Superheroes rule at MTV Awards
Cooper, Jackson each win twice
LOS ANGELES, April 15, (Agencies): The comic book superheroes of “The Avengers” and comedy romance “Silver Linings Playbook” ruled at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday on a night packed with irreverent jokes about body parts and sneak peeks of some of the year’s biggest upcoming films.
“The Avengers” picked up three awards, including the top prize, movie of the year, along with best villain for Tom Hiddleston’s turn as the evil Loki, and best fight.
“This is the award that means the most to me. I am so grateful and very excited for 2015 — we’re going to bring you ‘Avengers 2,’” director Joss Wheedon said, accepting the movie of the year award and confirming that a sequel was in the works. Jennifer Lawrence added two popcorn-shaped trophies to her Oscar for her turn as an outspoken young widow in “Silver Linings Playbook.”
She won for best female performance and shared the best kiss award with co-star Bradley Cooper, who was voted best male performance for his role as a bipolar man in the comedy romance.
Hosted by “Pitch Perfect” comedy star Rebel Wilson, the annual youth-oriented show brought out some of the most popular stars on television, movies and music.
The MTV Movie Awards, one of Hollywood’s biggest youth-friendly ceremonies, rewards movie performances from the past year as well as promoting upcoming blockbusters and new music.
A heavily pregnant Kim Kardashian, dressed in a modest, long-sleeved black dress, and Brad Pitt whose new movie “World War Z” opens in June, were among the presenters while teen singer Selena Gomez debuted her new single “Come & Get It.”
Wilson, who took home the breakthrough performance award for her role as Fat Amy in musical comedy “Pitch Perfect,” kept up a stream of edgy jokes about male and female sexuality, appearing at one point with a fake extra nipple.
Dropped
Seth Rogen and Danny McBride dropped their pants in a skit on male physiques and “Twilight” heartthrob Taylor Lautner turned up sporting a false beer gut to collect his trophy for best shirtless performance.
Fans, who vote online for the awards, chose “Django Unchained” actors Jamie Foxx and Samuel L. Jackson for best “WTF moment” for the scene in which Foxx’s vengeful slave berates and unleashes a volley of gunshots at Jackson’s servile black manservant. Foxx was also honored with the MTV Generation Award.
Viewers for the more than two hour-show broadcast around the world live from Los Angeles were treated to sneak peeks of “Iron Man 3,” and “Star Trek Into Darkness” ahead of their openings around in late April and May.
They also got a first exclusive look at “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” ahead of the release in November of the sequel to the young adult hit movie.
Emma Watson, 22, who found fame as brainy schoolgirl Hermione Granger in the first “Harry Potter” movie in 2001, was presented with the Trailblazer Award. She has gone on to make some 15 movies, including lead roles in all eight Potter films.
“I look back at all of the work I have done over the past 14 years and many things come to mind, notably how bad my hair was in the first Harry Potter film!” the British actress joked, accepting her award. “Becoming yourself is really hard and confusing,” she added.
Will Ferrell won the Comedic Genius Award for his long career on film and television including “Elf,” “Saturday Night Live” and “Anchorman.”
Raunchy comedy “Ted,” which went into Sunday’s award show with seven nominations, ended the evening with just one win — best on-screen duo for Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane’s crude, inappropriate talking teddy bear.
Bradley Cooper and Samuel L. Jackson were double winners at the MTV Movie Awards Cooper won the first Golden Popcorn prize of the night for his performance in “Silver Linings Playbook” and returned to the stage to accept best kiss honors for his smooch with Jennifer Lawrence in that film. Lawrence, who won the Oscar for her performance in “Playbook,” wasn’t at Sunday’s ceremony.
Jackson claimed two awards. He and Jamie Foxx won best WTF moment for their scenes in “Django Unchained,” and Jackson joined members of “The Avengers” cast to accept the best fight prize. “Avengers” director Joss Whedon also took the stage, calling the prize “very unexpected.”
Tom Hiddleston of “The Avengers” won best villain.
Winning
The MTV Movie Awards are as much about the anticipated movies of the upcoming summer season as they are about the winning films of last year.
Rebel Wilson was hosting the ceremony. “Django Unchained” and “Ted” were the top nominees in the irreverent competition, where fans vote online for the winners in categories such as best fight, best kiss and best shirtless performance.
“Twilight” heartthrob Taylor Lautner won the shirtless award.
Wilson was also a winner, capturing the breakthrough performance award for her work in “Pitch Perfect.”
The show also included unseen footage from next month’s “Iron Man 3” and the world premiere of “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” trailer. Stars from other summer films — including Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana and Zachary Quinto from the “Star Trek” sequel and Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez from the “Fast & Furious” franchise — appeared on stage during the ceremony.
Other presenters included Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Snoop Dogg/Lion and Kim Kardashian.
Hollywood has increasingly used the fandriven MTV Movie Awards as a platform to promote its summer product and this year, the show was moved up from June to April to incorporate the entire blockbuster season, which begins in early May.
Will Ferrell wore a three-piece suit covered in dollar bills to accept the Comedic Genius Award from “Game of Thrones” star Peter Dinklage.
“For those of you sitting here tonight who don’t think I’m funny, I’ll be happy to fight you in the parking lot after the show,” said Ferrell, who is currently at work on “Anchorman 2,” slated for release later this year.
Selena Gomez debuted her new song, “Come and Get It,” with a Bollywoodinspired performance. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis also performed their new single, “Can’t Hold Us.”