Beyonce To Hit The VMA Stage

Tune in for B's first VMA performance in two years, this Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
By Aly Semigran


Beyoncé
Photo: Tabatha Fireman/Redferns

Beyoncé, who instructed girls to run the world with her VMA-nominated smash song, will now run the stage at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards.

The "Run the World (Girls)" singer, who has three nominations this year (including Best Female Video, Best Choreography and Best Cinematography) and is the previous recipient of nine Moonmen, including 2009's Video of the Year award for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," will join the lineup of 2011 VMA performers, which already includes Lady Gaga, Adele, Bruno Mars, Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, Young the Giant, Pitbull and Ne-Yo. Jessie J will serve as a house artist for the ceremony.

"We are thrilled to have Beyoncé return to her rightful musical home at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards," said Amy Doyle, executive producer of the 2011 MTV VMAs and MTV's EVP of Music & Talent, in a statement. "Her performances at the VMAs are legendary — leaving everyone breathless and talking for days. We can't wait to see her set the stage on fire once again!"

While it's been two years since the pop diva extraordinaire last hit the stage as a VMA performer (when she, along with a bevy of backup dancers, brought down the house with a "Single Ladies" number), Beyoncé recently played a series of intimate shows at New York's Roseland Ballroom, performing songs off of her latest album, 4, as well as classic hits, including favorites from the Destiny's Child era, to sold-out crowds.

The VMAs will air live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday at 9 p.m. (live ET/ tape-delayed PT). Presenters includes Selena Gomez (who will pull double duty as VMA pre-show host), Taylor Lautner, Kim Kardashian, Nicki Minaj, Zoe Saldana, Seth Rogen, Drake, Joe Jonas, Jared Leto, Jonah Hill, Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Victoria Justice, Rick Ross, Odd Future and JB Smoove.

Though voting is closed for Beyoncé's categories, fans can still vote for Best New Artist by visiting VMA.MTV.com online or m.mtv.com on their mobile phones. In addition, Best New Artist text voting is open to all wireless carrier subscribers by texting BNA to 66333. Voting continues all the way through the show, until the winner is announced live on Sunday.

The 28th annual MTV Video Music Awards will air live Sunday, August 28, from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles at 9 p.m. ET/PT, following the Selena Gomez-hosted pre-show at 8. See the list of nominees, revisit last year's highlights and vote for Best New Artist by visiting VMA.MTV.com.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1669576/beyonce-perform-mtv-vmas.jhtml

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'Conan The Barbarian' Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need To Know

MTV News has been with the reboot throughout its rocky road to release.
By Eric Ditzian


Jason Momoa in "Conan the Barbarian"
Photo: Simon Varsano/ Lionsgate Entertainment

"Conan the Barbarian" star Jason Momoa hasn't actually seen the previous versions of his sword-swinging adventure — or, as he once put it to MTV News, "the Arnold stuff" — but we have clear-enough memories to know Schwarzenegger's franchise became straight-up silly after the 1982 original and was in desperate need of contemporary reinvention.

Robert E. Howard's barbaric creation deserved better than a faceoff with Wilt Chamberlain in "Conan the Destroyer." Conan finally got it, with Momoa's new film hitting theaters on Friday (August 19). But there was a long and rocky path toward that theatrical release, with filmmakers joining then quickly departing the project and various Hollywood players being unable to kick things into production. Come with us on a journey called the MTV News cheat sheet, as we discover everything there is to know about the past, present and future of "Conan the Barbarian."

Forging Steel
The Wachowski Brothers tried. Robert Rodriguez tried. Brett Ratner tried. No director could seem to get "Conan" off the ground, despite years of effort. Actors rumored for the title role included Dolph Lundgren, "American Gladiator" star Mike O'Hearn, Austrian actor Roland Kickinger and "Twilight" vampire Kellan Lutz.

