Miley Cyrus? 'Mamma Mia's' Amanda Seyfried? Who Will Win Female Breakthrough Performance?

Mamma mia, here we go again. My my, it's been quite a year at the movies, one that has introduced us to an impressive bunch of newcomers. Once again, the MTV Movie Awards are eager to recognize the breakthroughs — and the Female Breakthrough Performance category has several fresh-faced actresses angling to be crowned as the Meryl Streep of tomorrow.

Do Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale have careers beyond the "High School Musical" films? Is Miley Cyrus the singing/acting double threat that she appears to be? Are Kat Dennings and Freida Pinto destined for long careers, and will "Mamma Mia!" star Amanda Seyfried launch a legacy as durable as her Abba collaborators?

These questions and more will be answered Sunday night, as fans continue to feverishly vote for Breakthrough Performance Female. Now it's time to handicap the favorites in the category — but, mamma mia, how can we resist any of them?

Who's the Favorite?

At the age of 16, Destiny Hope "Miley" Cyrus has already released two albums that both debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart; she's ranked on Time magazine's "Most Influential People in the World" and Forbes' "Celebrity 100" lists; and she's starred in two live-action and one animated film, all of which have been hugely successful. Would you bet against her? "Hannah Montana: The Movie" was engineered as the perfect starring vehicle for Miley, and her fans loved every minute of it. As A-list as her career already is, it seems like "The Climb" is only just beginning.

Who's the Underdog?

Miley has already reached out to her huge fanbase via Twitter and urged them to keep voting throughout the weekend. But should she stumble, look for Amanda Seyfried to sneak in with an all-singing, all-dancing acceptance speech. "Mamma Mia" was the year's ultimate guilty pleasure and is now the highest-grossing film ever in the United Kingdom (take that, "Titanic"!). And don't forget, folks: Our British friends can vote for Sunday's show, too. Blimey!

Inside Scoop

» "High School Musical 3" stars Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale will be squaring off against each other in this category. "HSM3" was originally scheduled to be called "Haunted High School Musical" and featured a plot that had Troy and the others battling ghosts and ghouls. Mercifully, the haunted-house angle was abandoned in mid-2007, as producers chose to instead focus on the perils and pleasures of senior year at East High School.

» Kat Dennings, nominated for "Nick And Norah's Infinite Playlist," portrayed Bob Saget's daughter on the short-lived sitcom "Raising Dad" and was born on the exact same day and year as Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Sadly, she appears to have no connection to Dave Coulier.

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

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

Exclusive: Shia LaBeouf Reveals 'Transformers' Villain The Fallen

BEVERLY HILLS, California — On Sunday, at the MTV Movie Awards, invited guests include Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox and director Michael Bay. But even those high-wattage talents might not be the most exciting "Transformers" star you'll see this weekend.

"He is the king bee," LaBeouf told us recently as he discussed the Fallen, unveiling him to "Transformers" fans for the first time anywhere. "He's the patriarchal figure, he's the main dude. He's what all of this came from."

Feast your eyes on the previously top-secret villain of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," as the evil Transformer will be dominating screens everywhere when the film opens June 20. "Basically, the Fallen is to them what cavemen, Neanderthals were to us," LaBeouf revealed. "He's the ancestor, the first version of this exoskeleton. He's the first version of this sentient being. That's what he is. He's the origins of what they came from."

(Check out our "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" gallery for the exclusive Fallen picture and more shots from the movie!)

As you can see, the Fallen looks quite different than the other robots in disguise. "It's the design of the Transformer you see in the symbol, almost — at least, that's where the jump-off point of the idea was spawned from," LaBeouf said of the inspiration for Michael Bay and his team of robot designers. "That was the initial spark of his look, the actual Decepticon logo — which is cool."

Some fans might remember that Megatron was the top Decepticon in the first flick and that things didn't look too good for him at the end of the movie. Asked what the Fallen's relationship to Megatron is, the series star offered an intriguing explanation.

"It's the Emperor and Darth Vader — it's that kind of situation," LaBeouf said. "He's the main villain, so two and two makes four. He's a badass. He has to be.

"The Fallen, his transportation method is really unlike any other robot's transportation method," he added. "The way he fights is also very different. It's spectacular, visually stunning, really incredible."

The Fallen features prominently in a big fight at the end of the blockbuster film, and LaBeouf said the character's size and scope were a necessity after the first "Transformers" movie. "A big part of the reason the first one was successful was because nobody expected the CGI to look the way it looked like. Nobody expected our explosions to be as insane as it was, our action to be outrageous or our jokes to be funny," he explained of the pressure in shooting the sequel to 2007's biggest film. "Now that there's a high expectation — and everybody involved has an enormous sense of pride — those factors make successful films.

"I think this is a darker one," he said of "Revenge of the Fallen." "The dark moments are darker. ... There's more at stake. You've got more humans getting injured, and there's more death."

As for the Fallen himself, LaBeouf is eager to see the villain's finished scenes and get an idea of where he'll rank among such cinematic icons of evil as Darth Vader, Jason Voorhees, Megatron and the rest. "I can't judge him yet, because he's not completely done," he said of the finished effects work, which Bay is currently slaving away at. "I'll be as surprised as you guys will be. I'll be seeing it at the premiere."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Check out everything we've got on "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

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

'Drag Me To Hell': Killing Jokes, By Kurt Loder

They don't make movies like "Drag Me to Hell" anymore. Or at least they haven't since Sam Raimi unleashed his bloody-disgusting "Evil Dead" horror satires back in the 1980s. Now Raimi has taken time out from the money-gushing "Spider-Man" franchise to return to his gore-logged quickie-flick roots, and he hasn't lost his touch. You want flying eyeballs? Face-chewing fiends? Projectile worm-spew? You got it.

The story, devised by Raimi and his brother Ivan, concerns an L.A. bank-loan officer named Christine (sunny Alison Lohman, made to be menaced). Christine is bucking for a promotion. When an old woman (Lorna Raver) comes into the bank begging for an extension on her mortgage payment, Christine attempts to demonstrate a merciless bankerly nature by turning her down. Since the woman has one dead eye, long demon nails, and the sort of snaggly teeth that suggest decades spent gnawing on drainpipes, any infant might have advised Christine not to get on this hag's to-do list. But she does. Such a bad move.

Soon there's a wild attack (and not just by the deliriously brassy soundtrack score). A curse is pronounced. Christine decides to consult an oily Indian psychic (Dileep Rao). "Perhaps you've been cursed," he helpfully observes. Christine's boyfriend, Clay (Justin Long), is skeptical but supportive. They go back to her house, where we note that Christine likes to keep the windows open. (Again, any infant ... ) An evil fly puts in an appearance (a pricelessly icky scene). The psychic has suggested an animal sacrifice might help. Christine has a cute kitten. The movie grows ever more hilarious.

Soon we learn that our gal has been targeted by a lamia. ("The black goat," says the psychic, for those who may have no idea what he's talking about, and still won't after he says it.) There's an eruption of corpse vomit, a wonderfully crushed head, and a visit to a medium whose spooky old mansion is disconcertingly situated over the Gate of Hell, or some such. An actual goat enters the scene, this one of the talking variety. The medium says, "You must allow the dead to mingle with your soul." (Or I think she does — there's a lot going on at this point.) Soon enough the dead arrive, with more than mingling on their minds.

The movie's shocks are for the most part delightfully cheap ( Don't look in the rearview mirror! ), but they still shake you up; and Raimi is of course a gross-out virtuoso. (There's a dinner with Clay's parents that, shall we say, doesn't go well at all.) And almost as entertaining as the nonstop abominations are the script's fond salutes to the sort of old schlock-movie plot details that have no bearing whatsoever on the plot. Christine used to be a fat girl. Clay collects old coins. He wears a flower in his lapel even in the daytime. Why? Whatever. At one point, Christine, in a rare moment of mental clarity, says, "I'm scared! . Is she cracking up? We are.

Don't miss Kurt Loder's reviews of "Up" and "Big Man Japan," also new in theaters this weekend.

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Check out everything we've got on "Drag Me to Hell."

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

'Twilight' Director Thinks Robert Pattinson Deserves Breakthrough Male Award

VENICE, California — Catherine Hardwicke celebrated the seven nominations of "Twilight" at Sunday's MTV Movie Awards by inviting us into the home where she auditioned her no-names-turned-superstars, and showing us the bedroom where Robert and Kristen shared the smooch that would eventually become a Best Kiss front-runner.

