'Breaking Dawn' Star Angela Sarafyan Gushes Over Castmates, Director

Actress, who plays Tia, gives MTV News a 'Breaking Dawn' update straight from the set.
By Jocelyn Vena


Angela Sarafyan
Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/ Getty Images

Angela Sarafyan came onto the "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn" set last November and was warmly welcomed by the director as well as her castmates. When MTV News recently spoke to Sarafyan, who plays vampire Tia of the Egyptian coven, she gushed about her experience on the movie set.

"I went on-set and met Bill Condon and he is truly such a great, great person," she said. "I'm honestly humbled by the fact that he is kind and generous and, with the enormity of this film, has been so graceful about giving every actor their time. He immediately put me on a great starting point. We were all in this incredible Egyptian casbah in Baton Rouge [back in November] and it was quite magnificent. It was quite easy. It's not as pressure-filled as you'd think. It felt like an independent project where everyone's having a nice time, no one's pressured. It's been that way almost every day that we've worked on this."

Three movies into the franchise already, the crew is currently in the midst of filming the final two films, "Breaking Dawn" parts one and two, and the "Twilight" newbie says that things are so relaxed on the set that she doesn't feel like a rookie castmate.

"I was telling my mom, and I say these kids, they're [probably] people who are not very nice and they're stuck up ... and they're the complete opposite. They're very kind and sweet and normal and awesome," she explained. "I don't think I could find anything bad to say about a single person on the set. They're quite humble and normal people. It was a delight to come into that.

"About being the new kid on the set, there's so many of us, we've all become a family ultimately," she added. "It's been quite easy."

Sarafyan even got to help create a bit of backstory in order to play Tia. "I always envisioned Tia like Cleopatra and Benjamin like Marc Anthony, so even though they're the younger vampires, they're very strong-willed and rebels. We have this entire history of how they were 4 and they met and they fell in love and at 16 they turned into vampires," she explained. "It's something along those lines. And it's funny, I spoke to Stephenie Meyer and she has a similar idea of what we created."

Now Sarafyan and the rest of the cast are "actually in the middle of it all. We're midway through and we're not necessarily shooting as the script goes." And as Robert Pattinson recently revealed, the big fight scene is currently being shot.

"We're shooting it on green screen, so it's really quite unpredictable because we don't know what we're going to be doing day to day. Every character is pretty much in it except Ashley Greene's character and Jackson [Rathbone's] character. Were spending 14 hours a day hanging out with each other and it's been really exciting because at the end of the day, we don't know what it's going to look like," Sarafyan said. "It's almost half the script, so it's taking a while to shoot it."

Sarafyan's next film is "A Good Old-Fashioned Orgy," in which she co-stars with "Saturday Night Live" players Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis.

Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1."

For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

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Miikka Kiprusoff Frustrated by Poor Play as Flames Flounder

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CALGARY - It's a sound that has been heard before in the Scotiabank Saddledome.

You'd be hard pressed, though, to remember a time when derisive cat-calls were directed at the man between the pipes.

Jarome Iginla may be the face of the Calgary Flames, but netminder Miikka Kiprusoff has been at the team's heart since he joined it seven years ago. It's been his other-worldly play in goal that has been a constant for this team year after year, the number one reason the Flames have enjoyed any type of success.

But fans, weary of the club's inconsistency during a year that has the Flames treading water in search of a playoff berth, turned on their perennial savior on Wednesday night at the tail end of a 6-0 thrashing by the Minnesota Wild, giving the Finnish 'keeper the old Bronx cheer.

 

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Source: http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2011/01/21/miikka-kiprusoff-frustrated-by-poor-play-as-flames-flounder/

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Sparky Anderson's No. 11 to Be Retired by Tigers

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Sparky AndersonDETROIT (AP) -- The Detroit Tigers will retire Sparky Anderson's No. 11 this year, one of several gestures the team is planning to honor the late manager.

The Tigers also will wear a commemorative patch to honor the Hall of Fame manager who led them to the World Series title in 1984, and raise a flag with his name on it at their home opener.

"When you think of great managers and people in the game that really epitomize what it is to be a baseball manager ... you think of Sparky Anderson," general manager Dave Dombrowski said Saturday.

Anderson, who also won the World Series twice as Cincinnati's manager, died Nov. 4. Dombrowski expressed regret that Anderson passed away before his number was retired.

