only the bottom two decks are actually filled with people. The other thousands of spectators are computer-animated. 33. Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey was the first actress at Universal to receive a nomination for “Best Actress” at the Academy Awards. 34. William Powell from the 1936 film, My Man Godfrey was the first actor at Universal to receive a nomination for “Best Actor” at the Academy Awards. 35. The Universal sound technician, Jack Foley, developed the method of creating and recording many of the natural, everyday sound effects in a film. Today this method is named after him. 36. Universal’s first talking picture was Melody of Love . 37. The Universal Amphitheatre opened in 1972 with a staged concert version of Jesus Christ Superstar . The film version was released in 1973. 38. The legendary thriller and suspense director Alfred Hitchcock did not win any Academy Awards while working with Universal. 39. Thomas Edison presented Universal Studios with a plaque dedicating its first electric studio on October 27, 1915. 40. In the infamous shower scene in Psycho , the sound of the knife-stabbing actress Janet Leigh was made by plunging a knife into a melon. 41. The film Traffic in Souls is considered Universal’s first full-length feature film. 42. The legendary studio head Irving Thalberg got his start in show business as Carl Laemmle’s personal secretary in 1917. 43. ET: The Extra Terrestrial is Universal Pictures’ all-time highest grossing film. 44. With the over-budget production of Show Boat , Carl Laemmle was forced to sell Universal Studios to his creditors in 1936. 45. In 1995, Waterworld generated worldwide attention for being the most expensive film made to date. Unable to live up to expectations at the box office, the film eventually turned a profit due to strong home video sales and inspired one of the most popular theme park attractions of all time. 46. About 25% of the film Jaws was shot from water level so audiences could better relate to treading water. 47. In the film The Invisible Man , the director dressed Claude Rains in black velvet and filmed him against a black velvet background to create the effect that he wasn’t there. 48. Some of the props used in the 2005 version of King Kong were original props from the 1933 version. These props came from Peter Jackson’s personal collection and include the Skull Island spears and brightly painted shield, and some of the drums from the sacrifice scene. 49. In Jurassic Park , a guitar string was used to make the water ripple on the dash of the Ford Explorer by attaching it to the underside of the dash beneath the glass. 50. Universal entered the 3-D market with the film, It Came from Outer Space (1953). 51. Universal won its first Best Picture Academy Award for All Quiet on the Western Front in 1930. 52. Steven Spielberg nicknamed the mechanical shark in the movie Jaws , “Bruce.” 53. In the film The Incredible Shrinking Man , when Louise is on the phone asking for the operator, the music playing on the radio is the theme song to Written on the Wind , which was made at Universal the year prior. 54. The script Charlton Heston holds in the film Earthquake as he’s running lines with Genevieve Bujold is actually the script for “Earthquake” and on the page of the scene being shot. 55. It took two-and-a-half hours a day to apply Lon Chaney’s makeup in The Hunchback of Notre Dame . 56. Legendary Universal Chairman Lew R. Wasserman received an Academy Award in 1973 for his role as a humanitarian. 57. With the film Meet the Fockers , the MPAA would not allow use of the name ‘Focker’ unless the filmmakers could find an actual person with that last name. 58. The first American film to show a toilet flushing on screen was Psycho . 59. While Jurassic Park was in post-production, Steven Spielberg began working on Schindler’s List in Poland and worked via satellite, courtesy of technology provided by George Lucas. 60. In the film, Scarface , an M16 assault rifle with an M203 40mm grenade launcher attached to the barrel is Tony’s “little friend.” 61. The 1932 film Scarface was one of the first films to feature the Thompson submachine gun, known historically as the “tommy gun.” 62. In the film Pillow Talk , Tony Randall was supposed to fake a reaction to being decked in the face by one of the restaurant patrons. However, during filming, the actor overestimated and actually knocked out Randall. The shot was so well done— it was used in the film. 63. Alfred Hitchcock did not choose to conclude the film, The Birds , with the usual “THE END” title because he wanted to leave the audience with the feeling of unending terror and uncertainty. 64. Groucho Marx explained the title Duck Soup as follows: “Take two turkeys, one goose, four cabbages, but no duck, and mix them together. After one taste, you’ll duck soup the rest of your life.” 65. For Despicable Me , the film’s directors Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin provide most of the voices for Gru’s minions. 