Next up, Catherine led us into the living room where she keeps a magazine rack. And, after spinning around the rack to reveal dozens of covers featuring her lead actor, she was eager to discuss Robert Pattinson's nomination for Breakthrough Male Performance.

"I remember when we first cast him. We put it on the Internet, and people were sending e-mails [saying], 'He's revolting! He's disgusting! He can't be Edward!' And of course, the fans, after we started putting out some photographs of him looking like Edward, they turned around," Hardwicke grinned. "Now he's pretty much on the cover of every magazine! It's pretty crazy."

Walk into any supermarket and you're bound to find a few RPattzes staring at you while you're in the checkout line. But while every year brings with it a few new Hollywood beefcakes, Hardwicke said she's most proud of Rob because his breakthrough might be building a career to be proud of for decades.

"I think he could do some really interesting roles, like Johnny Depp has chosen — such unique roles," she explained of the actor, who first auditioned (the biology scene) in her dining room, then went into the bedroom to try out that famous kiss. "He can transform himself into other characters, and I love that Rob will do things that we don't expect. He's going to do really unusual, unique things — and I'm looking forward to it."

What's even more remarkable is that, a mere 18 months ago, Twilighters were upset by Pattinson's casting. "People had posted their own opinions of who should be Robert online — pictures of male models that they'd put on the Internet and say, 'This has to be Edward!' and those guys probably couldn't act," Hardwicke remembered. "In fact, we looked at a lot of those guys — and they couldn't act."

Now Rob's amazing breakthrough has seen him go from "the guy in those 'Harry Potter' movies" to one of the most desired leading men in Hollywood. And along with the pleasures of his breakthrough has come a bit of pain — as best evidenced by Hardwicke's magazine collection that also includes such tabloid headlines as "Twilight in Trouble" and "Twilight Fight."

"Now everybody [knows about him], everybody is paying attention to every little thing Rob does," Hardwicke said of the new pressure on him as he's been working on the "New Moon" set. "At the time when we filmed the first movie we had a few fans [surrounding the set], like, 10 people would find us. Now it's like everywhere Rob goes it's a circus.

"People are dissecting everything," she sighed. "If he's looking [grumpy for a moment] it's like, 'Oh, Rob's upset!' It's a crazy time."

Although Hardwicke refuses to pick a favorite between RPattz and fellow Breakthrough Performance nominee Taylor Lautner, she told us that she'll be screaming louder than anyone if Rob walks onstage Sunday night to receive his trophy.

"Robert has that soul, that passion, that depth. He's a very interesting person in his heart and soul. The movies he watches are weird independent films and foreign films; the books he reads are these great, obscure things. He's a musician, an artist, and he's very special and unique," she explained, making his case as a true Hollywood breakthrough. "I can't wait to see what he does next."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

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

'Hills' Stars Say Paris Hilton Should Apologize For 'Fake' Comments

In a recent interview, Paris Hilton explained why her boyfriend — and Lauren Conrad's ex — Doug Reinhardt wouldn't be appearing on any future episodes of the "The Hills."

"The show is, like, so lame and fake," she told UsMagazine.com. "He doesn't even want to be a part of it. They make up relationships when they're not there, and he just thinks it's lame," she said. "I've never seen the show in my life. I have no idea what it's about. But he just thought it was cheesy."

MTV Movie Awards weekend guest hosts and "Hills" stars Frankie Delgado and Stephanie Pratt responded to her comments, telling MTV News she should apologize.

"Doug's not even on the show, so I don't even understand that," Pratt said. "And in real life he is friends with those boys, so it's not fake. I would never call her show dumb, so I think she should apologize."

Delgado also defended his show, saying, "She knows that it's not fake. It's not fake at all. It's a real show. It's as real as it gets. There's no way to create that kind of drama. Nothing can even be scripted like that. Things do happen and they happen for a reason."

But Delgado is quick to point out that although there's nothing fake about the show, sometimes their friends' personalities may give people that impression. "Some people ... maybe their personalities are fake. They act fake on the show, but that's what makes it dramatic," he explained. "She should understand it's all entertainment. It's all business ... Paris, it's all business."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

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

'Up': New High, By Kurt Loder

The new Pixar Animation feature "Up" goes boldly where even live-action movies rarely dare. The film's hero, Carl Fredricksen, is a hunched and grumpy 78-year-old man, for one thing. We meet him, though, at the age of eight — a sparky kid with a yen for adventure and an avid interest in the exploits of a world-famous explorer named Muntz. When Carl encounters Ellie, a spunky little girl with exactly the same passions, they form a bond, and the picture takes wing on a surge of emotion. In a long, wordless montage we see their lives play out. They dream of the real-life adventures they'll have when they grow up. They marry and settle into an old abandoned house they'd discovered as children (it was the headquarters of their two-member explorers club). Carl works as a balloon salesman, and they try to save money for a dream trip to South America — to Paradise Falls, the last known destination of the long-vanished Muntz. But life keeps getting in the way — sometimes, as usual, tragically — and in the end, Carl is left alone, the dream he shared with Ellie still unfulfilled.

This glorious prologue — a triumph of conception and editing — casts a powerful spell, and the movie miraculously sustains it. Carl (now voiced by Ed Asner) potters around his lonely home mourning the departed Ellie, while outside, his neighborhood is being gobbled up by ugly high-rise construction. When Carl is threatened with eviction and relocation to a nursing home, he makes a daring escape by tying 20,000 balloons to his beloved house and, with a weather vane for a rudder and curtains for sails, takes off for Paradise Falls.

Crank that he is, Carl's not happy to discover a stowaway onboard — an eight-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell (first-timer Jordan Nagai), who had come knocking on Carl's door seeking to earn an old-folks-assistance badge when the house suddenly rose up into the clouds. Carl grumbles at Russell a bit, but we know that can't last too long, and after riding out a big thunderstorm, the two newly minted adventurers finally reach the fabled Paradise Falls. There, traipsing through the jungle (with Carl leading the balloon-borne house along on a rope leash), they encounter a big goofy bird with an unexpected taste for chocolate. Russell names this gawky creature Kevin — although it turns out to be an avian mom who's become separated from her babies. There's also a pack of hostile dogs with electronic collars that allow them to actually speak (in a number of languages), and one friendly mutt named Dug, who tries to be helpful but usually fails, calamitously.

The dogs are actually owned and operated by none other than Muntz (Christopher Plummer), now more than a little crazy after all his years in the wild, and, with his sinister dirigible, fitted out with searchlights and animal nets, much more dangerous than Carl ever could have expected.

The story is engagingly eccentric, and the characters, of course, are lovingly detailed. And this being a Pixar project, the animation has a hallucinatory perfection (especially in 3-D.) Just the storm scene — with Carl and Russell being tossed around inside the house as furniture and knickknacks fly about — is a marvel of painstakingly detailed action. And even the smallest touches (when Carl mounts his front steps, we notice that each one of them sags ever so slightly under his weight) contribute tingles of pleasure. Pixar has come to specialize in animated masterworks, from "Toy Story" through "Finding Nemo," "The Incredibles" and the peerless "WALL-E." But even among the company's roster of magical hits, "Up," which opened this year's Cannes Film Festival (a first for an animated feature), stands out. Will this be the animated film that finally earns a Best Picture Oscar nomination (instead of being shunted off into the animation ghetto)? No one who sees the picture is likely to bet against the possibility.

Don't miss Kurt Loder's reviews of "Drag Me to Hell" and "Big Man Japan," also new in theaters this weekend.

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Check out everything we've got on "Up." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Will Ferrell And Danny McBride Give Andy Samberg Hosting Advice

Will Ferrell is an MTV Movie Awards veteran, and his friend and fast-rising Hollywood newcomer, Danny McBride, learned the ropes last year. Now, the comedic duo are offering their words of advice to this year's host, Andy Samberg.

"Number one," Will Ferrell began, "I hope he's sober."

"That is going to be his biggest obstacle," grinned McBride, the "Pineapple Express" star who is nominated for "Best Fight" alongside James Franco and Seth Rogen.

"That's going to be his biggest challenge — performing sober," Ferrell explained of his fellow "Saturday Night Live" breakout. "I'm just excited. I'm excited to see what Andy's going to bring to the table. He's a sharp, funny guy with beautiful hair. Has there been a host recently who's had as good of hair as Samberg?"

"I don't think so," McBride agreed, perhaps dissing the 'do's of Mike Myers, Jimmy Fallon and Lindsay Lohan. "No way."

"Probably not," said Ferrell, who stars with McBride in "Land of the Lost," due June 5. "I think he's gonna be the new Hugh Jackman of the MTV Movie Awards."

