Anna Kendrick

Photo: Ben Stansall/ Getty Images

Your grandparents used to be fond of saying that behind every great man stands a great woman. Such a phrase might seem sexist these days, but when it comes to one pivotal Academy Awards category, something still holds true: Behind some of the greatest performances of the year stands an accomplished woman.

It’s doubtful that Jeff Bridges would be racking up all those awards-season trophies if his “Crazy Heart” performance hadn’t been paired with Maggie Gyllenhaal’s tender, heartbreaking work. George Clooney would have been nothing but eye candy if the pivotal supporting roles in “Up in the Air” had been given to less talented actresses than Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga. With this in mind — and the big ceremony on Sunday — here’s our breakdown of the Best Supporting Actress category, and which one of these ladies is likely to go home in possession of a new, great man.

Penélope Cruz, “Nine”
When you’re hot, you’re hot — and in the eyes of movie fans these days, Penélope Cruz is hot in every conceivable way. Now, she’s following up last year’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar (for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”) with another nomination. Can she repeat? Working against her is the fact that voters will think she already had her moment at the podium, and “Nine” was one of the most notable disappointments of late 2009. Working in her favor, however, is the fact that she’s Penélope Cruz.

Vera Farmiga, “Up in the Air”
Jason Reitman’s dramedy about corporate downsizing is the type of film you walk out of wanting to give awards to everyone involved. Unfortunately, Academy voters will need to choose in this category, as veteran actress Farmiga squares off against her co-star Anna Kendrick. Both have great, showy roles in one of the year’s best films. But will they cancel each other out? That remains to be seen, but this much is obvious: It ain’t gonna help.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, “Crazy Heart”
There’s something kind of icky about watching younger-looking-than-her-32-years Maggie Gyllenhaal share love scenes with 60-year-old Jeff Bridges. But there’s something quite exhilarating about every other aspect of her “Crazy Heart” performance. Just when you think she’s a sad, single mother, she proves herself quite independent. When you think Bridges’ Bad Blake might be taking advantage of her, it turns out she’s the one steering their relationship. Gyellenhaal’s young reporter is flawed, honest — and a good woman deep in her bones. Her decision at the end of the film is a heartbreaker, as is that of any Academy voter who might think to mark someone else’s name.

Anna Kendrick, “Up in the Air”
Until recently, she was just another young actress in Hollywood with a short résumé, a head shot and a dream. Now, Anna Kendrick has delivered the double shot of back-to-back “Twilight” films and a showcase role in “Air” alongside George Clooney. Director Jason Reitman gave Kendrick the role because he saw a talent in her. Watch the film, and we dare you to not leave the theater similarly awestruck. If Anna does win, that noise you hear will be millions of Twilighters rejoicing. Even if she doesn’t, at age 24, Anna has a very bright future ahead of her.

Mo’Nique, “Precious”
Even a deep-water diver would have a hard time reciting all the awful movies Mo’Nique has made in a single breath: “Two Can Play That Game,” “Half Past Dead,” “Soul Plane,” “Hair Show,” “Domino,” “Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins” and, of course, “Phat Girlz” (don’t forget that Z!). Now, in the most unlikely of Oscar Cinderella stories, the veteran comedian has not only given a good performance, she’s given a jaw-droppingly amazing, transformative one, rocketing her to the top of surefire Oscar-winner lists. If you’re smart, you’ll put a check next to Mo’Nique’s name on your office-pool ballot.

The 2010 Academy Awards are almost here, and MTV News has it covered every which way — with photos, interviews, live blogs and more. Be sure to visit MTV.com on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET for our live Oscars red-carpet show, where we’ll be talking to everyone from Clooney and Bullock to Kristen and Taylor.

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

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What do I mean by “inaccessible”? Well Pattinson isn’t really able to just stroll down the street these days. He’s not one of those celebrities who seeks out attention wherever he can and he stays away from popular outlets like Twitter. Which makes this morning’s Daily TwitPic even more special. RPattz might have a public face on the micro-blogging website, but “30 Rock” star Judah Friedlander does. And when both celebs appeared last night on Jimmy Fallon, Friedlander nabbed the opportunity for a photo op with the sparkly vampire, which he preserved in the twitpic found after the jump.

Remember to check out Brian Warmoth’s Twitter-Wood column every day for an early jump on your Daily TwitPic.

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“Ben and I are always talking about what we can do with Les,” Cruise told MTV News at the time. “Do we do some viral video with Les?”

We haven’t heard any movement on this possibility, so when we had a chance to speak with Stiller while he was promoting his upcoming indie, “Greenberg,” we put the question to him. Anything shaking with the Grossman project?

“We’re playing around with ideas for a Les Grossman something,” Stiller said. “Maybe a movie, maybe some Internet stuff. I love that character and Tom, I think, is just insanely funny doing that guy. And I think he’s game for it too.”

