Justin Bieber's Grammy Performance Will Be 'A Crossover,' Usher Says

The 'O.M.G.' singer looks forward to sharing the stage with his protégé on Sunday night.
By James Montgomery


Usher
Photo: Amanda Edwards/ Getty Images

HOLLYWOOD — At Sunday's 53rd Grammy Awards, Usher will be pulling double duty as both a nominee and a performer. Of course, given the massive year he just completed — with the success of his smash single "O.M.G." and as a mentor to rising phenom Justin Bieber — Ush's Grammy plans seem rather fitting.

Especially since he'll be performing with Bieber (and Bieber's pal Jaden Smith), a move that's just as much about celebrating Usher's successes as it is the successes of his young protégé.

"Having been through [the Grammys] so many times, you couldn't want for anything more than for your young protégé to have the opportunity to have one, so, in support of him having his moment, I wanted to be here," Usher told MTV News on Thursday, hours before his performance at the (Belvedere) RED launch party in Hollywood. "And also to be there to perform, to kind of tell the story of how we came together. This music business has definitely been good to both of us, and this year we have a lot to be happy for."

And just how will the dynamic duo tell that story? Well, Usher wasn't about to reveal all the details, but he did say that he's hoping their performance will show another side of Bieber ... a side most tend to overlook.

"The performance will be fun," Usher explained. "We want to get up there and just do what we do. Be comfortable, and have a great time. ... This is kind of a crossover for Justin. Having performed on so many different stages, this is the way that I wanted him to be seen and an opportunity to show the industry — a lot of the industry, that didn't believe [in him] — some of his other talents. He's going to play acoustically, and also, we'll get down a little bit."

And though Ush is up for a pair of Grammy awards on Sunday — Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best Contemporary R&B Album for Raymond v. Raymond — he's most looking forward to sharing the stage with Bieber and giving fans a look at where the young artist will be heading next.

"I'm very proud, man. I definitely saw it from the beginning, but thanks to the team that we have around us, it was made to happen. And that story has only just begun," Usher said. "The story of Justin Bieber doesn't stop with screaming girls; we need screaming fans all around the world ... a cultural experience that's much more than just fanfare. And that's what this is. That's what the Grammys will be; that's what my next phase for Justin is. This is the way I found him: I found him with a guitar in his hand, so I want him to be seen that way."

Don't miss "Snooki & Sway: Live From the Grammys," a red-carpet live stream kicking off Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And stick with us all Grammy night for coverage of the red carpet, the show, the afterparties and beyond!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1657728/usher-justin-bieber-grammy-performance.jhtml

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'Spider-Man' Musical Debuts After Web Of Issues

'If you are really trying something extraordinary, it's going to be difficult,' original director Julie Taymor tells MTV News at premiere.
By Kara Warner, with reporting by Rick Marshall


"Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark"
Photo: MTV News

After months and months of pre-production, including injured actors, troubles with the script and a complete overhaul, the beleaguered Broadway musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" officially opened on the Great White Way on Tuesday night (June 14).

MTV News braved the rain and crowds at the Foxwoods Theater in the heart of midtown Manhattan to chat with the musical's production team about what the show's fits and starts have taught them along the way.

"It's just hard to do anything when you're trying to do something new and big and different," original director Julie Taymor said of the challenges. "If you are really trying something extraordinary, it's going to be difficult. And that's OK, because eventually you get there."

"I think what happened is that when they were in previews, they discovered that the demographic was so big, they had 6-year-old children in the audience, they had 86-year-old grandparents in the audience. They wanted to make sure the show could reach out to all of them," explained new director Philip William McKinley.

"I think we tried to make the story a bit more linear," added writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. "But we also tried to bring the characters that fans know and love, Mary Jane, Aunt May, Uncle Ben, the Green Goblin, we tried to give them more material and go a little bit deeper on their journeys."