"Yup," McBride said of Jackman, whose song-and-dance stylings elevated the Oscars to new highs recently. "That's safe to say."

According to Ferrell, every MTV Movie Awards is a spectacular event. And to make sure he remembers them all, he always takes home a souvenir.

"I've enjoyed myself by making sure that I take a piece of the show with me," the "Anchorman" star revealed. "Like a memory. Or, literally, someone's wallet."

"A chair?" McBride suggested.

"Yes," Ferrell replied, considering his options. "A chair, maybe."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

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

MTV Movie Awards Stage Is Controlled 'Chaos,' Set Designer Says

UNIVERSAL CITY, California — Every year, an inanimate (but vital) element of the MTV Movie Awards makes its debut: the stage. This year, it's a combination of lights, screens and statues that all hold little surprises to keep the audience interested.

"Inspiration varies year by year, whatever is in the air," set designer Anton Goss told MTV News while the set was still being pieced together in the Gibson Amphitheatre. "It's different and creative in that way."

And this year, havoc was in the air. The stage — including many of the screens and set pieces on wheels so they can be easily moved around — is an organized mess that includes a tower made of bondage bracelets. "I designed it perfect, and then I started breaking elements," he explained. "Many things are out of place and creating a little bit of chaos. ... This year was a great year. We got to shake things up."

Those shaken things include certain set pieces designed with host Andy Samberg in mind. Although Goss said the show is "really organic" when it comes to the planning stages and thinking up ideas for the look of the show, he does admit that there are aspects that are tailored for Samberg's sense of comedy. One of those aspects is a hidden door featured in a TV-head statue on the stage.

"In one of these guys, it's got a door so he can do the old-time gag where he [enters the stage] through the man," he said. "That's a great comedic host entrance that's specific to Andy."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

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

Diddy, Russell Brand Offer Andy Samberg Sage Advice For Movie Awards

Since Dennis Miller emceed the inaugural MTV Movie Awards in 1992, "Saturday Night Live" has proven to be a fertile breeding ground for our awards-show hosts. "SNL" vets like Eddie Murphy, Jimmy Fallon and Mike Myers have since captained the Movie Awards, and this Sunday, May 31, at 9 p.m., Andy Samberg will assume hosting duties for the first time.

With just days to go until the big night, two men who have themselves quarterbacked MTV awards shows — "Get Him to the Greek" co-stars Russell Brand and Sean "Diddy" Combs — dealt out some wise words for Samberg heading into Sunday's action.

"Do not criticize George W. Bush," Brand, who hosted last year's VMAs, told MTV News. "You will receive death threats. Do not jokingly criticize the Jonas Brothers. You will receive less-threatening death threats."

During last September's show, Brand poked fun at the JoBros for their purity rings and abstinence pledges and aimed several barbs at then-president Bush. During our conversation, Brand was quick to make clear that he had absolutely nothing again the Jonases, calling them "lovely" and saying the band has forgiven him for the jokes.

Quashed JoBros beef notwithstanding, the British comedian still cautioned Samberg to avoid any sort of gesture that might elicit a death threat. "There's nothing worse than opening a letter and then seeing in it is a death threat," he said. "You think, 'Hold on a minute. I wasn't looking forward to the letter particularly. Now I fear death.' Ruins a perfectly good read."

And what sage advice might 2005 VMA host Diddy have for Samberg? "I would recommend Mr. Samberg just get drunk, throw away the script and have a good time," Diddy told MTV News. "If I could do it all over again, I would just be as drunk as I could be, and I wouldn't pay attention to the teleprompter. I would just have a great time."

In a nod to successful "SNL" hosts past, Diddy added, "[An MTV Awards show is] definitely one of the hardest stages in the world to host, and I think he'll do a great job, because he's been on probably the hardest stage in the entire world, 'Saturday Night Live.' "

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

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

Kristen Stewart, Angelina Jolie Lead The Pack For Best Female Performance

What happens when you take five women who gave five very different performances in five very different movies? Well, you get the five ladies nominated for Best Female Performance at this year's MTV Movie Awards.

Angelina Jolie brought the action with her role in "Wanted,"Anne Hathaway used her comedy chops to get nominated in "Bride Wars," and the drama queens — Kristin Stewart in "Twilight,"Kate Winslet in "The Reader" and Taraji P. Henson in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" — are all going head to head to try and secure themselves a trophy.

With an overwhelmingly strong Twilighter fanbase, it seems likely that Stewart will take home the prize come Sunday. But don't count out the fanboys who thought Jolie was the hottest femme fatale to grace the big screen since Uma Thurman in "Pulp Fiction."

Although no one can be ruled out just yet, it seems less likely that Winslet will win for her role in the post-WWII drama "The Reader." And Hathaway might have been funny in "Bride Wars" battling Kate Hudson for her dream wedding, but the competition is stiff. Finally, Henson was nominated for an Oscar for her role in "Benjamin Button," but with Stewart and Jolie as the front-runners, she'll have a tough road.

Although it feels like Stewart was born to play Bella, the actress actually wasn't very familiar with the story until she was cast. "I read the script before I read the book, and I accepted the part before I read the book," she told MTV News. "I read the script, did the audition, got the part, then read the book, and the script is a very cleverly condensed version."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

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

Heath Ledger's Joker, Derek Mears' Jason Battle For Best Villain At Movie Awards

You can keep your namby-pamby heroes, with their chiseled jaws, steely blue eyes and frost-tipped hairdos. The rest of us prefer to root for villains — those devious, cackling, bloodthirsty beings who exist solely to take over the world and ruin the good guy's day in the process.

Once again, the MTV Movie Awards offers fans the rare opportunity to recognize the best of the worst, bringing you an evil-packed Best Villain category filled with homicidal madmen, comical-but-deadly double-agents and a killer clown from Gotham City. Make sure to cast your vote, and then tune in Sunday evening at 9 p.m. ET to watch the winner live. But first, read on as we handicap the competition.

Who's the Favorite?

We'll give you a hint: He's white and red and carries nothing in his pockets but knives and lint. Ever since the buzz began building on "The Dark Knight" set that Heath Ledger was on to something truly unique, Batman's archenemy took on a significance that the actor unfortunately never lived to see blossom — $500 million at the box office, a Golden Globe and Oscar, and so much love for Ledger's final performance that it left fans asking "Jack who ?" With that unique mix of box-office and critical success, it's hard to imagine that — come Sunday night — the Joker won't be smiling.

Who's the Underdog?

If anybody can upset Ledger, it might just be Derek Mears as Jason Voorhees in the recent "Friday the 13th" reboot. In the eyes of horror fans worldwide, there's no greater villain than the hockey-masked madman, and even though the movie was Mears' first time wielding the machete, Jason now has 12 (!) movies worth of mayhem. That's a lot of villainy — so don't be surprised if Sunday's last laugh is had by a guy who doesn't talk.

Inside Scoop

» Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's charming-but-deadly Agent 23 was one of the few characters in "Get Smart" not adapted from the classic 1965-1970 TV show on which it was based. The Rock similarly played a hero-with-a-secret in 2005's "Doom."

» Luke Goss is no stranger to dysfunctional families. In "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," his evildoer is an estranged son who murders his king father and then watches as the man is petrified in death. In 2002's "Blade II," Goss similarly killed his father-figure vampire. Guillermo del Toro directed both films.

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

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

'Get Him To The Greek' Star Russell Brand Resurrects His Rock Star

LAS VEGAS — Simply on the basis of Aldous Snow's ludicrous, let's-all-get-along music video in last year's "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," the lascivious British pop singer deserved his own movie: He pops off satirical lyrics like "If I was in government, then I'd government things much more differentlier," while making out with disarmed police officers and humping nuns.

The folks behind "Sarah Marshall" agreed and now Russell Brand, the man who so gleefully portrayed the recovering addict and helpless womanizer Snow, has begun shooting the spin-off "Get Him to the Greek," in which Snow must travel from London to Los Angeles to perform a concert. The only problem is that he's fallen off the wagon, so his record label ends up sending a recent college grad (Jonah Hill) to escort the drug-addled Snow to the concert.

"I play the part of him!" Brand exclaimed to MTV News on the Las Vegas set of "Greek." "I'll be back on drugs. Not the character — me, Russell Brand, the actor. When I'm on drugs, oh, I can come up with some good acting! No, not really, drugs are bad — won't be on drugs! But Aldous Snow will be on drugs, making him erratic and amusing!"

As in "Sarah Marshall," much of that amusement will stem from Snow's ridiculously feel-good songs. Brand will actually be recording an entire album's worth of material, including a song called "African Child." "A haunting ballad of the troubles of that continent," he explained.

