BuzzSugar

TV Tonight: The Real World Turns 20

BuzzSugar — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:30:06 PDT

Think fast: Which Real World was your first? Mine was the San Francisco season, the show's third, with the consciousness-raising storylines of HIV-positive Pedro and the attention-grabbing antics of troublemaker Puck. That season got me hooked on the show, which I followed regularly for the next decade or so, watching as group after group of attractive 20-somethings moved into an immaculately decorated house together to "stop being polite and start getting real."

Tonight, the 20th edition of The Real World premieres on MTV. It's strange to think how different television has become since the series first took the air in 1992. I'm sure there were reality series before The Real World, but the show's influence is unmistakable in so many of today's shows - notably anything that puts strangers in a house together just to watch what happens.

For the longest time, there seemed to be something pure in The Real World - like the people had chosen to do the show more for the experience and less for the exposure. But recent seasons have seemed less honest and more like all the other reality shows the series spawned, with cast members seeming to have great aspirations of Hollywood fame. So it's oddly appropriate that for its 20th season, The Real World is blatantly going Hollywood. Every member of the cast aspires to work in entertainment, whether as an actor, a model, a reporter, or a singer. On the one hand, that could make the made-up drama even more annoying, since it's clear everyone wants to get noticed; on the other hand, at least they're being honest about it.

Will you be checking out this milestone season of The Real World? To watch a preview, just

Angelina Jolie on Not Living a "Shallow, Horrible Life"

Lauren Turner — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:58:59 PST

Angelina Jolie talks about living in the "real world" - UsWeekly
See Lourdes Leon's new shaved-head hairstyle - People
Did you know Matthew Perry is dating Lizzy Caplan? - Lainey Gossip
Oprah's got big Oscars plans - HuffPost Entertainment
LeAnn Rimes admits to calling the paparazzi - D-Listed
Ha! Hot celebrities who resemble modern-day cavemen - BuzzFeed
All the details on Katy Perry and Russell Brand's divorce settlement - YourTango
Lindsay Lohan and more of Wilmer Valderrama's many loves - Insider
Which Oscar nominee got mistaken for Kate Walsh? - JustJared
Vanessa Hudgens gets edgy in a see-through leather dress - Hollywood Tuna
Selena Gomez lands a big new role with Adam Sandler - Pink Is the New Blog
Madonna throws M.I.A. under the bus for her Super Bowl slipup - The Superficial
Not everyone loved Oscar nominee Midnight in Paris - The Daily Beast
Channing Tatum's hottest shirtless moments - TooFab
Khloe Kardashian is having fun with the different dad rumors - popbytes

The Muppets' Music Man Bret McKenzie on His Oscar Nod and Taking a Silly Job Seriously

Lindsay Miller — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:50:41 PST

Bret McKenzie is up for an exceedingly rare honor this year, with his ballad "Man or Muppet" earning one of just two nominations in the Oscars' best song category. I caught up with The Muppets' musical supervisor today at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank to chat about the awards attention and the unique experience of penning music for Kermit and company. The New Zealand native talked about fighting the temptation to use the word "motherfrogger" in his songwriting and the roundabout way he came on board The Muppets project in the first place. Bret - who previously was best known as one half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords - also shared his hopes of bringing FOC to the big screen. Check out our conversation below:

PopSugar: It's got to be an honor to be nominated for an Oscar, but also in a year when the Academy only bothered to nominate two songs.
Bret McKenzie: They barely nominated anyone! When I found out, it sounded like there'd been a mistake, and yeah, it's a huge honor. It's great and it's really exciting, and I'm not complaining that there's only two nominees the year I'm nominated. I mean, this is the best chance I'll have of winning an Oscar, ever. It couldn't have been better, unless there was just one nomination, and then it would be a very dull ceremony . . . There's a lot of legendary musicians - tunesmiths - in that list of possible nominations. So it's all very surreal to think that I got in ahead of Elton John.

PS: And Madonna. Those two had a little rivalry going on.
BM: I know. I got nervous about what Elton John's husband was going to say about me. It's crazy, and it's great for The Muppets film, because we're all really proud of the film and it wasn't ever really going to get a best actor. Hey, Jason's good, that's not what I mean, but Kermit, Miss Piggy - they can't win these awards - and comedies don't generally get recognized at these awards ceremonies, so it's kind of cool. It's almost like the film as a whole is being recognized with this category.

