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For You, 'Xanadu': Mastermind Behind 'Buffy' Sing-Alongs Targets A Different Cult Classic

Posted 7/11/08 11:03 am EST by in events, Movies


In "Xanadu" did Clinton McClung a midnight sing-along decree.

The guy who got people to sing along to the musical episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" ("Once More With Feeling") has sunk his teeth into a new audience-participation project — and this time, he has to believe it's magic. Or something. (McClung also has his eyes on Joss Whedon's new Web series, "Dr. Horrible.")

"Xanadu" as a movie was a bomb, but "Xanadu" as a camp classic has lived on. Five songs from the 1980 soundtrack were bona fide top 20 hits, and nearly 30 years later, it's spawned countless YouTube tributes/parodies and become a surprise hit on Broadway. "Do you love it — or do you love it?" Perez Hilton asks on a banner ad outside the theater. Even Joss Whedon threw a "Xanadu" reference into the latest "Buffy" season-eight comic, when one character alerts the others, "Oh, and an angry spirit is attacking the cast of 'Xanadu.' Don't ask me why." ("It's a little out-of-date, but what the heck?" Whedon said. "That's actually a shout-out to my friend James Carpinello, who was supposed to star in the play, but fractured an ankle and a leg while on roller skates right before opening. I had some other friends with roller-skate injuries, so I put that in there.")

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Spike Lee Isn't About To Make Clint Eastwood's Day

Posted 6/6/08 7:16 pm EST by in Movies


Spike LeeIn an interview published this morning in the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper, badass cowboy/cop actor and Oscar-hoarding director Clint Eastwood indicated that fellow filmmaker Spike Lee should just "shut his face" when it comes to criticism of Clint's "Flags of Our Fathers."

See, Lee dared to wonder aloud why there weren't any black soldiers in the World War II drama. "There were many African-Americans who survived that war and who were upset at Clint for not having one [in the films]," Lee explained to MTV News today. "That was his version: The negro soldier did not exist. I have a different version."

So will the war of words continue in the pages of the press? Not likely — or at least not from Lee's side, anyway.

"I'm going to take the Obama high road," he said. "It's not a feud."

Head on over to the MTV Movies Blog for the full story ...

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We Are Still Totally Bitter As Our Co-Workers Hang With Tyson Ritter, Tila Tequila in Lead-Up to So-Called 'Movie Awards'

Posted 5/30/08 10:31 am EST by in Behind The Scenes, Movie Awards, Movies, MTV News




The MTV News slackers on the Left Coast tell us the insanity around the MTV Movie Awards is approaching fever pitch as the big day (live! Sunday! 8pm!) creeps ever closer. Apparently, News has taken over nearly a dozen fluorescent-lit offices in the bowels of Universal Studios lot, right next door to the "Desperate Housewives" set, and...(insert inappropriate comment about Teri Hatcher here).

Here's just some of the "work" you can get done after an all-nighter at Hyde with Lindsay Lohan:

· Tila Tequila handicapped the Best Kiss Award.

· All-American Reject Tyson Ritter took us to celebrity hiking hot spot (only in LA) Runyon Canyon to give us the (pooper) scoop(er) on "House Bunny."

· We unearthed this fairly embarrassing 1987 audition tape from 2008 Generation Award recipient Adam Sandler.

· We crashed the Movie Awards writers’ meeting.

· And Verne Troyer taught our own Top Model, Kim Stolz, the art of living large in Hollywood.

What's going down today? God only knows. And on Sunday?? God help us.

And before the Awards go live, be sure to check out MTV News’ “Coming Attractions” pre-show at 7:30pm. Why? Because it will be amazing.

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We Are Bitter As Our Co-Workers Hang With Adam Sandler, William Shatner in Lead-Up to So-Called 'Movie Awards'

Posted 5/29/08 11:26 am EST by in Behind The Scenes, Movie Awards, Movies, MTV News


Tim Kash & Adam Sandler

Since pretty much the entire MTV News department is in LA right now, getting oxygen facials with Shia LaBeouf in the lead-up to the MTV Movie Awards (live! this Sunday! 8pm!), we will continue to mock them for being horrible Hollywood sycophants. (Seriously, we love it here in Times Square. You could not tear us away. Go ahead and drink mochatinis with Jake Gyllenhaal at the Chateau, Josh Horowitz. We. Do. Not. Care.)

Case in point, here’s a roundup of the “work” the News department put in yesterday:

· Tim Kash tackled Rodeo Drive and In-N-Out Burger. Tough.

· MTV News snuck these two Movie Award shorts out of the edit.

· Josh wrestled “Transformers 2” casting news out of The Rocker and Rainn Wilson.

· The LA team got World Extreme Cagefighting Featherweight contendors Urijah Faber and Jens Pulver to handicap the Best Fight nominees.

· And some hard-working producers got William Shatner to explain his 1992 MTV Movie Awards Spoken-Word Performance.

· Oh, and somehow Kim hasn't gotten around to taking the Studio Tour yet, but it's not a total loss.

This is all building up to MTV News’ “Coming Attractions” pre-show, airing this Sunday! right before the Movie Awards! at 7:30pm ET! And you will not miss this, of course, because Tim Kash can easily figure out where you live.