Joining Brand and Hill in "Greek" will be Sean "Diddy" Combs in his first comedic role since 2001's "Made." "Hopefully I will be a surprise within the recipe," Combs said.

He plays the eccentric owner of the label to which Snow is signed. To capture the nuances of the character, Combs said he pulled from record execs like Russell Simmons, Lyor Cohen, Jimmy Iovine, L.A. Reid and David Geffen.

On the day MTV visited the set, Combs, Hill and Brand were busy shooting a scene in a Las Vegas nightclub, during which the cast was surrounded by a bevy of attractive young women. And Brand wasn't very happy about it.

"I don't really like it," he confessed. "Imagine being told you're not allowed to eat and then being forced to walk around a supermarket and then filmed while you're in that supermarket — silly and unnecessary to do that. I like to look at pretty women, but I'd like that to be the beginning of a romance rather than the beginning of 10 hours of looking at them."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Check out everything we've got on "Get Him to the Greek."

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

'Terminator Salvation' Stars Answer Your Burning Questions

Are you ready for a sneak peek at tomorrow's blockbusters today? Check out our new series "Behind the Screen" Sunday night at 11 p.m. on MTV for the broadcast premiere of the "Brьno" trailer, an exclusive clip of Brad Pitt in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds," the very first visit to the set of Russell Brand's "Get Him to the Greek" and much more!

Whether you're a casual viewer or someone so hard-core that you've got an Arnold catchphrase tattooed across your "I'll Be" back, the "Terminator" franchise can get pretty confusing. With millions of soon-to-be-harvested humans having now seen "Salvation," we took some of their burning (and spoiler-heavy!) questions straight to the stars.

Q: In "Salvation," was John Connor aware that time travel would someday exist? Was he just waiting around for it?

Christian Bale: Yes, it hasn't been invented in this movie, so it can't be utilized yet. He knows entirely that there's a bizarre situation where he knows Kyle Reese — who is a teenager but who is his father — and that he'll have to send him back in time. But Kyle Reese is not aware of that.

Q: Skynet made Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) so he thinks he's human, and there are huge strategic benefits to that. So why didn't they do the same with such future models as the T-800 and the T-1000?

McG: The reason they made Marcus the way they made him is because they wanted to keep enough humanity intact for him to be an infiltration unit. He's not necessarily a "Terminator." It's almost as if Skynet had a big gun theory: Let's throw a T-800 at him; didn't work. T-1000 liquid metal? Came up short. T-X, the girl who can adjust her cup size? Still didn't work. So, they've thought in a revolutionary capacity, which is articulated by the Serena (Helena Bonham Carter) character that will lure him in by using trust — the most human out of all human characteristics. Marcus was never there to overtly kill — he was there to infiltrate.

Q: If Marcus Wright is such a threat to the Resistance, why didn't Kyle Reese warn Sarah to tell John to watch out for him when he went back in time in the first "Terminator"?

Anton Yelchin: When Connor sent Kyle back, that was a world in which Kyle wasn't Connor's father. So when he sent him back, it then started this chain of the Connor that you have in [all the sequels] where Kyle Reese is his father — it'll be interesting how they tackle that [in future sequels] if we ever get to a point we have to send [Kyle] back.

Q: If the purpose of a Moto-Terminator is to bring stray humans back to the Harvester, how does it do that? Does it have arms that we just aren't seeing?

McG: There's a mechanism built into the Moto-Terminator that is something that's almost catapult-like in nature, designed to use the actual weight of the machine itself to haul that which it is pursuing until the Harvester can come and collect it. Then [the humans] will be placed into transport and taken back to a Skynet facility where they'll be doing nasty testing on our stem cells — in the interest of creating tissue that can live in a titanium chassis.

Q: Why can't John tell Kyle Reese that he'll someday become his father? Would that knowledge change their future or something?

Christian Bale: Exactly, exactly. [Reese] shouldn't know that — there's no benefit to him knowing that.

Q: Over the last few months, we've heard a lot of "Salvation" talk from actor Terry Crews, but he's not in the film. Where'd he go?

McG: He's there; he's just got a bullet in his head. He's lying there dead at the top of the [movie]. There was a beat where he interfaced with John Connor, going into the foxhole. It was designed to be a misdirect [with Crews saying] — "Are you Connor? The John Connor? The one who was supposed to do this, that and the other?" And you would realize, "Wow, Connor is now leading this mission." But ultimately I felt that it was slowing down the opening thrust of the film. That Terry scene will be on the DVD.

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Check out everything we've got on "Terminator Salvation."

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

'90210' Star AnnaLynne McCord Explains Why She Passed On 'New Moon'

Back in February, when the cast of "New Moon" was very much in flux, there were reports that "90210" star AnnaLynne McCord might be joining the cast. And at the time she was both very eager to join Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, and also deep in negotiations.

"We are in negotiations," she said of her talks with "New Moon" filmmaker Chris Weitz and his team. "It's definitely something I would love to do; as most people know, I am obsessed with vampires. I'm a true-blood 'Twilight' fan all the way. ... There's some scheduling conflicts, and we're trying to work that out now," she explained. "We'll see what happens with it, but hopefully — fingers crossed — it'll smooth over and we'll be able to work it out."

But cut to May, and McCord will not be appearing in the film. It turns out that in the process of negotiating a part in the film, she eventually made the decision to drop out. "There was scheduling conflicts and I really just needed a break," she told MTV News on Thursday. "I worked two years, I came straight off 'Nip/Tuck' and on to '90210' and it's wonderful to work, but I needed some R&R."

 

McCord, who described herself as a "hard-core" fan of the series, said that although she decided to pass on "New Moon," that doesn't mean she didn't want to do the film.

"I was [upset] 'cause I really love the film, all of them, the books and everything and I have a lot of friends on the movies," she said. "But in the end, I got to go to Europe for two months ... so I can't say that I'm too pissed."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."

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

'Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian': Full House, By Kurt Loder

Having missed the first "Night at the Museum" movie — willfully, I'm afraid — I was surprised by how funny and well-made the sequel is, especially for a "family film." "Battle of the Smithsonian" is packed with set-piece scenes of a sometimes uproarious nature and intricately constructed digital action sequences. (In fact, truth be told, the movie has a little too much going on.) And the star, Ben Stiller, who doesn't always rub everybody the right way, is shrewdly positioned here: Apart from a few snappy spotlight moments (a mad verbal wrangle with Jonah Hill as a dim museum guard, and a Three Stooges-style slap-down with a couple of monkeys), Stiller generally — and generously — functions as a traffic cop amid a swarm of sharp comics, including Amy Adams at her most adorable and the great Hank Azaria at the top of his game.

The movie, once again directed by Shawn Levy, is set two years after the events of the first film, in which, as those who saw it will recall and those who didn't can Google, Stiller's Larry Daley took a job as a night guard at New York's American Museum of Natural History and discovered that an Egyptian artifact called the Tablet of Ahkmenrah was bringing all the exhibits to life after hours. In "Battle of the Smithsonian," Larry has become an infomercial star peddling such late-night schlock as super-big dog bones and unlosable key rings on TV. During a sentimental visit to the museum, however, he discovers that the place is being hyper-modernized — it's going interactive and virtual and whatnot — and that all of its musty old real-world treasures are being shipped to Washington, D.C., to be consigned to deep storage at the Smithsonian Institution. Since some of these unwanted items — like the miniature Roman noble Octavius (Steve Coogan) and cowboy figurine Jedediah (Owen Wilson) — are old friends, Larry is alarmed. And when he learns after the relocation that the Tablet has gone missing, he flies down to the capital to help avert a supernatural crisis.

Briefly, a lisping Smithsonian pharaoh called Kahmunrah (Azaria, brilliantly channeling Boris Karloff), is determined to find the misplaced Tablet and use it to "unlock the gates of the Underworld." To assist him in this nefarious mission, he has recruited a wildly unlikely crew of historical henchmen: Ivan the Terrible (reliably deadpan Christopher Guest), Napoleon (Alain Chabat, approximating Peter Sellers) and Al Capone (Jon Bernthal, hulking through the film in glorious black-and-white). Upon arriving, Larry faces off against these characters with his own team, which includes Octavius and Jedediah, a living bust of Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), life-size Indian-fighter George Armstrong Custer (Bill Hader) and a capuchin monkey who may also be a holdover from the first film, although with simian performers it's hard to tell. Also weighing in on the action are Attila the Hun, Darth Vader, Oscar the Grouch, a pack of bobblehead Albert Einstein dolls and the very large president seated in the Lincoln Memorial. (I'm leaving out an Indian scout, a puppyish T. Rex, a giant kissing octopus and a dancing Jeff Koons sculpture, among several other things.)