For more from our chat with Bret, including what he says about his plans for a Flight of the Conchords film, coaching Jason Segel, and the pressure he felt on the project, just

read more! PS: What was the biggest unexpected challenge for you writing music for the film? I know you talked about one draft of a song where you referred to a Muppet as a piece of felt and were told you couldn't do that. BM: Yeah. Little piece of felt, and you couldn't say things like motherfrogger, even though it's very tempting. There were lots of hard parts to it. The Muppets can't sing certain notes. They can't sing too high or the voice changes and doesn't sound like the right character. There were so many weird things. I spent hours recording penguins and rats, and what's weird is that it's such a silly job, but you have to take it very seriously. So I would be in the studio for days, maybe a whole day recording penguins, and then I'm like, "I'm not happy with how the penguins are sounding! Where's penguin four?" You know, getting demanding. "We lost penguin track four! I can't hear the penguin!" PS: I was watching the movie again last night and watching Jason Segel's performance of "Man or Muppet." Did you coach him on any of his rockstar moves? Because he pretty much nailed it. BM: He nailed it. That's my favorite moment in the film. When he buckles down in the rain, that was one of my favorite shots. I was so proud of what James [Bobin, the director] and those guys achieved, because I wasn't there on set, I just saw them syncing the video, and I was like, "Wow, guys. You nailed it." What we did do in the studio, as Jason and I had a technique where I would sing a line, and he'd watch me through the window, and then he'd sing it back. So we did this thing where, I was really into the drama of it. So, I was like, "Am I a Muppppettt?" [balling his hands into fists] And he'd be like, OK, record. "Am I a Muppppettt!" So we kind of worked together to get that style. PS: Did it shatter some of your childhood illusions to have the guy that does Miss Piggy's voice come work with you [in the recording studio]? BM: Yeah. Well, it wasn't Frank Oz. The guy Eric, who does it now, yeah. That was strange. And the day that we recorded Kermit the Frog doing "Rainbow Connection" - I was sort of pinching myself, because that was probably one of the real moments for me where I realized that my world had really changed. That I'd come from New Zealand, I'd grown up with Kermit the Frog, and now I was in Hollywood in a studio recording Kermit the Frog. It felt like worlds had collided. PS: Was there pressure knowing there was already this great catalog of Muppet songs? To try to add to that or top it in some way? BM: I knew I wouldn't top "Rainbow Connection," but I was very intimidated, but the way I worked on the job was it actually started with me just writing one song, so I didn't feel the pressure of writing the whole movie. I think it would have been different if I'd been hired from the outset to do all the music. So I wrote one, then another, and gradually wrote more and more, so that helped. PS: What song did you write first? BM: The opening song. That's the one they needed, that's the one James asked me to write first. The script was probably on a second draft, and they were in preproduction, so I came in quite late. And the way they were doing it was, they got 100s of demos submitted from all sorts of songwriters, and surprisingly - even though they got some really great people to do demos - people weren't quite hitting the right tone. The Muppet tone. I'd just come off the Conchords tour and I had some time, and James asked if I was interested in doing that opening song, because he had a kind of specific thing he needed from that song. He needed it to be really Muppet-y, that song, and he had a great idea for the whole town joining in, it starting off small and becoming a big musical number, and that came together really well. PS: Is this experience maybe something you want to bring to a Flight of the Conchords movie? BM: Yeah, exactly. Having done this movie now, we're in a much better place to do a Conchords film, because James is more experienced - well, we're all more experienced. Not specifically, but James Bobin - well, we're all very keen to do another studio musical, because I really enjoyed being able to do comedy musical numbers on such a grand scale, and I think next time, I really think it will just get better and better. Because it's such a fun genre, and we've done like 50 songs for TV now, and now The Muppets movie, and I feel like we've accidentally sort of become musical comedy experts. PS: What do you imagine Bret and Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords are up to these days, in their universe? BM: In the Lower East Side? That's a good question. I reckon they probably got a regular gig now. Like, at a Chinese restaurant. Photo courtesy Disney

Go Inside William and Kate's Marriage in New Documentary

Allie Merriam — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 08:20:55 PST

