Newsmakers

Pattinson steals show at MTV Movie Awards

By Sandy Cohen and Derrik J. Lang (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-06-07 08:02

UNIVERSAL CITY, California - The MTV Movie Awards was more like "The Team Edward Show".

Twilight star Robert Pattinson sucked up the spotlight - and some popcorn-shaped trophies - at Sunday's shenanigan-packed ceremony. Among the goofy actor's moments: winning three different awards, unexpectedly kissing co-star Taylor Lautner, and slipping the F-word past censors when presenting Reese Witherspoon with the special MTV Generation Award.

"It's not always a bad thing to have sexual chemistry with your mother," joked Pattinson, who played the son of Witherspoon's character in Vanity Fair and her love interest in Water for Elephants.

For his role as vampire Edward Cullen in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Pattinson won best male performance, best fight with Bryce Dallas Howard and Xavier Samuel, and best kiss with Kristen Stewart. Instead of smooching each other, Pattinson declared he didn't "feel like kissing" Stewart before he descended back into the audience and planted his lips on Lautner.

Team Edward also earned some love from Saturday Night Live star Jason Sudeikis, the show's host, who kicked off the silly ceremony at the Gibson Amphitheater by starring in his own version of The Hangover in which he went in search of a lost Lautner. The other Twilight winners were Stewart for best female performance and Eclipse for best movie.

"Natalie, sorry, but the popcorn is mine," Stewart said mockingly, referencing fellow nominee Natalie Portman, who won the best actress Oscar earlier this year for Black Swan.

It was the third straight year that Twilight eclipsed the competition with the most wins at the fan-favorite ceremony. Last year, New Moon, the second installment of the Twilight film franchise, also earned awards for best movie, best kiss, best female performance and best male performance.

"The fact that we're standing up here is a testament to all the hard work that went into Eclipse," Lautner said.

The non-vampire winners who picked up awards Sunday included Emma Stone for best comedic performance for Easy A, Justin Bieber for best jaw dropping moment for Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, Alexys Nycole Sanchez for best line for Grown Ups and Tom Felton for best villain for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.

"This will look very nice in my downstairs toilet," Felton said of his trophy. "Thank you."

The ceremony was filled with several awkward moments. Sudeikis spent most of his opening monologue cracking jokes about the revelations that Arnold Schwarzenegger fathered a child with a housekeeper. He also poked fun at singer-actress Selena Gomez, who embarrassingly hid her face from the cameras as he scolded her for kissing fellow teen sensation Bieber and swallowing "three of his baby teeth". Later, Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake cupped each other's genitals while presenting Pattinson with the best male performance trophy.

"I really didn't think I was going to win," Pattinson said during his acceptance speech. "Zac Efron was crying and stuff in that little clip."

The show also served as a promotional platform for Hollywood studios' upcoming films as much as it did as an awards ceremony. Emma Watson, J.J. Abrams, Steven Spielberg and Elle Fanning were among the celebrities on hand to present sneak peeks at Super 8, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part One.

Associated Press

(China Daily 06/07/2011 page10)