Rumors of directors and actors came and went, but in the end two men remained standing: "Friday the 13th" director Marcus Nispel, who signed up in June 2009, and Momoa, who officially nabbed the Conan role in January 2010. Lionsgate readied a March production start in Bulgaria. With just weeks until cameras began rolling, word broke that the script was getting a rewrite from "Halloween: Resurrection" scribe Sean Hood.

Swinging the Sword
"I think we're right in the spirit of Howard," Stephen Lang, who plays the film's central villain, told MTV News during a phone call from the set last spring. "One of the things about his prose that's so distinct is that it takes itself very seriously. There's nothing tongue-in-cheek about it at all. And there's nothing send-up about the world we're creating, though hopefully the movie is made with a lot of wit."

The spring also brought looks at Momoa in character: one of him standing tall and looking buff, another of him in bloodied-up action mode. "It kind of is an origin story," Momoa told MTV News. "It's rebuilding and rebooting the franchise. It starts with his birth, what happened to his family, what happened to his father — obviously his father is killed — and him going into the pirating and the thieving and wandering and being the degenerate that he is and then usurping a throne and finding out who killed his father. It's a revenge story, with a little bit of love in there."

Lang also revealed that the film would stay faithful to the source material's supernatural roots. "If you read Robert Howard — of course the 'Conan' stories and novellas — magic, supernatural plays a huge, huge part in them: fakirs and magicians and wizards all over the place," Lang told MTV News last summer. "So magic is part of that world. The magic in this film, there's a lot of it and there's a lot of action-magic as well, a lot of magical fighting."

Drawing Blood
The first "Conan" trailer — a teaser that invoked an '80s nostalgia — popped up online in March of this year. It'd be another two months until a full trailer hit the Web; when it did, the footage showed off a whole lot of swords, bloody action and magical monsters. We finally got a chance to see Lang in action after all those shots of Momoa as the sword-wielding hero.

"I wanted him to be like a knife," Lang told us of his character. "I wanted him, in profile, to almost disappear if possible. I actually have some photos that I am forbidden to show right now. I know there are these photos of Jason out there, this gorgeous stud of a Conan leaping around shirtless. Truth of the matter is, I kick his ass for almost two hours."

An integral piece of Momoa's Conan character development was not to be influenced by Schwarzenegger's iconic performance. "I've never played a role that was played by someone else," he told us. "As an actor, to build the character, I wanted to use my imagination and be creative and use my own interpretation. ... I want to see mine and then I'm going to watch that one — back to back!"

Check out everything we've got on "Conan the Barbarian."

For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com.

Related Videos

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1669334/conan-the-barbarian-jason-momoa.jhtml

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'Conan The Barbarian' Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need To Know

MTV News has been with the reboot throughout its rocky road to release.
By Eric Ditzian


Jason Momoa in "Conan the Barbarian"
Photo: Simon Varsano/ Lionsgate Entertainment

"Conan the Barbarian" star Jason Momoa hasn't actually seen the previous versions of his sword-swinging adventure — or, as he once put it to MTV News, "the Arnold stuff" — but we have clear-enough memories to know Schwarzenegger's franchise became straight-up silly after the 1982 original and was in desperate need of contemporary reinvention.

Robert E. Howard's barbaric creation deserved better than a faceoff with Wilt Chamberlain in "Conan the Destroyer." Conan finally got it, with Momoa's new film hitting theaters on Friday (August 19). But there was a long and rocky path toward that theatrical release, with filmmakers joining then quickly departing the project and various Hollywood players being unable to kick things into production. Come with us on a journey called the MTV News cheat sheet, as we discover everything there is to know about the past, present and future of "Conan the Barbarian."

Forging Steel
The Wachowski Brothers tried. Robert Rodriguez tried. Brett Ratner tried. No director could seem to get "Conan" off the ground, despite years of effort. Actors rumored for the title role included Dolph Lundgren, "American Gladiator" star Mike O'Hearn, Austrian actor Roland Kickinger and "Twilight" vampire Kellan Lutz.