McKinley told a story about watching two young boys in the theater's lobby "webbing" each other after one of the preview performances, who declared it the "best Broadway show ever" and said they couldn't wait to see their next musical.

"I thought, 'Perfect, let's develop those new audiences,' " McKinley said of bringing more people into the theater experience.

"The people that we've met in the community who really care for the art, they want to see new blood, they want to see new innovation," said Bono, who wrote songs for the show with U2 bandmate The Edge. "They want to see new characters onstage, and I think we brought that."

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

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1665779/spider-man-broadway-premiere.jhtml

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Michael Jackson Doctor Conrad Murray's Trial To Be Televised

Judge rules that camera will be allowed in the courtroom for manslaughter case.
By Gil Kaufman


Conrad Murray
Photo: AFP/ Getty Images

For what promises to be one of the most bizarre and riveting legal proceedings in years, a Los Angeles judge ruled on Monday that a television camera will be allowed in the courtroom when Michael Jackson's doctor goes on trial for involuntary manslaughter.

Reuters reported that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor, approved the presence of a camera in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray as long as it does not interfere with the proceedings in the closely watched case.

The judge asked for the "absolute least-intrusive placement" of a TV camera in the courtroom, but blocked cameras from documenting jury selection.

Pastor also announced that he would bump up the opening date of the trail by four days to March 24, at which point jury selection will begin. Murray, who faces up to four years in prison if convicted, has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and the trial is expected to last around six weeks.

Cardiologist Murray was hired to be Jackson's personal physician in the run-up to the King of Pop's planned 50-date comeback series of shows at London's O2 arena in the summer of 2009. The doctor told police that he provided Jackson, 50, with sedatives and the surgical anesthetic propofol in order to combat the singer's chronic insomnia. He said he did so on the morning of June 25, 2009, when Jackson died of what a coroner deemed acute propofol poisoning.

TMZ reported on Tuesday (February 8) that Murray's lawyers plan to argue that Jackson was already in weak health before he died and that it's unfair to blame propofol for his passing. Unnamed sources close to the case told the gossip site that at the time of his death, Jackson's body was already failing him in part because concert promoter AEG Live had "driven [him] over the edge" with a rigorous rehearsal schedule for the shows.

Murray's lawyers reportedly plan to call witnesses to say that Jackson was not showing up for rehearsals and when he did he showed "clear signs" of frail health. They also reportedly plan to argue that it was Jackson who administered the final, fatal dose of propofol to himself while Murray was out of the room.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1657464/conrad-murray-trial.jhtml

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'Super 8': Box-Office Sleeper Of The Summer?

After earning $37 million and debuting at #1, J.J. Abrams' movie is looking like a success story so far.
By Eric Ditzian


Elle Fanning and Joel Courtney in "Super 8"
Photo: Paramount

As well as anyone, J.J. Abrams knew the challenges facing "Super 8" this summer. It's not a sequel or based on an existing property; it doesn't feature any major stars; its central conceit had to remain largely mysterious, and its release date plopped the flick in a crowded field of superheroes, robots and wizards.

"We're a complete anomaly in a summer of huge films," the director told the Los Angeles Times, "and we don't want to be so silent or coy that people don't care or don't hear about it."

As the film's June 10 release date neared, it seemed people might not have heard about "Super 8," nor cared to check it out if they had: Box-office tracking was said to be weak, with a possible opening weekend as low as $25 million. But as reviews continued to be strong, and Paramount staged over 300 Twitter-sponsored screenings at midnight on the Thursday before release, the tide seemed to be turning.

And it did. "Super 8" grossed $35.5 million domestically. That put the alien-invasion film roughly in line with one alien invasion film based on an original idea and starring lesser-known talent (2009's "District 9") but slightly below another (2008's "Cloverfield"). Yet what separates "Super 8" from these other movies is the talent behind the camera: Abrams in the director's chair and Steven Spielberg taking on a producer role for a film that is an undeniable homage to films like "E.T." With those names leading the charge, expectations were high as soon as the project was announced in May 2010. And now opinions among industry experts seem to be split. Is $37 million for "Super 8" a success or a disappointment — or somewhere in between?