A royally sanctioned doc will air tonight about Will and Kate's first six months of marriage - Lifeline Live
Katie Couric and her boyfriend of five years split - People
Get ready for a lot more Will Smith, everywhere! - Lainey Gossip
Kate Winslet takes being a role model very seriously - Huffington Post
Elizabeth Taylor's gems are truly out of this world - The Daily Beast
Lamar's new coach is a big Khloe Kardashian fan - Us Weekly
How Real Housewife Kim debuted her baby - TooFab
Angelina has a new DVD out this week! - Rotten Tomatoes
Will the team behind Book of Mormon bring us an Austin Powers musical? - Hollywood Reporter
Chord Overstreet is happy to talk about girlfriend Emma Roberts - Wonderwall
Find out which soap is getting back a big star - Zap2It
What do you think of Cameron and Diddy's PDA-fest? - Celebitchy

My Week With Marilyn Director Talks Michelle Williams and the Modern Marilyn Monroe Obsession

Annie Scudder — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:50:53 PST

"It's a love letter to the agony and ecstasy of celebrity," director Simon Curtis, pictured above, told me about his latest project, My Week With Marilyn. The film starring Michelle Williams is out on Nov. 23, and follows the icon on a 1956 trip to London, which doubled as a honeymoon with playwright Arthur Miller and a work trip to film The Prince and the Showgirl. The movie, based on two books, catches up with Marilyn after her husband leaves and she begins to befriend 23-year-old set assistant Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne).

My Week With Marilyn attempts to pull back layers of Marilyn the sex symbol to reveal a more authentic depiction of the private star - without turning her into a depressed or drudged-out caricature. I sat down with the filmmaker, and here's what Simon Curtis told me about Michelle's performance and what he learned about Marilyn Monroe.

TrèsSugar: Why did you want Michelle Williams to play Marilyn Monroe?
Simon Curtis: With Marilyn Monroe you have a certain, very limited number of people who are the right age, the right potential Marilyn Monroe looks. Michelle was way at the top of my list. Not only is she gifted and brilliant, she's incredibly hardworking and she wanted her performance to be as good as I did.

TS: You came in with high expectations. Did the performance exceed that?
SC: Yes, it does actually. You never know when you're making something, but she just amazed me on every single day. There's something about her fearlessness taking on the complexity of Marilyn, who I think a modern mental health professional would diagnose somewhere in the bipolar, borderline personality area. And certainly those wild mood swings - one of those beguiling things about Marilyn is that you never knew who was going to walk in the door, or who was going to walk out. And Michelle just went for it and presented this multifaceted character who's also incredible as Marilyn.

TS: What about those bookend song performances by Michelle? I had to do a double take for the final one because I couldn't quite tell if it was Michelle or Marilyn.
SC: We wanted to present in those songs the fantasy, the Marilyn people saw or remember, because so much of our film is this private, unexpected Marilyn.

TS: The movie is a window into her life rather than a biopic. By experiencing the details of her life, what do you think will surprise audiences about Marilyn?
SC: This is a very crucial time in Marilyn's life. In 1956, she came to London with such high hopes because she was going to work with the great Laurence Olivier, she had set up her own production company way ahead of her time, was in fact a producer of this film, and of course was married to the great Arthur Miller, who she thought was going to rescue her and give her some intellectual credibility. And the story of our film is how those things all went very quickly wrong.

TS: But there's a lot of humor in that dark story of things gone wrong. It sort of surprised me how feel-good it was in a way.
SC: I'm glad. It's a very nuanced film and there is a lot of darker stuff, but that's right. It's a love letter to filmmaking, the agony and ecstasy of filmmaking. I love it that the actors found so much humor, specifically Ken Branagh. We wanted it to have all of those qualities.

To find out why Simon Curtis thinks Marilyn is so relevant today, whether he used body doubles, and what he hopes audiences will come away with, just keep reading.

Drive Director Nicolas Winding Refn Says Ryan Gosling "Is the Only Guy Who Can Wear a Satin Jacket"

Shannon Vestal — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 11:56:14 PST

Nicolas Winding Refn directed this Fall's critical hit Drive, starring Ryan Gosling as a stunt driver who gets involved in a messy situation trying to protect his neighbor and crush, played by Carey Mulligan. The film has had audiences buzzing over Gosling's performance, the movie's soundtrack, and the brutal but creative violence. I had a chance to talk to Refn this week about the film, and the director talked up his "hero" Gosling and their fruitful creative relationship (Refn and Gosling have two other films in development: Only God Forgives, currently in production, and the remake of Logan's Run). Check out the interview for Refn's thoughts about Gosling, and other elements of Drive, like the music, the casting of Mulligan, and the driver's unique wardrobe.