Larry's key ally, though, is pioneer aviator Amelia Earhart, played by Adams with perky bobbed hair and a sassy attitude straight out of '30s comedy classics. ("You haven't been able to take your cheaters off my chassis since we met," she tells Larry, who does indeed think she's pretty swell.) Adams brings an irresistible fizz to every scene she's in, and the sequence in which she and Larry pilot a vintage plane up into the starry night sky over Washington is CGI at its most expansively romantic.

The picture is so crammed with characters that a number of them get lost amid the hubbub. Ricky Gervais, returning as Larry's ex-boss at the New York museum, is little more than a plot blip; Wilson and Coogan don't have a whole lot to do, either; and Christopher Guest, starved of good lines, is uncharacteristically un-hilarious. But the script, once again written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, is so sharp it hardly matters. It's very funny when Larry, temporarily trapped inside a famous black-and-white photograph from World War II, whips out his cell phone and says, "Wow, four bars in 1945!" But when Amelia helps extract him from the picture and then tops him with, "If it weren't for me, you'd still be locked in that monochromatic mayhem," it's screwball heaven.

Don't miss Kurt Loder's reviews of "Terminator Salvation" and "The Girlfriend Experience," also opening this week.

Check out everything we've got on "The Girlfriend Experience."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

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

Zac Efron To Present Generation Award To Ben Stiller At MTV Movie Awards

"High School Musical" and "17 Again" star Zac Efron will present Ben Stiller with the Generation Award at the MTV Movie Awards next weekend, it was confirmed on Friday (May 22). Stiller was announced as recipient of the Generation Award on Friday.

Stiller course, has portrayed some of the most memorable comic creations of the last 20 years: oblivious male model Derek Zoolander, who can only turn right ("I'm not an ambi-turner!" he explained) and spent years perfecting his astonishing "Magnum" pose; perpetually aggrieved and unfortunately named Gaylord Focker, who claimed he could milk a cat but probably not Robert De Niro; and last year's "Tropic Thunder" star Tugg Speedman, the self-absorbed action star trying, and spectacularly failing, to be taken seriously as an actor.

Stiller has also been nominated in the brand-new MTV Movie Awards category Best WTF Moment, based on one particularly gruesome, and hilarious, "Thunder" scene in which he tastes the decapitated head of Steve Coogan's character.

"I am honored to be getting the Generation Award," Stiller said. "I was given my first show at MTV and also canceled for the first time. I also was secretly having an affair with J.J. Jackson, so it brings back pleasant memories."

"From 'The Royal Tenenbaums' to 'Zoolander,' Ben is a comedic chameleon, able to make the leap between drama and full-out comedy while maintaining his own unique brand of subversive humor," said Van Toffler, President of MTV Networks Music/Logo/Film Group.  "That versatility and talent has earned him legions of devoted fans over the years, which makes him a perfect recipient for the MTV Generation Award. Whether it's fighting a monkey in a museum or licking a decapitated head, nothing is ever off-limits for him and that's the type of warped creative vision and commitment MTV loves to reward."

Past recipients of the Generation Award include Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, Tom Cruise and Jim Carrey.

Are you ready for a sneak peek at tomorrow's blockbusters today? Check out our new series "Behind the Screen" Sunday night at 11 p.m. on MTV for the broadcast premiere of the "Brьno" trailer, an exclusive clip of Brad Pitt in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds," the very first visit to the set of Russell Brand's "Get Him to the Greek" and much more!

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

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

'Terminator' Hopes For Same Salvation As Batman, Bond And 'Trek'

BEVERLY HILLS, California — Batman. "Star Trek." James Bond. The Terminator.

Only a half-decade ago, all four franchises had fallen on dark days. Fans were lamenting the latest movie in each series, critics were wondering how low the once-proud characters could fall, and the haters were dancing on their graves. Then a new generation of talents with names like J.J. Abrams, Daniel Craig and Christian Bale came along.

"I came to be convinced, with both of them," explained Bale, the new geek-boy messiah who follows up his recent Batman resurrection by playing John Connor in the rebooted "Terminator Salvation" this weekend.

"With 'Batman [Begins],' it was initially my introduction to some of the graphic novels and seeing them and thinking, 'Why hasn't this been put on film?' " he explained. "With this, I had no notion that there would ever be another 'Terminator' movie, and wasn't excited about it when I first got the letter saying, 'How about it?' I said no; I felt that the mythology was done. But then, through conversations and me going away by myself and thinking about it, I came to think, 'OK.' "

"They're both really different, and obviously they're both quite iconic," reasoned Anton Yelchin, another new-generation savior who follows up his work as Chekov in the "Star Trek" relaunch by playing Kyle Reese in "Salvation." "I'd say the pressure going in [to both 'Trek' and 'Terminator'] was the same. It's just the challenge of taking on an iconic film, and trying to not improve upon the original but make a sequel that will work well with the original."

In a strange way, "Salvation" serves as an unlikely epicenter for these four mega-franchises, as newcomer Sam Worthington was one of the finalists to play James Bond. Now he's caught up in a war between man and machine — something he'd admittedly be horrible at in real life. "I am absolutely inept with machines," the 32-year-old Aussie grinned. "I can barely handle a mobile phone."

Will these franchises live forever? And what, exactly, makes fans want to see Batman (seven movies), Star Trek (11), Bond (22) and Terminator (four) rescued again and again?

"These are the films that touched my life," explained McG, the "Charlie's Angels" filmmaker who hopes to revive the man-vs.-robot franchise as effectively as Chris Nolan, Abrams and "Casino Royale" filmmaker Martin Campbell did with theirs. "I saw the first 'Terminator' picture and it scared the hell out of me. Then I saw the second one and it made me want to be a director."

"I felt like it was time for a new beginning," McG said of "Salvation," which uses its post-apocalyptic storyline to launch a new existence for the franchise with younger actors, much like Batman (origin prequel), Bond (origin prequel) and "Trek" (alternate universe origin story) recently did. "This is about the future war. And we've only ever got a tiny peek at that world. I thought it would be a really interesting place to start, and therefore worthy of a jumping-off point to tell a new 'Terminator' story — and begin again."

Check out everything we've got on "Terminator Salvation."

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

Amy Winehouse Documentary In The Works

Are you ready for a sneak peek at tomorrow's blockbusters today? Check out our new series "Behind the Screen" Sunday night at 11 p.m. on MTV for the broadcast premiere of the "Brьno" trailer, an exclusive clip of Brad Pitt in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds," the very first visit to the set of Russell Brand's "Get Him to the Greek" and much more!

Amy Winehouse will be the subject of a documentary tentatively titled "Saving Amy." The troubled singer is being profiled by Israeli-American interviewer Daphne Barak for the film, which will be released later this year, according to Winehouse's MySpace page.

"Amy and her family will be the subject of a new documentary later this year," the MySpace blog post reads. "[Barak's] subjects over the years have included celebrities, royalty, world leaders and international personalities. The journalist spent time with Amy and her family recently on St. Lucia, and in true honest to goodness Amy style, the doc will be a truthful and revealing look at her complicated life."

Barak's Web site features a photo of the journalist with Amy. In an interview with the U.K.'s Sunday Times, Barak recalled her time with Winehouse in St. Lucia and questioned whether Winehouse has really conquered her demons. She points out that Winehouse's hands frequently shake when she goes to do something.

"When the food arrives, she insists on serving us," Barak told the newspaper. "Because she is busy feeding us, no one seems to notice that she isn't eating; she is just pushing the food around her plate. I wonder, not for the last time, if she has truly overcome her anorexia."

Barak said Winehouse's father isn't sure she's stopped drinking either, since she mysteriously disappears throughout the night. "She is childlike in her need for affection, constantly coming up to hug us," she recalled. "Yet all through the evening, she keeps disappearing for a smoke or — as her father suspects — a drink."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

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

'Star Trek' Co-Star Chris Hemsworth Cast As 'Thor'

Are you ready for a sneak peek at tomorrow's blockbusters today? Check out our new series "Behind the Screen" Sunday night at 11 p.m. on MTV for the broadcast premiere of the "Brьno" trailer, the very first visit to the set of Russell Brand's "Get Him to the Greek" and much more!

The first breakout star from this month's blockbuster "Star Trek" reboot is an actor who only appears in the movie's first 10 minutes. Chris Hemsworth, who plays James T. Kirk's heroic but doomed father, has just been cast in the title role of director Kenneth Branagh's highly anticipated Marvel Comics adaptation, "Thor."