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Tyson Says New All-American Rejects CD Will 'Give You Hell'

Posted 5/19/08 10:52 am EST by in Behind The Scenes, Interview, Movies, Music, New Music Update


tyson

This in from MTV News producer Matt Elias, out in LA:

We just recently shot with Tyson Ritter, aka lead singer of All-American Rejects. We were up in Runyon Canyon, and boy are my calves killing me! For those not in the know, Runyon Canyon is the spot for all of Hollywood's hardbodies to get their cardio on, which was the perfect contrast to the waify wisecracker. Seriously, the dude should be in contention for funniest frontman in rock, if such an award existed (you hear me VMAs?). He had our whole crew in stitches.

While he was there to dish on his upcoming role in "House Bunny," which you'll hear about closer to the Movie Awards -- including Tyson picking up dog doody (yup!) -- we were able to squeeze some music news out of him as well. He and the rest of the Rejects are still holed up in the studio, finishing their yet untitled album. But while the disc doesn’t yet have a name, one of his new favorite songs does: "I Hope It Gives You Hell." Here's what Tyson had to say about it:

"It probably won't come out first, but it will be the one that opens up the power kegs. The chorus is, 'Every time I see your face, I hope it gives you hell.' It's kind of a bitter song about people…It's mainly towards people back home that never thought it could happen. It's really full of rage and fun. It’s definitely going to be a beer-drinking, party song."

Tyson told us to look out for the new album in September.

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How Well Do You Know Your 'Sex And The City' Feet?

Posted 5/2/08 4:49 pm EST by in Movies


satc.jpgThe MTV News crew recently had a chance to sit down with the stars of "Sex and the City: The Movie," and boy, was it, um, fabulicious? Cosmo...tastic? OK, here's the deal: I don't know anything about "Sex and the City" (I've dated guys that own more makeup than I do). But from what I gather, shoes are very important in the "SATC" universe. So check out the photos after the jump and match the feet to the actresses. The stylish boots on the right belong to the lovely Kim Stolz, but can you figure out who's on the left? In the weeks leading up to the movie, we'll have the answers, plus more pertinent information, like things that were actually said during the interviews. Read More...

'Indy 4' Soundtrack Reveals Blockbuster's Plot (Sort Of)

Posted 4/11/08 10:44 am EST by in Movies


IndyBlog

So the whole entire world is gagga for "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Evil-Encrusted Nazi Loot That Will Eat Your Heart." I mean, Shia LaBeouf's in it! Or he's not. Wait, he totally is! And Harrison Ford is probably old enough to still be okay pulling off those boulder-jumping stunts. We hope. Well, Calista Flockhart thinks so.

Anywho, because they are so in the know -- and because they have nothing else to do but obsess about these things -- the Movies team has handed over a track-by-track psychoanalysis of the soon-to-be blockbuster's soundtrack. It's a pretty informed (and slightly insane) play-by-play prediction of how the film unfolds, based on the John Williams score. Everything from grave-robbing to scorpions and, of course, snakes.

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Mike Myers Brings Guru-tastic Mojo To Movie Awards

Posted 4/9/08 3:07 pm EST by in Movie Awards, Movies, MTV News


MyersMovies

Yeah, baby, yeah! Mike Myers is hosting the MTV Movie Awards on June 1st. This is the uber-comic's second time hosting since 1997, and last year he was handed the Generation Award. The hosting gig will be just in time for the release of Myers' brand-spanking-new film "The Love Guru" -- that's called "synergy" in the "business."

Below is an interview Mike Myers gave to MTV News about the subtly charged, Bergman-esque family drama that is "The Love Guru," co-starring Justin Timberlake. No word on the Movie Awards nominations yet, but you can be sure that if J.T. gets any kind of nod, Myers will have plenty to say about it: he revealed to us that he's completely "sickened" by that "12-year-old"...


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Jack Nicholson Has Nowhere To Be, Talks Hillary Clinton Campaign Ad

Posted 3/4/08 12:25 pm EST by in Movies


So Josh Horowitz, over at the MTV Movies Blog, has struck up this odd, phone-only friendship with one Jack Nicholson. Well, "friendship," being a loose term, but in the last couple of months they've talked on the phone a couple of times, but not in your standard journalist/subject "interview" format. Long, rambling phone conversations about everything and nothing, war stories and lucid comments about stuff that happened 30 years ago. It's Jack's world, etc, etc.

Josh was a little giddy in this morning's news meeting because the second of said conversations took place last night, and
they talked about that crazy Hillary Clinton ad that Jack did, and politics in general. And Jack used Josh's name a lot and I think that got Josh weak in the knees. HE IS WOOING YOU, JOSHUA!

So check out that interview - it's good stuff - and also check out his own off-the-record take on the whole thing, and you will see just how much he has been WOOED.

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Fall Out Boy Show Off Their "Sex Drive"

Posted 3/3/08 5:51 pm EST by in Movies


Fall Out Sex Drive

Fall Out Boy are making a movie. It's called "Sex Drive" and is a teen-sex romp/road-trip mash-up. Oh yeah, it stars Josh Zuckerman and Seth Green. Something about FOB's bus breaking down and running into Green, who helps them out in exchange for them playing his Rumspringa party (you know, the Amish rite-of-passage period that may or may not involve a full exploration of all things forbidden).

So Fall Out Boy are in Florida filming this movie (not necessarily the bastion of Amish activity, but it's Hollywood and shooting in Florida is probably cheaper than shooting in Pennsylvania), and they invited MTV News crack-reporter James Montgomery to visit the set. He got everyone to discuss just how authentic this Rumspringa party was going to be portrayed. Shenanigans ensued. [via MTV Movies Blog].

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