66. In The Nutty Professor starring Eddie Murphy, the family dinner scene was initially going to be cut out due to what was believed to be its lack of relevance. 67. When the Universal Studios Tour opened to the general public in 1964, the general admission price for one adult was $2.50. 68. The children who sang the song, “Every Sperm is Sacred” in the Monty Python film, The Meaning of Life , later said they had no idea what sperm was or what they were singing about. 69. In the film, My Little Chickadee , Cuthbert J. Twille (W.C. Fields) says to Flower Belle (Mae West), “Why don’t you come up and see me sometime?” — This is in reference to West’s famous line in the film She Done Him Wrong . 70. The following institutions have existed at one time on the Universal Studios lot—a school, zoo, and hospital. 71. The hair-washing scene in Out of Africa was shot very close to a live, territorial hippopotamus. Meryl Streep was extremely nervous during its filming. 72. The locusts in the 1999 film, The Mummy , were mostly computer-generated, however, some live grasshoppers were used. Hours before filming they were chilled in a refrigerator to make them more sluggish. 73. In Smokey and the Bandit , the Trans-Am featured in the bridge jump scene was fitted with a more powerful Chevrolet engine. 74. The average shot length in the film Vertigo is 6.7 seconds. 75. The permanent set in Stage 28 was created to be a replica of the landmark The Paris Opera House, for the classic film, The Phantom of the Opera . 76. When you hear the sound of the crowd cheering, “Spartacus! Spartacus!” in the movie Spartacus , it was actually a pre-taped recording from a 1959 football game at Michigan State University’s Spartan Stadium. 77. In Sullivan’s Travels , director Preston Sturges can be seen in the background on the set of ‘The Girls’ period movie. 78. The cake in the movie Sixteen Candles is made of cardboard. 79. The final speech by Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird was done in one take. 80. The diner in the movie The Sting is the same diner interior used in Back to the Future . 81. In 1928, famous cartoon character, Mickey Mouse, debuted at a Universal-owned theater. 82. Elizabeth Taylor made her feature film debut in Universal’s 1942 film, There’s One Born Every Minute . 83. Yes, at some point, some Universal executive, or team of executives, thought 1986’s Howard the Duck was a good idea. 84. The dog chase scene at the beginning of the film Beethoven was filmed on the Universal backlot. 85. The title of the film Streets of Fire starring Michael Paré and Diane Lane, was drawn from a Bruce Springsteen song, from his album Darkness on the Edge of Town. The song, unfortunately, does not appear in the film. 86. Robert Redford’s character in The Sting is named after blues legend John Lee Hooker. The character’s name is Johnny Hooker. 87. 1920’s Shipwrecked Among Cannibals was the first film to gross $1,000,000 for Universal. 88. Prominent Universal Director Edward Laemmle was the nephew of Universal Founder Carl Laemmle. He directed over 60 films (including shorts) for Universal. 89. In The 40-Year-Old Virgin , the films that are watched by the “employees” in the Smar-Tech store are all produced by Universal. 90. The Blues Brothers “Bluesmobile” is a 1974 Dodge Monaco. 91. Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein is only the second time Bela Lugosi would play “Dracula” in a feature film. (He played other vampires in the interim, but not Dracula.) 92. In 1973’s High Plains Drifter starring Clint Eastwood, one of the headstones in the graveyard bears the name Sergio Leone as a tribute. 93. On Golden Pond was Henry Fonda’s final film, and the only one he starred in with his daughter Jane. 94. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is the third major motion picture produced by Universal from a book written by Theodore Geisel a.k.a. Dr. Seuss. 95. In 1992’s Scent of Woman , Al Pacino repeatedly shouts “Hoo-ah.” “Hoo-ah” comes from the military acronym “HUA” which stands for “Heard, Understood, Acknowledged.” 96. The car wash in Car Wash was named The Dee Luxe Car Wash. 97. 1971’s Play Misty for Me was set in Carmel, CA, where Clint Eastwood later lived and became mayor in 1986. 98. The Bride in The Bride of Frankenstein is the only one of Universal Studios’ Classic Monsters to have never killed anyone. 99. Throughout its hundred year legacy, Universal brought to audiences the first films of talents such as John Ford, Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, Norman Jewison, Ben Stiller, Robert Zemeckis, John Hughes, Amy Heckerling, Spike Jonze, Zack Snyder and Judd Apatow. 100. More than 100 million people from around the world have taken the Universal Studios “studio tour.” While the tour officially began in 1964, Universal has been welcoming the public to our studio since 1915 and the silent era.
