'The Help' Stars Talk Tearjerkers At MTV's Sneak Peek Week

Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard open up about book-turned-movie during Q&A session.
By Jocelyn Vena


Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard
Photo: MTV News

WEST HOLLYWOOD, California — Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard spoke to a packed room at the Pacific Design Center on Thursday night (June 2) for the latest installment in MTV's Sneak Peek Week, opening up about retro tearjerker "The Help," which screened to an excited crowd shortly before the chat.

Since the book-turned-film is certainly emotional, we asked its leading ladies if they ever reach for the tissues in the movie theater.

"Oh, I cry!" Emma Stone admitted. "It's shocking I'm not crying right now. I cried at 'Air Bud.' I cried at 'Spice World.' " But what about when she watches her own movies? "That's crying out of terror and self-loathing," she joked.

All joking aside, Stone is really proud of "The Help" and "felt it reflected the book."

"When you read the book, you have a vision of those characters too," she said. "I definitely understand being protective of the material."

"The Help" is the film adaptation of the best-selling novel set in the South during the civil-rights movement. It stars Stone, Howard and Viola Davis and focuses on the bonds formed in the face of adversity. Stone is the flick's protagonist, Skeeter, who works to make a change through writing a book about the hardships felt by minorities in the South during this pivotal time in history.

"She's a bit of a modern woman," Stone said of her character. "When I was younger, I thought I wanted to be a writer. She's curious about people and she's questioning her life."

Howard, meanwhile, plays the bigoted Hilly, and the actress said she latched onto something very specific about the character to make her relatable.

"The thing I eventually grabbed onto was her ignorance," Howard explained. "Once I understood, I then could attempt to play that character."

Stone used her costumes to help her get into character. "The accent is always a major concern, and then, of course, knowing how to be Southern, there's a lot of challenges," Stone said. "This is the first time I felt more in character after putting on the wardrobe. It was wonderful to have that."

Stick with MTV News all week as we gear up for Sunday's Movie Awards with a Sneak Peek Week screening and live-stream Q&A session every night this week.

Will wizards, vampires or dream thieves steal the 2011 MTV Movie Awards? Find out June 5, when the 20th annual show airs live at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Tune in at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT that night for the "America's Best Dance Crew" finale and Movie Awards pre-show, loaded with live action from the red carpet, exclusive movie clips and a special edition of "After Hours." To get into the magical movie mood, it's Sneak Peek Week -- five days of exclusives and interviews with the casts of "Fright Night," "Horrible Bosses" and more. Check out everything there is to know about Sneak Peek Week, the Movie Awards and the pre-show at MovieAwards.MTV.com!

Related Videos

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1665055/mtv-movie-awards-the-help-emma-stone.jhtml

Laura Prepon Lauren Bush Lauren Conrad Lauren German LeAnn Rimes Leeann Tweeden

Death Cab For Cutie's Guide To Seattle: Well-Worn Studios, Bathroom Libraries

In the final stop on our 'Seattle Sonics' tour, DCFC take us to the city's legendary Avast! Studio.
By James Montgomery


Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla at Avast! Recording Co. in Seattle
Photo: MTV News

SEATTLE — The Avast! Recording Company, the final stop on our "Death Cab for Cutie: Seattle Sonics" tour, jokingly proclaims on their official site, "We pledge to have a website by 2010." Of course, they've got one, but the humor lies in the fact that the pledge is a very Seattle statement: slightly self-effacing, sure, but also steadfastly defiant. This is a town that, when it comes to music, likes to adhere to the old standard that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Which is why, in the many studios that dot the landscape here, you won't find a whole lot of high-end gadgetry. Instead, the rooms are packet with rickety pianos, dented Fenders and, in Avast!'s case, a massive Trident A-Range console, a legendary bit of gear (only 13 were ever assembled) that has attained near-mythic status in the recording industry. It's just part of the reason local bands have flocked to the studio over its 20-year history — everyone from Soundgarden to Fleet Foxes have recorded here — and it's most definitely why Chris Walla decided to take us here.

Because not only is Walla an unapologetic studio guy (he operates his own, called Hall of Justice, which was in the middle of a rather messy overhaul when we were in town), but he's worked here too: DCFC's Transatlanticism was mixed at Avast!, and he used the studio to put the finishing touches on their just-released Codes and Keys. And, above all else, he considers Avast! to be a second home ... and a key cog in the city's studio scene.