BuzzSugar: How did you feel about Ryan's performance in Drive?
Nicolas Winding Refn: I think that he's one of those rare actors that has this gift that very few movie stars have ever had, which is that he can say a thousand words without saying a line. He has this talent that's so unique that only maybe Alain Delon and James Stewart had. You can shoot him from all angles; you can almost place him behind a door and you still sense his presence, and his vulnerability and his strength, and so forth. He's the kind of guy who makes acting look really easy.

Buzz: How did you choose the distinctive jacket for Driver to wear?
NWR: I always wanted him to wear a satin jacket, that would illuminate him at night like a knight. It would illuminate his aura. And Ryan Gosling is the only guy who can wear a satin jacket. And then we came up with this scorpion on his back, because it would give him a symbol.

Read more of my interview with Refn to find out how he chose the soundtrack and Carey Mulligan after the jump.

What to TiVo: Wednesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 23:59:00 PDT

8:00 The Middle (new)
8:30 Suburgatory (new)
9:00 Modern Family (repeat)
9:30 Happy Endings (new)
10:00 Revenge (new)
12:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live (new, with guest Amanda Seyfried)

8:00 Survivor: South Pacific (new)
9:00 Criminal Minds (repeat)
10:00 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (repeat)
11:35 Late Show With David Letterman (new, with guest Justin Timberlake)
12:37 Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson (repeat, with guest Jonah Hill)

8:00 Up All Night (repeat)
8:30 Whitney (repeat)
9:00 Harry's Law (repeat)
10:00 Prime Suspect (repeat)
11:35 Tonight Show With Jay Leno (new, with guest Amanda Seyfried)
12:35 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (new, with guest Salma Hayek and Elizabeth Olsen)

8:00 World Series Game 6

8:00 Ringer (repeat)
9:00 America's Next Top Model (new)

What to TiVo: Wednesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:59:00 PDT

8:00 The Middle (new)
8:30 Suburgatory (new)
9:00 Modern Family (new)
9:30 Happy Endings (new)
10:00 Revenge (new)
12:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live (repeat, with guests Julie Bowen and Elisha Cuthbert)

8:00 Survivor: South Pacific (new)
9:00 Criminal Minds (new)
10:00 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (new)
11:35 Late Show With David Letterman (repeat, with guests Taylor Lautner and Minka Kelly)
12:37 Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson (new, with guest Carla Gugino)

8:00 Up All Night (new)
8:30 Whitney (repeat)
9:00 Harry's Law (new)
10:00 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (new)
11:35 Tonight Show With Jay Leno (repeat, with guests Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Steve Martin, and Aubrey Plaza)
12:35 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (repeat, with guests Jason Sudeikis and Deena Nicole Cortese)

8:00 Ringer (repeat)
9:00 America's Next Top Model (new)

What to TiVo: Wednesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 23:59:00 PDT

8:00 The Middle (new)
8:30 Suburgatory (new)
9:00 Modern Family (new)
9:30 Happy Endings (new)
10:00 Revenge (new)
12:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live (new, with guest Rob Lowe)

8:00 Survivor: South Pacific (new)
9:00 Criminal Minds (new)
10:00 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (new)
11:35 Late Show With David Letterman (new, with guest Bill Clinton)
12:37 Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson (new, with guest Jim Parsons)

8:00 The X Factor (new)

8:00 Up All Night (new)
8:30 Whitney (repeat)
9:00 Harry's Law (new)
10:00 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (new)
11:35 Tonight Show With Jay Leno (new, with guest Zooey Deschanel)
12:35 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (new, with guest Alan Cumming and Michael Phelps)

8:00 Ringer (repeat)
9:00 America's Next Top Model (new)

Victoria Beckham Shares Baby Harper's Love For Prada

PopSugar — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:05:25 PDT

Victoria Beckham says Harper loved their visit to the Prada store - UsWeekly
So many hot Brad Pitt lookalikes around the world! - People
Justin Timberlake should stop trying to keep up with Leonardo DiCaprio - Lainey Gossip
Anna Faris opens up about her boob job - Huffington Post
Are these Scarlett Johansson nude pictures real? - D-Listed
Jennifer Hudson looks hot in a short red dress - JustJared
Mila Kunis stays fit for the cameras - Hollywood Tuna
Britney Spears strikes a sexy pose in artwork for her new single - Pink Is the New Blog
How Elizabeth Olsen is different from her sisters - The Superficial
See Christian Bale and other celebs who have gained weight for roles - The Daily Beast
Was Jennifer Lopez and Bradley Cooper's dinner date a setup? - The Blemish