I don’t know if the White House is trying to go pop, you know like an old timer who doesn’t really know what’s up so he invites the cool kids a few years too late, you know when they aren’t so cool anymore…..or if this is some kind of joke the White House is playing on the world….or if this is just where we are at in the grand scheme of America….where trash reigns supreme and anyone who has been on TV or in a Movie or in a Tabloid can attend their fucking events….From Kim Kardashian to Lohan…seems more like a Miami 5 star hotel on New Years than something remotely political…. Maybe, thee Whitehouse Correspondents Dinner was more about legalizing drugs, brining in Colombian Sofia Vergara who is famous due to drug cartel and their influence on Hollywood producers….Lohan someone who has been in and out of rehab….Rosario Dawson someone knows as a NYC club kid who openly does blow….and Kate Upton who will be on hard drugs as soon as she sees her ass start to catch up with her tits….you know as her metabolism slows and she becomes an Anna Nicoe Smith sequel…. But the good news is tha with low level trash comes titties and cleavage so click the pics to see more pics….of pics…pics pics pics….of bitches at this low level high profile event that is as classy as a crackhouse on the Sunset Strip…. Here’s Sofia Vergara Here’s Lindsay Lohan with Some Weird Looking Face and Sideboob I’d Like to Fuck Here’s Rosario Dawson Solid Spic Squatter Turned Famous Titties Here’s Kate Upton Covered her Tits Cuz She’s Tired of Being Typecast as Just Tits to Show Off her Wonky Face
‘He’s got a wry sense of humor about himself,’ actor tells MTV News at Tribeca Film Festival. By Kevin P. Sullivan Mark Ruffalo at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of “Avengers” Photo: Andrew H. Walker/ Getty Images Of all the actors coming together to form the Avengers, Mark Ruffalo decidedly had the most to prove. After two previous Hulk films left fans largely unsatisfied, a new actor in the role could either lead to another letdown or, finally, to a version that felt true to the comics. Fortunately for Ruffalo, early reviews of ” The Avengers ” overwhelming point to his version of Bruce Banner as one of the highlights of the film. MTV News caught up with Ruffalo at the closing-night ceremonies for the Tribeca Film Festival to get his take on the Hulk’s positive reception and to find out what was different this time around. Ruffalo felt the pressure that came with the role of the Hulk as soon as he signed on to be the third actor in as many films. “It was very daunting. I’ve never had a part so harshly reviewed before I even shot a single frame of film,” he said. “The fanboys had a lot to say about it — granted, they had a great deal of care about this part and a lot of sentimentality as well, as do I, growing up on it.” The actor said that the latest technology gave him the biggest advantage over the first two iterations of the character. “There have been other great performances as Banner. The only real edge that I had was that the technology had changed so much since that last movie that I actually got to play the Hulk,” Ruffalo said. This latest version of the Hulk takes a different approach to the character, giving him a dry sense of humor about his condition, but Ruffalo gave credit to both Eric Bana and Edward Norton for helping lay the foundation in the first two films. “I just think it’s a natural progression of the other performances. When you find the guy at this point, he’s tired of running. He’s got a wry sense of humor about himself,” Ruffalo said. “He’s ready to turn and face the world. He’s got a charming world-weariness that’s kind of knocked the edges off of him and made him slightly more accessible.” Check out everything we’ve got on “The Avengers.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit . Related Videos ‘The Avengers’ Take On Tribeca Film Festival MTV Rough Cut: ‘The Avengers’ Related Photos ‘Avengers’
The Avengers faces a tough battle if they want to top Katniss and company’s expected $400 million domestic earnings. By Fallon Prinzivalli Jennifer Lawrence in “The Hunger Games” Photo: Lionsgate After its sixth weekend in theaters, The Hunger Games” is still lighting up the box office . Katniss and company’s cumulative gross is currently a whopping $601 million worldwide, after raking in $11.2 million in the U.S. and another $7.4 million overseas this weekend. Standing tall at #4, the dystopian franchise’s weekend dip was 23 percent, which is the lowest decline yet for the movie (its second weekend in theaters saw a 60 percent drop), according to Box Office Guru . And it wasn’t far behind third-place “The Lucky One,” which earned $11.3 following its second weekend. It looks like the assembly of Earth’s mightiest heroes won’t even be able to stop Katniss’ estimated goal. With “The Hunger Games” sitting comfortably with a domestic total of $372.4 million, it’s going to take more than Thor and his mighty hammer to bring “Marvel’s The Avengers” to the top. If “The Hunger Games” can rake in $400 million domestically ( like box-office experts predicted ), it would outperform the first films in both “Twilight” and “Harry Potter.” As audiences gear up for the highly anticipated Marvel film, only time will tell what this weekend will bring the first film in Katniss’ franchise. And as far as the success of a sequel since Gary Ross is no longer on board to direct, it isn’t something Josh Hutcherson , who plays Peeta, is particularly worried about. “Gary, I think, brought so much to the movie, and he created that whole world that was so close to the book and so perfect in so many ways that it’s going to be hard for Francis [Lawrence] to come in, for sure,” Hutcherson told MTV News at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. “But Francis is extremely talented and everyone I’ve talked to says he’s the best guy in the world. So I think he’s going to bring a lot [to the sequel].” What film to you think will be the bigger box-office smash: “The Hunger Games” or “The Avengers”? Sound off in the comments! Check out everything we’ve got on “The Hunger Games.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: CinemaCon 2012