"I know in a way, it's a shame," Dombrowski said. "It's the same thing, I see somebody go into the Hall of Fame, and you say, 'Gee, I wish they'd gone in when they were alive.' "

 

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Source: http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2011/01/22/sparky-andersons-no-11-to-be-retired-by-tigers/

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Lil Wayne Producer Bangladesh Plans Future Collaborations With Ke$ha

'It gives her a whole new look and it shows how creative I am,' Grammy-nominated producer says of Cannibal singer.
By Jayson Rodriguez


Bangladesh
Photo: MTV News

Producer Bangladesh's biggest break came when he powered Lil Wayne's "A Milli." Then he upped the ante on Weezy's recent release "6 Foot 7 Foot." So, what does the Grammy-nominated beatsmith have in store for the new year? More of the same, actually.

Bangladesh hopes to continue his genre-bending ways, whether it's lending rock-leaning sensibilities to Lil Wayne or injecting a pop star's work with edgy hip-hop drums. He and Dr. Luke (Britney Spears, Pink, Katy Perry) recently worked together on Ke$ha's "Sleazy," from her Cannibal LP.

"I met Luke through a mutual friend, so it was like me walking into a stranger's house," Bangladesh told MTV News. "I really didn't know what to expect. But it was all love. It was kind of like the roles were reversed, like I was the biggest producer and he just had a couple of hits. Once I saw how he felt about me, I was like man, I might be the truth. [He laughs.]"

After hitting it off, they joined forces for "Sleazy," the first of many collaborations Bangladesh is shooting for with the "Tik Tok" star.

"That's a good look, because it gives her a whole new look and it shows how creative I am," he explained. "It shows how music is changing. And it shows that I'm kind of the changer behind it. The leader. I'm trying to mix the different genres where it's still convincing, like, I believe them doing this."

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'No Strings Attached' Tops Weekend Box Office

Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher's romantic comedy comes in ahead of 'The Green Hornet.'
By Josh Wigler


Natalie Portman in "No Strings Attached"
Photo: Cold Spring Pictures

"The Green Hornet" certainly has the crime-fighting action scene on lockdown, but when it comes to box-office supremacy, Seth Rogen's latest couldn't muscle up to Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher's "No Strings Attached."

The "Black Swan" actress returned to the romantic comedy arena this past weekend with "No Strings Attached," director Ivan Reitman's movie about a pair of longtime friends (Portman and Kutcher) who decide to add a few new benefits to their relationship. As the only major new release of the weekend, "No Strings Attached" had little trouble securing a first-place finish worth $20.3 million, despite facing a steady stream of mostly negative reviews.

Rogen and director Michel Gondry's "The Green Hornet" was no slouch, however, as the highly stylized buddy comedy continued to kick its way toward the top of the box office. In its second weekend in theaters, "Hornet" lost some of its sting to buzz into second place, adding $18.1 million to its continually growing pile. The film has earned $78.5 million worldwide, surpassing "Kick-Ass" as the highest-grossing live-action superhero comedy of all time, according to Box Office Mojo. Still, "Hornet" has some other milestones to reach before surpassing its reported $120 million production budget.

Rounding out the weekend's top five competitors were Ron Howard's "The Dilemma," now in its second week of release, followed by magnetic awards-season favorites "The King's Speech" and "True Grit" at $9.2 million and $8 million respectively.

The Box-Office Top Five

#1 "No Strings Attached" ($20.3 million)
#2 "The Green Hornet" ($18.1 million)
#3 "The Dilemma" ($9.7 million)
#4 "The King's Speech" ($9.2 million)
#5 "True Grit" ($8 million)

Upcoming Releases

Jason Statham teaches Ben Foster in the ways of "The Mechanic" next weekend, while Anthony Hopkins turns to his religious roots in "The Rite."

Check out everything we've got on "No Strings Attached" and "The Green Hornet."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Michael Jackson Doctor Conrad Murray Hid Evidence, Guard Testifies

Testimony has Conrad Murray removing IV stand and two bags of medication.
By Gil Kaufman, with additional reporting by Kara Warner


Alberto Alvarez, Michael Jackson's bodyguard, leaves court after testifying at the preliminary hearing for Dr. Conrad Murray on January 5
Photo: Toby Canham/Getty Images

The second day of testimony in the preliminary hearing of Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, featured damning testimony from one of the late King of Pop's bodyguards about Murray's actions in the critical minutes after the singer was found unresponsive.