Is this just idle talk from Stiller? Or have their ideas for Grossman morphed from a few Internet shorts to an actual theatrical spin-off? We’ll remain cautiously optimistic and simply be happy knowing that Stiller and Cruise are still keeping alive the idea of resurrecting the classically pompous and foul-mouthed Grossman character a year and a half after “Tropic Thunder” opened.

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Such is the case with “The Hills Have Thighs,” which a lot of you seem to be looking for info on this morning. It’s a 2008 “Appalachian comedy” from writer/director/actor James Bubba Cromer, or Coach Cromer (as it says in the trailer). I can’t quite figure out just why it’s so popular this morning; if anyone knows, please share in the comments section below or @MTVMoviesBlog on Twitter. You can find more info about the movie here and you can check out the wacky trailer below.

Official Movie Trailer The Hills Have Thighs (Directors Cut) from bubba cromer on Vimeo.

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Lil Wayne

Photo: MTV News

Nino Brown: Road to Rikers, Part Five

Seven more videos in one night — Lil Wayne was handling his business on Saturday. Early Sunday afternoon, while watching the Miami Heat take on the Orlando Magic, Weezy was taking a short break but had already mapped out his night.

The man you can find on Twitter as @liltunechi sent in another clip exclusively to MTV News before he is sentenced to prison for attempted gun possession on Tuesday and begins serving his time. In the new video, Weezy is at his Miami home laying out his Sunday night activities.

“I’m back, fresh out of the surgery,” says Wayne, whose sentencing was postponed last month due to dental surgery. “If I’m talking a little funny, I’m fresh out of the surgery. If I’m talking a little funny, I’m still days from the medicines. My words may slur, but my grill’s back, bi—! Still got two days left [before I go in]. I lost count. We shot seven videos last night. Tonight, we gonna eat, then go to the studio, then we gonna get some verses in and party with Stunna tonight at Liv [nightclub]. I still haven’t got no [sex]. This is becoming an America alert. This is a tragedy.”

In a previous online video, Wayne had addressed how his work schedule was interfering with him having sex: “You can tell I’ve been working hard. Sleeping alone. I’ve been sleeping with my clothes on.”

On Sunday night at Miami’s Liv nightclub, Wayne was supposed to attend yet another birthday party for the Birdman (the Cash Money CEO has been celebrating his b-day since around Valentine’s Day with parties across the country). The shindig turned into a surprise farewell party for the Birdman Jr.

Wayne was presented with a cake that read “Keep Your Head Up Weezy! We Love U.” Besides the Birdman — who debuted four new star tattoos on his head — Young Money artist Shanell also attended as the newest signee to Cash Money Records. Bow Wow, Mack Maine and Amber Rose were also there.

Wayne and DJ Scoob Doo are also filming the reality DVD “The Nino Brown Story Part 3.” The first two installments are available at DJ Scoob Doo’s Web site.

Check back with MTV News for more on Wayne’s “Road to Rikers.”

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Lil Wayne

Photo: MTV News

Nino Brown: The Road to Rikers, Part 4

In Lil Wayne’s world this past weekend, Saturday was bleeding into Sunday morning and the one constant was that Weezy was excited to be working. Wayne shot seven videos between those hours for himself, Rick Ross, Drake, Young Money artist Shanell, Travis from Gym Class Heroes and Diddy.

In the latest clip to come into MTV News from Wayne and his videographer DJ Scoob Doo, the Cash Money MC takes us on a trip to Miami, where he shot scenes for Diddy-Dirty Money’s new video “Strobe Lights.”

“I’m the hardest-working man in show business,” Wayne said on the way to the set. “Shout-out my n—a James Brown. Young Wayne Carter.

“Look at the attitude, though,” he continues with a buoyant swagger. “This is what you artists need to catch. Look at the attitude. No drugs, no nothing — I ain’t even get no p—-. I go away in two days, I ain’t even get no p—-.”

After Wayne goes in to shoot his video, we see him leave and go back to his Miami estate.

“There you have it. Nino. I don’t know how many videos we did,” he said. “But y’all saw it. Now I’m back where we started. I’m about to get my bottom grills and we party tonight. Nino! @liltunechi.”

Sunday night Wayne held a farewell party at Club Liv with his Cash Money/ Young Money family members such as Shanell, Mack Maine, Bow Wow and the #1 Stunna, Birdman.

Wayne and DJ Scoob Doo are also filming the reality DVD “The Nino Brown Story Part 3.” The first two installments are available at DJ Scoob Doo’s Web site. Check back with MTV News for more of Wayne’s “Road to Rikers.”

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Lil Wayne

Photo: MTV News

Nino Brown: The Road to Rikers, Part 3

In the latest video he’s sent to MTV News, Lil Wayne (a.k.a. @liltunechi)
gave fans a little bit more insight to his work schedule over last weekend. With the clock ticking before he’s expected to begin his jail sentence on weapons charges Tuesday, Weezy filmed seven videos in one night
— on the heels of shooting between nine and 10 videos in two days last month. In his latest video clip, Wayne says he shot footage for videos by Young Money artist Shanell (whom he recently denied rumors that having a child with, Diddy, Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes, Rick Ross — and of course we already know about the videos he shot for Drake and for himself.

