For her role as social worker Miss Weiss in the Academy Award-nominated film “Precious,” Mariah Carey underwent a drastic make-under, sporting a mustache, mousey tresses and dowdy clothes that left the otherwise-glamorous singer nearly unrecognizable.
But, as any red-carpet-watcher would expect, Carey was nothing short of stunning when MTV News caught up with her and husband Nick Cannon at the Academy Awards, where the two joked about getting dressed for the big night.
“Of course, she tells me what she’s going to wear, and I go pull something out of the laundry hamper and iron it and put it on,” Cannon joked. “But she’s fabulous.”
“He doesn’t hardly iron a thing,” Carey laughed.
“Yeah, I don’t know how to iron,” Cannon admitted. “I’m surprised this isn’t wrinkled now.”
Carey’s purple gown clearly didn’t come out of a dirty-clothes hamper, but instead of trying on a slew of dresses from different designers, Carey streamlined her wardrobe-selection process by working directly with Valentino.
“We worked with them and did a lot of different sketches and stuff. We just thought it would be a nice moment, a leg moment for a different thing,” Carey said, good-naturedly referencing her frequently exposed décolletage.
“What if I had my leg out?” Nick asked.
“You could start a new trend,” Carey said.
“What if I had a split from the top of my pants?”
“You do you, man,” she said. “That’s why I love you.”
On Sunday night at the Oscars, will you be pulling for “Avatar,” “The Hurt Locker” or another film? Do you want to see front-runners Sandra Bullock (“The Blind Side”) and Jeff Bridges (“Crazy Heart”) triumph in the lead actor and actress categories, or are you hoping for an upset? Making Oscar picks is part of the fun of Hollywood’s biggest night, and even celebs like to take part. Tops among many of the folks we’ve spoken to recently was James Cameron’s “Avatar.”
“Cameron is the truth!” said Nick Cannon.
” ‘Avatar’ was fantastic!” Ne-Yo gushed.
But when it comes to the Best Picture and Supporting Actress categories, Cannon is supporting “Precious,” a film in which his wife, Mariah Carey, happens to have a meaty role.
“I definitely want to see ‘Precious’ win,” he said. “I believe Mo’Nique is going to take it, definitely. And I was a fan of ‘Avatar.’ I still think ‘Precious’ was a better movie, but ‘Avatar’ was a movement.”
Ne-Yo, meanwhile, is pulling for “Inglourious Basterds” to win Best Picture. 2007 Oscar nominee Amy Ryan counts one “Inglourious” performance as deserving of a supporting actor win. “I love Christoph Waltz,” she said. “I don’t think he needs any more help. He’s doing quite fine. There are so many incredible performances this year. Mo’Nique blew me away. That was such a ferocious, brave performance.”
“True Blood” star Stephen Moyer’s pick for Best Actor is Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart.”
“He’s my favorite actor. I absolutely love him,” said Moyer, adding of “The Hurt Locker,” “I think Jeremy Renner’s brilliant as well. I thought that was a great performance.”
Meanwhile, “Twilight” vampire Kellan Lutz admitted he hasn’t been keeping an eye on the Oscar horserace. “I’m so taking a backseat to all that,” Lutz said. “I Tivo my Animal Planet and my ‘How It’s Made’ shows. For me, I don’t know what movies are up for Oscars.”
Justin Bieber went bowling for his birthday, and he goofed around with Drake and Ludacris at an alley in his music video for “Baby.” Now Nick Cannon wants to throw some strikes and spares with the Canadian teen sensation when he arrives in New York City to promote his new album, My World 2.0.
“Oh yeah! Justin Bieber and I are going bowling courtesy of my morning show,” Cannon told MTV News. Cannon announced the match, which takes place on My World 2.0’s release date of March 23, on Twitter. “His album comes out on March 23 and [so does the album by an] artist that I have signed, the School Gyrls. So we got a little competition, me and Bieber.”
And Cannon is more than willing to tease Bieber about his ability to roll in the run-up to the match. “Justin can’t bowl. I don’t know if you’ve seen his latest video, but his form is off. So I know I’m gonna win. So me and Justin [will go] head to head at the bowling alley. We’re just bringing out as many people from New York [to] Lucky Strike for a release party. Biebermania!”
Bieber may have his own mania, but Cannon is confident that he has the superior skill. “Of course I’m gonna win,” he said. “I’m athletic. Justin Bieber, he can sing and dance and all of that, but I think I got him in the blowing department.”
While Cannon may be dismissive of Bieber’s bowling technique, he does have many kind words for the teen sensation’s musical abilities. “I think he’s an amazing talent, and My World 2.0 is gonna be crazy! That dude is the truth,” he said. “I’ll tell you exclusively — the album is fire.”