After a former Jackson staffer testified Tuesday that Murray appeared to not know how to perform CPR properly, security guard Alberto Alvarez said on Wednesday (January 5) that the cardiologist frantically grabbed medical evidence from the star's bedroom before instructing Alvarez to call 911.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Alvarez said he was the first person to walk into Jackson's bedroom after Murray realized his patient was not breathing, where he found the cardiologist administering chest compressions with one hand while Jackson lay on his bed, which goes against the recommended procedure for the life-saving method.

"I said, 'Dr. Murray, what happened?' " Alvarez told the court. " 'He had a bad reaction, he had a bad reaction,' that's all he said." Alvarez choked up as he described how Jackson's daughter, Paris, followed him into the room and screamed when she saw her father sprawled out and unresponsive on the bed.

He said Murray then instructed him to get the children out of the room, noticing as he left that Jackson's penis was out of his underwear and that medical tubing was attached to it. When Deputy District Attorney David Walgren asked Alvarez if he knew what a condom catheter was, the security guard said he did not.

Alvarez said he then witnessed Murray grabbing a handful of bottles, which he instructed the security guard to put in a bag. He told the court that he held open the bag as the doctor dropped the bottles of medicine inside and then put it in a brown canvas bag on the floor, per Murray's instructions. Murray also allegedly told Alvarez to grab one of the two bags hanging on an IV stand next to Jackson's bed and put it in another bag. Alvarez said he noticed a "milk-like substance" in the bottom of the IV bag.

The Los Angeles County Coroner's office determined that Jackson died of an acute intoxication of propofol, a powerful surgical anesthetic sometimes referred to as "milk of amnesia" thanks to its milky white appearance. Only after the medical materials had been put away did Murray tell Alvarez to call 911.

"After you had collected the bottles per Dr. Murray's instructions, and after you had collected the bags per Dr. Murray's instructions, did Dr. Murray instruct you to call 911?" Walgren asked. "Yes, sir," Alvarez responded.

TMZ reported that during cross-examination, defense attorney Ed Chernoff got Alvarez to admit that he never told police about Murray ordering him to remove the bottles and Alvarez later admitted that he may try to sell his story.

Later in the day, EMT Richard Senniff testified that he arrived at the Jackson home, just four minutes after the 911 call was placed. According to TMZ, Senniff said that, based on the condition of Jackson's body, it appeared that Murray waited at least 20 minutes to call 911. Senniff also stated that when he asked Murray what meds Jackson had been administered, he only listed lorazepam (Ativan).

Jackson cook Kai Chase also testified, revealing the food she prepared for Jackson prior to his death (seared ahi tuna and salad, white bean Tuscan soup) and that she knew something was wrong when Murray came downstairs in a panic and summoned Jackson's son, Prince.

The preliminary hearing is aimed at determining whether there is enough evidence to try Murray on a felony count of involuntary manslaughter in the June 2009 death of the King of Pop. It is expected to last two to three weeks.

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Nationals Expect Chien-Ming Wang to Be Ready for Spring Training

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Chien-Ming WangNationals GM Mike Rizzo expects starter Chien-Ming Wang to be ready for spring training, he told MLB.com Wednesday. Wang hasn't pitched at all since 2009 and he's only thrown a total of 137 innings since the 2007 season, in which he went 19-7 with a 3.70 ERA for the Yankees.

Since then, he's missed big chunks of time with a foot injury in 2008, which in turn caused a change in his delivery, and shoulder problems that caused him to miss most of 2009 and all of 2010. Rizzo says he's throwing off the mound, though, and will be in camp with the rest of the Nationals pitchers.

It seems like it's been a long time since Wang's sinker made him an effective starter. In 2006, he finished second in Cy Young voting and put up a 3.63 ERA despite only striking out a hitter about once every three innings thanks to that sinker, which gave him baseball's third best groundball percentage (62.8 percent).

He followed that up with a 58.4 percent groundball rate in a 2007 that was mostly similar to 2006. The big question is whether he's recovered the mechanics that made his sinker so effective for the Yankees in those two seasons.

 

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Source: http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2011/01/20/nationals-expect-chien-ming-wang-to-be-ready-for-spring-training/

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