Rumors of directors and actors came and went, but in the end two men remained standing: "Friday the 13th" director Marcus Nispel, who signed up in June 2009, and Momoa, who officially nabbed the Conan role in January 2010. Lionsgate readied a March production start in Bulgaria. With just weeks until cameras began rolling, word broke that the script was getting a rewrite from "Halloween: Resurrection" scribe Sean Hood.

Swinging the Sword
"I think we're right in the spirit of Howard," Stephen Lang, who plays the film's central villain, told MTV News during a phone call from the set last spring. "One of the things about his prose that's so distinct is that it takes itself very seriously. There's nothing tongue-in-cheek about it at all. And there's nothing send-up about the world we're creating, though hopefully the movie is made with a lot of wit."

The spring also brought looks at Momoa in character: one of him standing tall and looking buff, another of him in bloodied-up action mode. "It kind of is an origin story," Momoa told MTV News. "It's rebuilding and rebooting the franchise. It starts with his birth, what happened to his family, what happened to his father — obviously his father is killed — and him going into the pirating and the thieving and wandering and being the degenerate that he is and then usurping a throne and finding out who killed his father. It's a revenge story, with a little bit of love in there."

Lang also revealed that the film would stay faithful to the source material's supernatural roots. "If you read Robert Howard — of course the 'Conan' stories and novellas — magic, supernatural plays a huge, huge part in them: fakirs and magicians and wizards all over the place," Lang told MTV News last summer. "So magic is part of that world. The magic in this film, there's a lot of it and there's a lot of action-magic as well, a lot of magical fighting."

Drawing Blood
The first "Conan" trailer — a teaser that invoked an '80s nostalgia — popped up online in March of this year. It'd be another two months until a full trailer hit the Web; when it did, the footage showed off a whole lot of swords, bloody action and magical monsters. We finally got a chance to see Lang in action after all those shots of Momoa as the sword-wielding hero.

"I wanted him to be like a knife," Lang told us of his character. "I wanted him, in profile, to almost disappear if possible. I actually have some photos that I am forbidden to show right now. I know there are these photos of Jason out there, this gorgeous stud of a Conan leaping around shirtless. Truth of the matter is, I kick his ass for almost two hours."

An integral piece of Momoa's Conan character development was not to be influenced by Schwarzenegger's iconic performance. "I've never played a role that was played by someone else," he told us. "As an actor, to build the character, I wanted to use my imagination and be creative and use my own interpretation. ... I want to see mine and then I'm going to watch that one — back to back!"

Check out everything we've got on "Conan the Barbarian."

For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com.

Related Videos

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1669334/conan-the-barbarian-jason-momoa.jhtml

Monet Mazur Monica Bellucci Monica Keena Monica Potter Monika Kramlik

Beyonce's Baby Bump, Lady Gaga's Jo Calderone Rule 2011 VMAs

Jay-Z and Kanye West's debut Throne performance and Katy Perry's Moonman haul also make a huge impact.
By Ryan J. Downey


Beyoncé on stage at the 2011 VMAs
Photo: FilmMagic

Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and Beyoncé onstage together; Gaga kicking off the show in drag backed by a legendary rock guitarist; Adele pitting a stripped-down stage show against the likes of surprise performers Jay-Z and Kanye West's pyrotechnics; and legendary grunge trio Nirvana name-checked by Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and Chris Brown like it was 1991.

It was, of course, the 2011 VMAs. And women ruled the night.

Five of the eight televised awards (including, of course, Best Female Video) went to strong females: Video of the Year (Katy Perry), Best Pop Video (Britney), Best Hip-Hop Video (Nicki Minaj), Best Collaboration (Perry, with Kanye) and Best Female Video (Gaga).

Speaking of Gaga, her Jo Calderone alter ego introduced on the cover of Japanese Vogue opened the show. With a dirty white T-shirt, black pants, boots and a pompadour to make John Travolta's character in "Grease" blush, there was nothing "Lady"- like about Gaga in drag as she took multiple drags from a cigarette.