" 'Super 8' arrived with neither a whimper nor a bang," explained Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo. "[E]ven if 'Super 8' beat last-minute expectations, that doesn't necessarily make it a success. The most important expectations for any movie are the ones that are set when a movie is green-lighted as well as the ones that guide a marketing campaign."

Others, however, emphasize that making any sort of box-office declaration would be premature at this point. "For some films, the opening weekend is just the beginning of the story," said Phil Contrino, editor of Boxoffice.com. "This is one of them. It should hold up well in the weeks to come, and that will make up for the fact that its opening wasn't exactly earth shattering."

The fact is, even with marquee talent running the show, films often need A-list talent in front of the camera — and plopping down on Leno's couch — to goose box-office numbers. Contrino suspects that just one big name could have resulted in a $60 million opening for "Super 8." Yet it should be noted the film reportedly cost only $50 million — about one third the budget of a typical summer tentpole.

" 'Super 8' will turn a profit before most of the other films released this summer, and isn't that the epitome of success?" said Jeff Bock, box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. "Yet still it was the #1 film in a crowded marketplace. There is no other way to spin this: Every studio in town would love to have a 'Super 8' on their release calendar."

The question now is how the film will do heading into this weekend, when a new superhero flick, "Green Lantern," arrives. "Cloverfield," for instance, dropped a staggering 68 percent in its second weekend, despite opening in January. "District 9" held on for a more typical 51 percent drop in August. How will "Super 8" fair? Can it become the sleeper hit of the summer?

"It may have a difficult time going up against what looks like it will be the next 'Iron Man' in 'Green Lantern,'" Bock said. "But word of mouth should sustain 'Super 8' in the weeks to come, because in a world full of exploitation and in-your-face pop-up ads, audiences will no doubt be charmed by the fact that they're sitting in a darkened theater without knowing exactly what to expect."

Check out everything we've got on "Super 8."

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

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1665669/super-8-box-office.jhtml

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Ke$ha Wants 'Till The World Ends' Remix To 'Take Over Airwaves'

Singer says her collaboration with Britney Spears and Nicki Minaj made a 'supergroup of three hot, strong women.'
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Matt Elias


Ke$ha
Photo: MTV News

Earlier this week, Britney Spears, Ke$ha and Nicki Minaj dropped their femme-fatale-friendly remix of the Spears club track "Till the World Ends." The already fun song got super-charged thanks to Minaj's cutting verses and Ke$ha's recognizable vocals.

"I'm a massive fan of both the ladies I share the track with," K told MTV News on Wednesday at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards. "I wrote 'TTWE' for Britney with [producers] Dr. Luke and Max [Martin] and she killed it and I loved it, but I just thought a supergroup of three hot, strong women could just take over the airwaves."

Ke$ha went on to give props to both the ladies. "I'm such a massive fan of Britney and I'm such a massive supporter of Nicki and a fan, and chicks sometimes don't team up. I don't know why, but I'm, like, huge on the girl power, so I just wanted to make a power girl track take over."



The remix quickly won praise from fans who seem to think the new features step up the song's game. "You know, with the three of us, I wasn't necessarily surprised [people like it] because I'm such a massive fan of Nicki Minaj and obviously with Britney I'm a fan of it, [taking] myself out of the equation," she said. "I'm just happy people like it."



So did Ke$ha (who once sang backup for Spears) feel any pressure writing a song for Britney? "There was no pressure. Writing for somebody else is really fun 'cause I consider myself a songwriter first and foremost," she explained. "So it was so much fun to put my brain in the sexy Britney Spears brain and express myself almost as if I were possessed by her."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1662875/kesha-britney-spears-til-the-world-ends-remix.jhtml

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