The big-budget film about the flying, hammer-wielding Norse god of thunder is set to film in August for a scheduled May 2011 release.

According to DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com, which first broke the news, Branagh and Marvel initially rejected the 25-year-old Hemsworth before giving him a second chance to read for the part. Other actors reportedly up for the role included Alexander Skarsgеrd ("Generation Kill"), Charlie Hunnam ("Sons of Anarchy") and Hemsworth's young brother Liam ("Knowing").

Josh Harnett (as the villain Loki) and Natalie Portman (as the female lead) are also rumored to be circling the comic book flick.

The "Thor" casting development is not the only recent good news for the Australian-born Hemsworth. He's also been cast in a lead role in "Red Dawn," an updated take on the 1984 Cold War thriller. In the new version, a group of small-town residents form a band of resistance fighters after China and Russia invade the United States. The film is slated for a September 2010 release.

At the moment, Hemsworth, a veteran of the Aussie TV series "Home and Away," is busy shooting Joss Whedon's horror movie "Cabin in the Woods."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Check out everything we've got on "Thor" and "Star Trek."

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

'Terminator Salvation' Director McG Blames Himself For Christian Bale Rant

Are you ready for a sneak peek at tomorrow's blockbusters today? Check out our new series "Behind the Screen" Sunday night at 11 p.m. on MTV for the broadcast premiere of the "Brьno" trailer, the very first visit to the set of Russell Brand's "Get Him to the Greek" and much more!

BEVERLY HILLS, California — It was the furious tirade that launched a thousand YouTube videos. And now, with "Terminator Salvation" finally hitting theaters this weekend, director McG is speaking out about the controversial F-bomb-filled rant that Christian Bale unleashed on the set of his sequel.

"Effectively, we were making a war movie," the filmmaker remembered of the tense day of shooting that caused his lead actor to erupt when director of photography Shane Hurlbut walked into his line of sight during a scene. "So if I have a scene where I'm trying to ramp my actor up to be credible while in a foxhole, fighting for his life, I want everybody's blood to be up."

The "Dark Knight" actor's tirade was caught on tape in July, while Bale was filming a scene as "Terminator" series star John Connor. Telling a tale of the post-Judgment Day savior taking on a new wave of unstoppable killing machines, Bale had been scheduled to spend the day battling a T-600 robot. When Hurlbut disrupted his concentration, reportedly for the second time, Bale called him an "amateur" and offered plenty of other choice nuggets that were leaked to the public and then spoofed on everything from "The Family Guy" to "Late Night With Conan O'Brien."

"Christian is a really fair human being, [but] he is an intense human being," McG explained of the audio, which erupted on the Internet in February. "I take responsibility for that leak, because it happened on my watch.

"I lead the way by having a big personality, having a strong opinion and being very vocal on the set," McG continued. "I'm trying to wind everybody up to a level of adrenaline that would correspond to a war situation — and if you take an element that's out of context from that moment and share it in the world, it's indeed misinterpreted. And that's simply all that was."

According to the director, Bale's rant was a behind-the-scenes peek at the intense state he puts himself into during such a scene and was a necessity for his "Terminator" performance. "It's my responsibility to always protect the actor to express himself in any way he sees fit in the spirit of the best performance possible," McG said. "So that's really my shortcoming."

McG also expressed concern that actors might now be inclined to hold back on movie sets, for fear that their own exposed intensity could similarly harm them. "That leak is indeed a black eye in the face of Hollywood," he said. "Because you don't want actors — or artists of any kind — thinking twice about the manner in which they choose to express themselves. You want them to feel free to go for it and succeed wildly or fail spectacularly and never have to worry about 'If I do this nude scene, is there going to be an uncharitable picture of me online?' "

As McG, Bale and others discuss more "Terminator" sequels, the director promises that his future sets will be more secure.

"You've gotta believe [a film crew] is a family. This is safe, and what I choose to do and expose myself physically, emotionally ... is indeed safe due to the sanctity of the film family," he said. "When that's violated, everybody loses. And it's a real bummer."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Check out everything we've got on "Terminator Salvation."

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

Nikki Reed Reveals Secrets From The Set Of 'New Moon'

Although you won't be seeing a lot of Nikki Reed or the rest of the Cullen clan in "Twilight" sequel "New Moon" when it opens this fall, Reed has stopped by the set enough times to know that fans are going to be psyched by what they'll see in theaters later this year.

"The Cullens aren't really in the second book and the studio was trying to stay true to the books," she told MTV News. "I was sort of surprised by the few scenes that I watched. I feel like they're gonna be great, and the movie as a whole will be wonderful and [director] Chris [Weitz] is doing an amazing job."

But the Cullens are in a very pivotal scene in both the book and the film. And Reed insists that when fans get to finally see Bella's now-infamous 18th-birthday scene, it will be the fact that they played it out in an understated way that will make all the difference.

"[There isn't] that much [blood], believe it or not," she said. "Unless they plan on adding stuff in on post [production]. But I think that's the whole point is that we don't need a massive amount of blood to get feisty."

With "New Moon" underway, plans are already being made for its follow-up, "Eclipse," and Reed has already had talks with its director, David Slade. "I met with him while I was there [on set]," she said. "I think he's going to be fantastic. Each film is going to get better and better. We've all figured out our characters and we're all just excited. We're making a fun series."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."

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

Steven Spielberg To Produce Martin Luther King Jr. Biopic

Over 40 years after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on a motel balcony in Memphis, Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks are getting set to produce a big screen biopic about the civil-rights leader's life, according to Variety.

To move forward with the picture, DreamWorks had to acquire King's life rights from his estate, because his speeches, books and other works were copyrighted while he was alive. The deal marks the first time that a film has been authorized by the estate. The film's producers will be able to utilize all of King's intellectual property, including his legendary "I Have a Dream" speech delivered at the August 1963 march on Washington and his final public address, "I've Been to the Mountaintop," delivered the day before he died.

"We are all honored that the King estate is giving us the opportunity to tell the story of these defining, historic events," Spielberg said. "It is our hope that the creative power of film and the impact of Dr. King's life can combine to present a story of undeniable power that we can all be proud of."

Martin' son, Dexter King, chairman and CEO of the King estate, said: The King estate is committed to working very closely with DreamWorks, [producers] Suzanne de Passe and Madison Jones to create the first major motion picture on the life of my father. We hope that this will be the definitive film on his life and legacy."

Spielberg has a long history of working with nonfictional material, including directing films about the Holocaust ("Schindler's List"), the American slave trade ("Amistad") and World War II ("Saving Private Ryan" and "Empire of the Sun"). No information was provided about a timetable for the MLK biopic.

'Angels & Demons' Cheat Sheet: We Decode 'Da Vinci Code' Sequel

Clues, riddles and puzzles — oh my!

Brainy Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) has been studying up on religious arcana and witty one-liners. In "Angels & Demons," the sequel to 2006's "The Da Vinci Code," Langdon arrives in Rome just after the pope has died and the papal-succession ritual has been disrupted because four key cardinals have been kidnapped. The Illuminati, an ancient enemy of the Catholic Church, claim responsibility and threaten to turn Vatican City to dust by detonating a stolen clump of experimental antimatter. It's up to Langdon to decipher archaic symbols, unlock long-buried secrets and avoid all manner of double-crossing evildoers before everything goes kablooey.

But relax! MTV News has done some code-breaking of our own and presents the official "Angels & Demons" Cheat Sheet — all the backstory, interviews, videos and inside info you'll need to follow Langdon at breakneck speed through churches, crypts and catacombs.

Remember the "Code"
A little-known author named Dan Brown published a book called "The Da Vinci Code" in 2003, and it went on to dominate the New York Times bestseller list for the next two years. As far back as 2004, MTV News had its eye on the movie adaptation, reporting that Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard were in talks to join the action.

The film hit theaters in 2006 and followed Langdon as he scampered from a murder investigation in Paris' Louvre to a quest to crack the riddles in Da Vinci's paintings. He ended up in the middle of a centuries' old Christian conspiracy involving luminaries like Isaac Newton and the existence of a present-day bloodline from Christ himself. The international all-star cast included Audrey Tautou ("Amelie"), Ian McKellen ("The Lord of the Rings" trilogy), Alfred Molina ("Spider-Man 2"), Paul Bettany ("A Beautiful Mind") and Jean Reno ("Hotel Rwanda").

"Da Vinci Code" reeled in $77 million during its opening weekend and went on to gross more than $750 million worldwide.