Go backstage with Kanye West, Britney Spears and more at the VMAs.

After a monologue, Gaga in drag jumped onto a piano bench and started to belt out "Yoü and I." As the beat kicked in, she joined a group of male dancers who were all wearing the same outfit as her. When she introduced legendary Queen guitarist Brian May for the song's solo, the camera cut to a visibly enthusiastic Dave Grohl clapping wildly from his seat in the audience. Gaga cracked open a beer, climbed on top of her piano and sprayed the front row with the alcohol. Britney's mouth was agape during the performance, and Katie Holmes was smiling. Lady Gaga kissed May's cheek before she exited the stage.

The first Moonman of the night was presented by Nicki Minaj and Jonah Hill, who made hay with his very obvious weight loss and poked fun at fans on Twitter who've speculated his new physique might make him less funny. Minaj practically screamed "Britney Spears!" who collected the award for Best Pop Video. "I wasn't expecting this," Spears said. She thanked God, her kids, her management, her beau Jason Trawick ("I love you!") and "Till the World Ends" director Ray Kay.

Relive Beyoncé's big night at the VMAs in photos!

Pyrotechnics introduced surprise performers Jay-Z and Kanye West to the stage as the pair lit their microphones ablaze, trading verses from their landmark collaboration album, Watch the Throne. Jigga wore a much cleaner white T-shirt than Gaga while West was dressed in skintight denim and a matching button-up shirt, with an American-flag bandana in his pocket that matched their backdrop.

Rap gave way to rock as Shawn White joined Miley Cyrus to present the Best Rock Video award to the Foo Fighters. Cyrus professed her love for Nirvana, Joan Jett and Aerosmith just before Grohl told the crowd to "Never lose faith in real rock and roll music. Never lose faith in that. You might have to look a little harder, but it's always going to be there."

Pioneering punk rockers-turned-rappers-turned-multi-instrumentalists brought it all together afterward, albeit in a very different form. The "Beastie Boys from the future," as seen in the recent short film "Fight for Your Right Revisited," dance-battled Odd Future. Will Ferrell (as Mike D), Jack Black (MCA) and Seth Rogen (Ad-Rock) presented the Best Hip-Hop Video Award for "Super Bass" to Nicki Minaj, who called Lil Wayne "the best rapper alive" in her acceptance speech.

Demi Lovato helped give the Best Collaboration award to Katy Perry and Kanye West for "E.T." "Now this is the time where you want to interrupt me, Kanye," Perry joked. West called her "brave" for inviting him on the track despite the controversy that surrounded his famous VMA interruption in 2009.

Paul Rudd and Rick Ross joked about being confused for one another by the public before they introduced a crowd-rousing performance from Pitbull and Ne-Yo, who were joined by a group of burlesque-type dancers and green laser lights to rival any planetarium.

There were no pyrotechnics, laser lights, fog machines, backup dancers or anything else of the sort for the breathtaking performance from Adele, who Katy Perry introduced as "one of my favorite artists." There were no theatrics, save for the acclaimed British singer's powerful voice.

A commercial break separated the mournful pathos of Adele's intimate tune from the stupefied sexual innuendo of Beavis and Butt-Head, who teased their triumphant return to the airwaves due in late October. Nicki Minaj slapped Beavis and Butt-head's skulls together in a segment that mixed live action and animation reminiscent of when David Letterman fought the pair over a burrito at the VMAs back in 1994.

Kim Kardashian restrained herself from flirting with Justin Bieber when she handed him the Moonman for Best Male Video. His screaming fans enacted the "U Smile" title as he climbed the steps to accept. "I just want to say thank you so much not only to God but to Jesus because I wouldn't be here without him. He's really blessed me. He's put me in this position so I want to say thank you so much," he said.

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez had a romantic night at the VMAs.