"I think Seattle has my favorite collection of studios and studio community of any town I've worked in," he said. "This is really a town where you can call the studio down the street and say, 'My tape machine's broken; do you have something you're not using?' And someone will probably say, 'Yeah, we can totally help you out.' "

And the epicenter of that comfortable, community feel seems to be Avast!, which, with its wood-paneled walls, vintage consoles (in addition to the Trident, they've also got Lenny Kravitz's old API Legacy board in Studio B — "I feel like I'm sitting at the captain's chair of the Enterprise," Walla joked from behind its expanse) and delightfully worn décor, recalls nothing more than a massive rec room ... albeit one that comes with an espresso machine. It's where bands come to work on their records in a way that's largely unchanged from 20 years ago: no bells and whistles, just time-tested methods and well-aged gear. And it will probably never change.

For further proof of that, Walla showed us the studio's tape library — shelves of precariously stacked master recordings that contain a large portion of the recorded history of Seattle. And, somewhat fittingly, it's located in the bathroom.

"It's like half of what has ever been recorded in Seattle, I think, is probably stored in here," Walla laughed, ducking inside the tiny room. "[It's a] tape library; Seattle style."

Related Videos Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1665076/death-cab-for-cutie-codes-and-keys.jhtml

Katie Holmes Katy Perry Keira Knightley Kelly Brook Kelly Carlson Kelly Clarkson

Lady Gaga's Born This Way Big Debut: Where Does It Rank?

Gaga's latest posted the 10th-biggest week in SoundScan history.
By James Montgomery


Lady Gaga
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage

By now, you're probably aware that Lady Gaga's Born This Way is the #1 album in the country, selling an impressive 1,108,000 copies in its first week of release. You're probably also aware that her first-week tally is the highest in more than six years, since 50 Cent's The Massacre moved more than 1,140,000 copies back in March 2005.

But what you might not be aware of is just where Born This Way's big debut ranks among the all-time greats. According to Billboard, since the debut of the SoundScan era in 1991, only 17 albums have sold more than 1 million copies in a week ... and Born This Way's bow lands on the very edge of the top 10.

Ahead of BTW on the list are a myriad of albums from early-2000s teen-pop sensations, including two released from 'NSYNC — No Strings Attached, which holds the record for the biggest one-week sales number in SoundScan history (it sold a whopping 2.4 million copies in 2000), and the follow-up, 2001's Celebrity, which sold 1.89 million in a week — the Backstreet Boys' Black & Blue and Millennium, and Britney Spears' Oops! ... I Did It Again.

Eminem also placed a pair of albums in the all-time top 10 — 2000's The Marshall Mathers LP and 2002's The Eminem Show — and 50 Cent and the Beatles are represented too. In fact, the top 10 is dominated by male artists: Only Spears (and now Gaga) have made the cut. And of the 17 albums to break the million mark in the SoundScan era, only five are by female artists, including Whitney Houston's "The Bodyguard" Soundtrack, Norah Jones' Feels Like Home and Taylor Swift's Speak Now also accomplished the feat.

So while Born This Way's debut is certainly massive, it's by no means the most massive ... Here's a look at the list of albums that have sold more than 1 million copies in a week, with sales data courtesy of Nielsen SoundScan. (And yes, Limp Bizkit is on the list.)

» 'NSYNC, No Strings Attached, 2000: 2,416,000
» 'NSYNC, Celebrity, 2001: 1,880,000
» Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP, 2000: 1,760,000
» Backstreet Boys, Black & Blue, 2000: 1,591,000
» Eminem, The Eminem Show, 2002: 1,322,000
» Britney Spears, Oops! ... I Did It Again, 2000: 1,319,000
» The Beatles, 1, 2001: 1,259,000
» 50 Cent, The Massacre, 2005: 1,141,000
» Backstreet Boys, Millennium, 1999: 1,134,000 million
» Lady Gaga, Born This Way, 2011: 1,108,000
» Usher, Confessions, 2004: 1,096,000
» Garth Brooks, Double Live, 1998: 1,085,000 million
» Whitney Houston, "The Bodyguard' Soundtrack," 1993: 1,061,000
» Limp Bizkit, Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water, 2000: 1,055,000
» Taylor Swift, Speak Now, 2010: 1,047,000
» Norah Jones, Feels Like Home, 2004: 1,022,000
» Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III, 2008: 1,006,000

Related Videos Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1664893/lady-gaga-born-this-way.jhtml

Kim Kardashian Kim Smith Kim Yoon jin Kirsten Dunst Krista Allen Kristanna Loken

Taylor Swift Is 'A Pretty Normal Girl,' Emma Stone Says

At the country/pop star's urging, Stone talks about her secret baking skills during MTV's Sneak Peek Week.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Josh Horowitz


Emma Stone
Photo: MTV News

Emma Stone and Taylor Swift are best gal pals. Stone has opened up about Swift in the past, revealing that the superstar "has such a sick sense of humor," and when Stone sat down for a Q&A about "The Help" during MTV's Sneak Peek Week, she divulged a bit more about their relationship.