Turning "Angels & Demons" Into a Sequel
Naturally, a sequel to the mega-blockbuster was a sure thing. The only problem was that Brown hadn't written another book yet. Luckily, he'd penned another Langdon thriller in 2000 called "Angels & Demons." Insert a couple of clever lines of dialogue, and presto! — "A&D" became a sequel to "Code," rather than the other way around.

Late last year, we spoke to screenwriter David Koepp about his work on the adaptation. "What's interesting is now [Langdon's] not a new character to us, we've met him before," Koepp said. "And what I was thinking going into it is he's now like Sherlock Holmes; this is a detective — in this case of history and literature, science and art — who they come to with these impossible-to-solve mysteries, which he solves using his erudition. And I thought that was really fun."

Recently, Hanks told us Langdon is a hero who relies on "synapses in the brain as opposed to reflexes in the muscle." Still, he's confident the symbologist could take down Holmes — as well as other iconic big-screen adventurers — in a fight.

The Stars
In May 2007, almost exactly a year after "Code" came out, Hanks and Howard entered final negotiations to reprise their respective roles in "A&D." Once they signed on, the rest of the cast began to gather: Ewan McGregor as the deceased Pope's right-hand man, Stellan Skarsgеrd as commander of the pope-protecting Swiss Guard and Ayelet Zurer as a brilliant antimatter researcher.

The Spectacle
For the film's worldwide premiere, Hanks, Howard and the rest of the core cast traveled to Rome. "Code" had encountered criticism from the Catholic Church, and this time around, a studio-sponsored event was scuttled by the Vatican-owned property at which it was set to take place.

The Visions
The first peeks at anything "A&D"-related began to trickle out last year, and in June, MTV News revealed the film's poster. Since then, we've debuted heart-pounding clips set in the secretive Vatican archives, the Sistine Chapel and other memorable Roman sites.

The Future
Last month, Brown's publisher announced that a third Langdon book, "The Lost Symbol," would hit bookshelves in September. Could a third Langdon film be far behind? Not so fast, Howard told us recently. "Dan [Brown] is a fantastic guy and a great conversationalist, until you ask him about the next Robert Langdon book," he said. "I don't know any more than anyone that's checked on the Internet!"

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Check out everything we've got on "Angels & Demons."

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'Angels & Demons': Talk Show, By Kurt Loder

The hardest thing about wrestling a Dan Brown novel into submission for movie purposes would have to be the endless wads of undigested explication that clog the author's narratives. Brown and his reclusive wife/research assistant, Blythe, appear never to have encountered an arcane factoid they could resist cramming into one of his tales. It needn't even be factual. (Their inaccuracies have been widely derided.) The result of this book-crafting strategy has been to give Brown's wooden characters far too many things to explain and to instruct us in. This was already a problem for director Ron Howard in his film version of "The Da Vinci Code" three years ago. Now, taking a whack at "Angels & Demons" — the Brown book that preceded "Da Vinci," but has been extensively revised into a sequel here — Howard has thrown up his hands and gone native. Impatient viewers may want to go home.

Tom Hanks is back, minus the mullet under which he wandered through "Da Vinci," as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon. And once again he's teamed with a female sidekick — this time a "bio-entanglement physicist" (an actual career path, wonderfully enough) named Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer). Like Langdon, Vittoria is a stick figure whose sole purpose ( no chemistry, please! ) is to stir the vats of esoteric Brownian blather. She spends most of her time listening to Langdon say things like, "It's the ancient Illuminati threat!" Occasionally, though, she gets to inject some big science into the proceedings herself, causing Langdon to make superfluous comments like, "You're talking about the moment of creation!" There's more to the movie, it must be said; but mainly it's more of that.

Langdon has been summoned to Rome by the Vatican, which is having a terribly bad day. With the pope recently deceased, the Church has gathered its cardinals from around the world to elect from among themselves a successor. But the four frontrunners — the preferiti — have been kidnapped, and word has been received that one of these hostages will be killed at the top of each hour in a countdown to midnight, when the entire Vatican will be blown up by a single drop of antimatter stolen from CERN, the big physics research center near Geneva. (In his book, Brown offers an earnest explanation of antimatter which, unfortunately, has been dismissed as largely fantasy by CERN itself. So the antimatter we're dealing with in the movie is essentially just some pretty nasty stuff, and let's move on.)

The outlandish conspiracy has definite Bondian overtones — you half expect to see a cutaway of Auric Goldfinger cruising down the Via Veneto in his gold-laden Rolls, checking his watch and chuckling in homicidal anticipation. But no. Langdon knows what's going on here — it's the return of the science-loving Illuminati, sworn enemies of religious superstition for centuries, now making their most gleeful move. The only way to stop them is to uncover the Path of Illumination, a sort of obstacle course that wends its way through four Roman landmarks, at each of which a cardinal is to be sacrificed in some highly colorful way related to the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. As the hours tick down in onscreen updates, Langdon and Vittoria scurry from one of these sites to the next, littering the streets with thick clots of professorial discourse about art and architecture and suchlike, some of it true. Meanwhile, even more stuff is being explained back at the Vatican, where the late pope's chamberlain (Ewan McGregor) is trying to hold down the fort until a new pontiff can be elected, and a harried head cardinal (Armin Mueller-Stahl) is having the devil's own time getting that done, and the chief of Vatican security (Stellan Skarsgеrd) is proving mysteriously uninclined to evacuate the place.

Brown's familiar hostility to the Roman Catholic Church is too reflexive to be of much concern to serious-minded believers, I'd think. However, it's interesting to note that the filmmakers have been careful to change the ethnicity of the killer. In the book, he's an Arab; here he's a garden-variety European. This suggests an unspoken awareness that while there are some faiths you can push around with impunity, there are others you'd be wise not to annoy. Hollywood's celebrated political boldness is clearly not unbounded.

The whole story is hokum, of course (especially the elaborate nonsense about the Illuminati). But then so are the plots of the Indiana Jones movies. Those pictures, though, have an exuberant pulp spirit — they're fun. "Angels & Demons" is humorless, and way too talky. And it leaves Hanks, one of the most likable actors in movies, stranded, unable to use his skill and his warmth to turn the one-dimensional Langdon into an actual character — he's too busy trying to keep us clued in to what's going on to do much more than breathlessly hoof it from one picturesque tourist site to the next.

Some of the cardinals are dispatched in arresting ways (human barbeque is something we don't get nearly enough of anymore); a lethal confrontation between Langdon and the shadowy killer at a Bernini fountain is rousingly (if implausibly) constructed; and the shot in which we see rats chewing off somebody's face is pretty memorable, too. If only there were room for more such cinematic inventions — for more real action, more high spirits. If only, in short, the movie would shut up.

Don't miss Kurt Loder's review of "The Brothers Bloom," also new in theaters this week.

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Check out everything we've got on "Angels & Demons."

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

'Star Trek' Director Open To Sequel With William Shatner Or Khan

After last weekend's $76.5 million opening, three phrases keep getting tossed in the direction of "Star Trek" director J.J. Abrams: sequel, Khan, and William Shatner.

On Friday, as the filmmaker hoped to maintain momentum heading into his second weekend, Abrams told MTV News that he's open to all three.

"The fun of this [new alternate 'Trek' reality] is that the destiny of these characters is in their hands — it's not constrained by the pre-existing films or TV series," the "Lost" mastermind explained. "Believe me, whether it's William Shatner or Khan ... it would be ridiculous to not be open to those ideas."

As those who've seen the film know, Abrams' new "Star Trek" establishes an alternate timeline for the series' key characters — one that veers off course when the USS Kelvin is attacked in the film's opening scene, killing James T. Kirk's father and causing the future Enterprise captain to be born in space. Other events in the film also similarly impact the young "Trek" characters, resulting in wholly new story lines.

"One of the reasons we wanted to break with the original 'Star Trek' timeline was it felt restrictive," Abrams said of the plot device that could conceivably fuel the venerable series for another five decades. "The idea, now that we are in an independent timeline, allows us to use any of the ingredients from the past — or come up with brand-new ones — to make potential stories."

One buzzed-about ingredient is Khan Noonien Singh — arguably the most memorable villain ever to inhabit the "Trek" series — whom Kirk banished to a barren world in an old story line. Writer/producers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have stated their hope of bringing Khan into the "Star Trek" sequel — and Abrams told us that in his universe, the superhuman tyrant may never have been stuck on Ceti Alpha V.

"It'll be fun to hear what Alex and Bob are thinking about Khan," Abrams said of their impending meetings to discuss sequel plotlines. "The fun of this timeline is arguing that different stories, with the same characters, could be equally if not more compelling than what's been told before."