Chris Brown did some sharing of his own as he offered props to Wu-Tang Clan (with faux martial-arts dancing) and Nirvana (complete with flannel-shirted dancers jumping on trampolines) in the form of brief tributes during his performance of "Beautiful People." Clad in an all-white suit, Brown was backed by several dancers, lip-synching into a headset mic and flying into the air on wires.

Still in drag as her alter ego, Gaga returned to the stage to present Spears with the Vanguard Award. "When you're a struggling artist, literally starving for your dream, you gotta live off inspiration," she began. "One of my biggest inspirations was Britney Spears. Britney taught me how to be fearless."

Britney Spears calls her VMA tribute "an honor."

Kanye grabbed Jay-Z by the shoulders enthusiastically after Beyoncé's performance, when she unbuttoned her sparkly blazer to reveal a baby bump. Earlier in the night, before the show, Beyoncé beat out both Britney and Gaga in the choreography category thanks to her "Run the World (Girls)" video.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z celebrate their big news backstage.

Standing beside Taylor Lautner, Selena Gomez pointed out that the Best New Artist Award had previously been won by folks like Eminem, Alicia Keys, Bieber and, of course, Nirvana. Winner Tyler, the Creator was joined by his crew as he rushed the stage and began an expletive filled acceptance speech. "Yo, I'm excited as f--- right now. I wanted this sh-- since I was 9," he said. "I'm about to cry."

Young the Giant were also joined by friends on the VMA stage -- 250 of them, to be exact. The Irvine, California, group, which counts legendary singer Morrissey among their fans, played directly to some lucky supporters and were introduced by musician/actor Jared Leto and "Avatar" star Zoe Saldana.

Microphone problems didn't stop Cloris Leachman from trading blue humor with the girls of "Jersey Shore" before they presented the award for Best Female Video to Lady Gaga. "It doesn't matter who you are -- gay, straight, bi, lesbian, transgendered," Gaga, still in drag, declared. "You were born this way."

Russell Brand pointed out that Gaga is among those influenced by Winehouse. "Adele would admit her debt to Amy Winehouse," he said, as the camera cut to the singer nodding her agreement. "[Katy Perry], Florence and the Machine. ... When a talent like Amy Winehouse comes along, it affects everybody."

MTV's exclusive first look at the upcoming adaptation of "The Hunger Games" preceded the award for Video of the Year, which was presented by Katie Holmes.

After smooching her husband (and former VMA host) Brand, Katy Perry went out of her way to walk over to Adele before she made it to the stage to accept the award for "Firework." "I'm very proud of the song and what it stands for. And I feel like I'm doing something right when I sing that song," she said, echoing a familiar sentiment espoused earlier by Gaga about meaning in music.

Lil Wayne closed the festivities in a white T-shirt (a very popular clothing item this year, apparently) and sunglasses after a spirited introduction by Drake. His pants looked to be of black and white leopard print, topped off with a black fedora and ketchup and mustard colored Vans sneakers. He began "How to Love" like a sensitive crooner, talking with the crowd and casually walking to a microphone stand at first.

Naturally, his shirt came off and a band emerged to the riff from Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" as Wayne jumped around screaming "yeah!" and smiling wide. Wayne made his way into the crowd where he chest bumped Rick Ross and other friends. Wayne didn't even attempt to censor any of his lyrics, eventually making his way to a guitar which he threw on the stage after strumming briefly.

The 28th annual MTV Video Music Awards have wrapped, but the real action is just getting started! Stick with MTV News for winners, fashion pics, video and behind-the-scenes stories about everything that went down. Visit VMA.MTV.com for the latest.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1669865/vma-recap-beyonce-pregnant.jhtml

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The Villainous Loki Shows Up On The Set Of ?The Avengers?

Early last week we saw the first photos of actor Chris Evans in costume as Captain America on the Cleveland, OH set of the upcoming superhero film The Avengers. Last weekend, we saw the first photos of actor Chris Hemsworth in costume as Thor along side Evans on the Avengers set. Today we get to [...]

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