So is Stone digging Swift's latest album, Speak Now? "I am indeed. I was lucky enough to hear it pretty early on, so it's so exciting for it to be out and own the songs instead of just be singing them [in my head]," she dished, sharing that just because Swift is one of the biggest pop stars in the world doesn't mean she's at all critical of her friends who can't sing as well as her.

"Taylor's a pretty normal girl," Stone said. " ... She's not [like], 'I am one of the world's most popular singers.' "

Stone's kind words came shortly after an email was read to her from her superstar pal who wanted to know more about her love of baking. "I've been baking at least once a day," she shared, revealing some of the sweet treats she's been making the past few months.

While she's got some sweet skills when it comes to confections, when she attempts to bake for a large group, the results aren't as delicious. "I made 60 biscuits once for a party," she said. "They didn't turn out so great, though. I think in bulk I'm a little subpar."

Will wizards, vampires or dream thieves steal the 2011 MTV Movie Awards? Find out June 5, when the 20th annual show airs live at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Tune in at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT that night for the "America's Best Dance Crew" finale and Movie Awards pre-show, loaded with live action from the red carpet, exclusive movie clips and a special edition of "After Hours." To get into the magical movie mood, it's Sneak Peek Week -- five days of exclusives and interviews with the casts of "Fright Night," "Horrible Bosses" and more. Check out everything there is to know about Sneak Peek Week, the Movie Awards and the pre-show at MovieAwards.MTV.com!

Related Videos Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1665133/taylor-swift-emma-stone-friendship.jhtml

Kirsten Dunst Krista Allen Kristanna Loken Kristen Bell Kristin Cavallari Kristin Kreuk

Britney Spears Has Created 'Her Own Genre,' Dr. Luke Says

Femme Fatale producer tells MTV News the pop star defies categorization because she's 'forward-thinking.'
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Matt Elias


Britney Spears
Photo: Max Morse/Getty Images

Since Britney Spears emerged on the scene nearly a decade and a half ago, she's run the gamut of pop music: from sugary bubble-gum to dirty, sexy dance tracks. In that respect, her longtime collaborator and Femme Fatale producer Dr. Luke says that the superstar has in many respects become bigger than pop. In fact, he says it's hard to confine her to just one genre.

"I feel like Britney kind of has her own genre: If you look at songs like 'Toxic' and 'Piece of Me' and 'Oops! ... I Did It Again,' they all were sort of influential and led the way," he told MTV News on Thursday (April 28) at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards.

So when the pair sat down to work on her latest release, Dr. Luke said her pop-music shape-shifting was very much on his mind. "She wanted to keep on with that and do stuff that was forward-thinking," he continued. "So we put some dubstep stuff in there, in bridges; snuck it in different places and I hope it ended up good. I hope you like it."

It seems every time Spears drops a new album, it's declared her comeback record. But Dr. Luke noted that Brit has really never gone anywhere. "Where'd she go? I don't know. I didn't know she ever disappeared, really," he said. "She's always been selling out concerts and records, so I don't know that she ever disappeared."

So what do Spears and Luke have up their sleeve now? "Not yet ... give me a second to breathe, come up for air!" he told us.

Plus, even with Femme Fatale already in stores, it seems like the pair are always finding ways to update the songs. Take, for example, the recent remix of "Till the World Ends," which features Ke$ha (the track's songwriter) and Nicki Minaj.

"Well, we already had Ke$ha on the song 'cause she co-wrote the song ... and she sounded really good on it," Dr. Luke explained. "And then Nicki got on the Femme Fatale Tour so we put Nicki on it and it just sounded amazing. She killed it."

Which version of "Till the World Ends" do you prefer? Tell us in the comments!

Related Videos Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1662892/britney-spears-dr-luke.jhtml

Lindsay Price Lisa Marie Lisa Snowdon Liz Phair Lokelani McMichael Lori Heuring