"[Khan and Kirk] exist — and while their history may not be exactly as people are familiar with, I would argue that a person's character is what it is," Abrams said of the notion that his Khan could be just as evil, even if Kirk never stranded him on Ceti Alpha V. "Certain people are destined to cross paths and come together, and Khan is out there ... even if he doesn't have the same issues."

Another intriguing possibility is that the door is seemingly open once again for a William Shatner appearance, since the writers have said that Chris Pine's Kirk won't die in the same manner as in the original franchise and could live to be older.

"I wouldn't rule out anything," Abrams said of a possible flash-forward that could make up for Shatner's near-miss inclusion in the new film. "The point of creating this independent timeline is to not have the restrictions we had coming into this one. And one of those restrictions was that Kirk was dead."

"But this all assumes that there's another story that's going to be told," Abrams cautioned, saying that there's a lot of work to be done before such ideas can be sorted out. "We're all still coming down from making this movie."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Check out everything we've got on "Star Trek."

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

Jonas Brothers Embark On Their Own British Invasion

Though we still don't agree with Lady Gaga that they're the new Beatles, it's no surprise that the Jonas Brothers get a big reception across the big pond. When Nick, Joe and Kevin went to London on Wednesday for the premiere of "The Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Experience," they were met by the usual gaggle of screaming teenage girls.

"We don't get to do this every day, but this is definitely crazy," Kevin said, while middle brother Joe added, "It's exciting. I think you don't know what to expect when you do this, and this is the highlight for us."

The boys, who took MTV News along on their whirlwind Theater Invasion Tour when the movie opened Stateside, reiterated the purpose of their concert film. " 'The Jonas Brothers Experience' is a movie we made for our fans," Kevin explained. "We wanted them to experience what it was like to go to a show and get the perspective of being onstage with us. We wanted to put as much of our personal life, as much of our onstage life in it as we could."

For many American JoBros fans, the big highlight of the film is one scene where the guys are caught shirtless. We can't imagine their British counterparts would disagree. "The thing is, we were in the midst of the show, so we were just continuing like a show," Nick explained of the scene. "So when we went backstage, we didn't realize they were there and we were changing ... we went, 'Oh, my gosh! Wow! We might want to get them out of here.' So it was in the moment."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Check out everything we've got on "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience."

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How Does Tom Hanks' Robert Langdon Fare Against Other Crime-Fighters?

Robert Langdon is primed for a second big-screen adventure in "Angels & Demons," the follow-up to 2006's "The Da Vinci Code," and now Tom Hanks, the man behind the brilliant Harvard symbologist, is taking stock of how the character compares to other legendary world-traveling crime-fighters.

Specifically, how would Langdon fare in an imaginary — though geektastically awesome — fight involving Indiana Jones, James Bond and Sherlock Holmes? "I'd outsmart them," Hanks told MTV News while promoting the film in Rome. "I would utilize my knowledge of symbols in a way that would get them thinking I'm going to do something."

Doesn't sound terribly intimidating, or badass in the slightest, but Hanks reminds us what type of hero Langdon truly is. "He's not big on fistfights. Robert Langdon does not punch a guy out — he may run and try to do something. As a matter of fact, I believe he got punched out in the last movie. He got knocked cold. [Silas, the character played by] Paul Bettany sprung out of nowhere in a monk's robe and coldcocked Robert Langdon so much that it bonked his head against a bunch of library books and he was out, while the girl went and saved the day. What kind of action hero is this?"

So if Hanks' Langdon found himself in a no-holds-barred throwdown with other celebrated heroes, he'd have to come up with another plan of attack. "You know what I would do? I would let Indiana Jones and James Bond duke it out first, so one guy is going to be taken care of just like that. Then Sherlock Holmes and Indiana Jones would go at it, and Sherlock Holmes would outsmart Indiana Jones. So it'd just be me and Sherlock Holmes, and we would sit there and play chess. The winner would walk away the living, breathing survivor."

When it comes to his career, Hanks said, he's been satisfied to play characters that rely on "synapses in the brain as opposed to reflexes in the muscle."

Yet that attitude may be as much by choice as by design — he said he's never been offered a part as any kind of superhero. "I think it's got something to do with the physique and the nose," he said with a smile. "The voice might have something to do with it."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Check out everything we've got on "Angels & Demons."

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'Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen' Writers Talk Themes, Sequels

SANTA MONICA, California — As far as summer 2009 is concerned, the red-hot writing pair behind "Star Trek" aren't finished with us yet. Their second strike hits soon with the June 24 blockbuster "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," and these days the screenwriting duo are dreaming about further blurring the lines of pop-culture.

"I'd love to write a scene where Spock meets Optimus Prime," Alex Kurtzman laughed.

"I guess we did," his partner Roberto Orci revealed, making reference to the "Transformers" character who uses TV and radio signals to speak. "Because at one point we have Bumblebee [in the new film] using audio from 'Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan.' "

It's a sly follow-up to Bumblebee's sampling of "Trek" actress Nichelle Nichols in the original "Transformers" film — and one of many pop-culture touchstones the duo had in mind while constructing the eagerly anticipated film.

"We actually really hesitated on doing the sequel, because when the movie came out and was a success, there was a real mandate to get the movie out quickly — and we felt like we didn't have a story to tell yet," Kurtzman remembered of the second chapter in Michael Bay's robots-in-disguise franchise. "We didn't have a reason to do it that we connected to personally. So we took some time to think about what were the sequels that we loved, and why did we love them. 'The Empire Strikes Back,' 'Superman II,' 'Aliens,' 'Terminator 2' — all amazing movies ... 'Wrath of Khan,' what do those movies have in common?

"They stand on their own — you don't have to see anything that came before for that movie to be a great movie," he continued. "And there was always some massive emotional test that the lead character had to go through and come out the other side of."

And so, in "Fallen," Shia LaBeouf's Sam Witwicky undergoes a challenge similar to the adversities famously faced by Superman, Luke Skywalker, John Connor and Captain Kirk.

"The big themes of the movie have to do with leaving home," explained Kurtzman. "Shia is leaving home for the first time to go off to college, because he just wants to be a normal kid. The Autobots — because the Allspark was destroyed at the end of the first movie — have basically been stranded on Earth, so they are away from their home, and they may no longer be welcome here. ... Even though you might have a hero's calling, what are the consequences of not listening to that hero's calling?"

Another thing that films like "Khan," "Empire Strikes Back" and "Terminator 2" have in common is that the hero gets beaten up really, really badly. "The good guys get their asses kicked," Kurtzman agreed. "Superman gives up his powers for love, or Kirk loses Spock ... you need that darker idea that tests your hero, to really make the sequel sing."

But whereas "Empire" ends with Vader suggesting that he might be Luke's father and "Khan" concludes with the possibility that Spock may be dead, "Revenge of the Fallen" will break with those predecessors by not insisting that a third "Transformers" film be necessary.

"We wanted this movie to stand on its own — even though things are set up, it's not exactly a cliff-hanger," explained Orci. "You're going to get the whole movie."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Check out everything we've got on "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

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

Justin Guarini Still Hopes To Be On 'New Moon' Soundtrack

Long before rumors emerged that Kelly Clarkson may have a song on the "New Moon" soundtrack, fellow "American Idol" alum and "From Justin to Kelly" co-star Justin Guarini was launching a campaign to get his song "I Can't Live" on the album for "Twilight" sequel.

Believe it or not, Guarini insists that he's not just trying to bank on the success of the franchise. He says it's because he's a big "Twilight" fan. "I'm a fan of the books," Guarini told MTV News. "At the time I went in to write this song, the two other writers were talking about the books, and we got into a conversation about it. As we were writing it, we thought, there's a new movie coming out, and so why not give it a shot? And so, we sent it in."

Although Guarini's "New Moon" fate is still up in the air, he did say that the folks at the Chop Shop, the film's music supervisors, have told him they've given the song a listen and will let him know if he makes the cut as soon as the decision is made. Guarini said that's more than enough recognition for now. "I'm just happy they are considering it," said the TV Guide Channel host, who's currently working on his third full-length album. "It would be an honor to be on the soundtrack."

Guarini said that the response from Twilighters has been mixed, however. Some fans have been supportive, while others have been "dead set against it." "The reason why I posted the demo is because I really know that the 'Twilight' fans are really protective of the 'Twilight' brand," he said. "I really wanted to see what they had to say about the song, and I'm pleased and thankful that the response has been generally positive."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Check out everything we've got on "New Moon."

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