Now that he’s TeenNick’s new chairman, Nick Cannon is calling the shots. First order of biz? His directorial debut—a peppy,pop-filled TV-movie about a girl group (which he also produces) of prep-school spitfires. We dialed up the multihyphenate impresario to discuss his many gigs…and, of course, the missus.
So how do you like being an exec? I’m loving it. I’m taking this network to many different levels. ow that I can get it out there, more people [finding] it. It’s really cool.
Where did the idea for this movie come from? From writing the School Gyrls album. We were thinking of video concepts for the song “Dentention,” and I thought there was something movielike about the song. Then I said, “Yo, why don’t we make one of those teen movies?”
You cast Justin Bieber, Soulja Boy and Kristina DeBarge in Gyrls…but not wife Mariah Carey? You know, she’s all thrugh it! Mariah actually helped me write the script…and wrote a couple of the songs. If you listen closely, she also sings backup in the last song.
And how is married life? it’s amazing, I wake up everyday and think, “OK, the dream is gonna end at some point.” [Laughs] We’re also developing a lot of stuff together, mostly for MTV. Children’s books, things like that.
Developing anything…lullaby related? We will get to that as soon as everything calms down. But trust me, it is in the forefront of our minds!
Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey certainly know how to keep it hot when they are alone. And, as it turns out, when these two plan out a Valentine’s Day they also know how to make it memorable. The only problem is: how they will they ever follow up last year’s scorcher?
“Last Valentine’s Day my wife and I …it was our first Valentine’s Day, so we were trying to outdo each other,” Nick told MTV News. “We were in a hotel room and I decided we were going to fill it up with balloons and all this fun tissue paper and stuff and she had the same idea.” (more…)
MTV News has already taken a look back at some of the oddest Grammy winners of all time, from former Soviet kingpin Mikhail Gorbachev to current White House top dog Barack Obama (not to mention schwing-tastic actress Tia Carrere). Now, with the 2010 awards just days away, it’s time to start looking toward this year’s show.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been asking artists who they think will win big, from perennial champs like Beyoncé to relative newcomers like Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga. Some were able to make choices, while others couldn’t decide between the talented women.
“It’s tough, because Beyoncé had a great, great year,” Mary J. Blige told us. “But Lady Gaga is Lady Gaga! But Taylor Swift — wow! That’s a tough one. I don’t know, but I wish all those ladies love.”
That was a sentiment echoed by many of the artists we spoke with, though in addition to praising Gaga and Beyoncé, John Legend pointed out, “There are a lot of country fans. Never underestimate the country fans.”
Nick Cannon, too, argued that the country star should have a big Grammy evening. “It’s Taylor Swift’s year,” he said. “Ev(more…)
In 2009, Justin Bieber vowed to leave the world with one less lonely girl and gave fans a taste of what his life is like with his platinum-selling album, My World. And in 2010 the teen sensation has no plans to slow it down.
In March he will release the follow-up to his debut, the aptly titled My World (Part II), before taking his act on the road, which is sure to cause girls everywhere to go into a state of constant screaming. And with the thumbs-up from Usher, a kiss of approval from Rihanna and a legion of devoted fans, it seems that Bieber will rule 2010.
“This year is gonna be all about Justin Bieber. He’s already become this phenomenon and it’s only gonna get bigger and bigger and bigger,” celebrity blogger Perez Hilton told MTV News. “It’s Bieber fever in 2010.”
Although there’s definitely some competition on the pop landscape from equally crushable guys like the Jonas Brothers, Nick Cannon points out that Bieber’s loyal fanbase recalls the boy-band heyday of the late ’90s.
“Justin Bieber’s definitely about to take the world by storm if he hasn’t already,” Cannon explained. “He’s filling a void that hasn’t been filled since the Backstreet Boys and ‘NSYNC and all of that stuff.”
Seven months ago, Nick Cannon said whenever he and wife Mariah Carey could manage to squeeze in some downtime, they would work on adding a little one to their family. But when he spoke to MTV News this week, Cannon said that although he and Carey will eventually have kids one day, it’s too tough of a task right now with their schedules.
“We absolutely plan to have a family,” he said. “But we gotta prioritize, because that’s a major, major priority. That’s like the only priority in life, when you think about it, is starting and raising a family. We wanna make sure everything is out of the way and that we don’t have any distractions.”
The two entertainers spend as much time as they can with each other, Cannon said, and when they aren’t together, he stops everything that he’s doing when his wife calls. She’s his first priority, Cannon said. The pair will celebrate their second anniversary in May.
Currently, though, Carey is touring in support of her most recent album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, and Cannon is busy hosting “America’s Got Talent” and green-lighting TV shows.
“She’s on tour right now, I’m doing a bunch of stuff, so eventually we want to be able to say, ‘It’s time to have a kid,’ and set everything up,” he said. “But we’re definitely moving toward [having children]. We got our house in L.A., and we got a house [in New York], established and close to schools. So we take all of that stuff into consideration.”