“Show these artists how to do it,” Wayne says on his tour bus in a clip shot by DJ Scoob Doo and sent to MTV News on Monday afternoon (March 1). “Seven videos in one night. Follow me, artists!”

In the Drake video, “Afrika Boombata,” Weezy wears a Marilyn Monroe T-shirt. He had vaccilated between wearing that or one of his @liltunechi tees. We also know that the McCoy video is called “Tattoo Girl,” and the video for Diddy-Dirty Money is titled “Strobe Lights.”

A early version of the Dirty Money song leaked weeks ago and features everyone performing over a techno-type beat. “When the ceiling hits the floor, I’m gonna find my way to the door,” Diddy sings on the leaked version of the record. Later, Weezy raps, “The strobe lights are dancing/ We’ve taken all the chances.”

“I’mma show y’all the [work] ethic of a true artist,” Wayne said in one of the clips he sent to MTV News over the weekend. “You know what I’m talkin’ about? Seven videos. I shot 10 in two days before. Now we about to do seven in one night!”

MTV News will have more videos from Wayne — check back for the latest!

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T.I.

Photo: Moses Robinson/ Getty Images

On Tuesday, Lil Wayne is scheduled to surrender to New York authorities and is expected to begin serving a one-year prison sentence, stemming from a July 2007 attempted gun possession arrest.

Wayne is certainly not the first artist to go down this path, especially not in recent years. And, much like those before him, he’s addressed the situation, in the form of a Web video last month (when he was originally expected to begin his term, before the sentencing was delayed due to dental surgery), in which he thanked his fans for their support and asked them not to forget about him while he serves his sentence, “because I will forever think about you. I cannot wait for you to see me again.” More recently, he’s been sending MTV News videos that document his activities leading up to his court date on Tuesday.

As in the past, MTV News has been following Wayne’s legal situation every step of the way. And over the years, we’ve managed to speak to many of his fellow artists as they faced the prospects of jail time, or breathed a sigh of relief after being acquitted of very serious charges. Two of the most famous instances were a 1996 interview with Snoop Dogg, one day after he was found not guilty on a murder charge, and an in-depth conversation with Sean “Diddy” Combs, following his acquittal on bribery and gun-possession charges.

In our 1996 conversation with Snoop, he told us what was going through his mind as he stood waiting for his verdict to be read.

“I left it in God’s hands. That’s why I looked it, so stone-faced. I was just, I didn’t have no expressions. You know what I’m sayin’? It was all inner. I prayed on it. My family prayed on it,” Snoop said. “[My attorneys] did what they were supposed to do, and they gave the baton to the jury, and I couldn’t do nothin’ but just bank on them and worry about what the outcome was gonna be, as far as to just sit there and hold my position, and to keep my head up high. And just, you know, wait for the outcome.”

In 2001, MTV News’ Sway Calloway sat down with Combs, who had just been cleared of all charges after a six-week trial (and 15-month media firestorm) that stemmed from his then protégé Shyne firing a gun at a New York nightclub in 1999. And in our conversation, the rapper/producer made it clear that he relied on his faith to make it through the ordeal.

“Man, I just feel blessed. [That's] the first word that comes to mind. I was in a situation where the only way I could come out of it was by putting my faith in God. No matter how good my lawyers were, no matter how much celebrity I had, everything was just stacked up against me,” Combs said. “I was innocent, but all the things that were coming out was just … it just felt like … oh, man, my worst nightmare. All the things personally [that] I was going through at the same time. God just really blessed me and got me sitting here with you today. … It’s been like a year and a half, life being on hold, just waiting to get this over with.”

Of course, MTV News has also spoken with artists in prison, particularly Shyne, who was found guilty on two counts of assault for his involvement in the 1999 shooting in which Diddy was implicated before being cleared.

“You die in here, you know,” Shyne told MTV News in 2004, three years into his sentence (he was released late last year and is currently in his native country of Belize). “Just like you could die on the [outside], you could die in here. They probably won’t find your body for a couple days. This is just like the [outside], even worse. You got people that ain’t going home ever, so their life is over. Being here is like being dead. And when you’ve got a dude who’s got life, he don’t care. He’ll rip your heart out.”

Of course, in 2008 MTV produced a series around T.I.’s then-impending prison sentence called “T.I.’s Road to Redemption,” and we also spent time with the MC before he began his 366-day jail sentence following felony gun charges. As he did in the series, T.I. remained upbeat about his prospects.

“At the end of the day I’m not going to be gone long enough to have any long-lasting effects,” he said. “Of course, the initial emotion will be one of somber grief. But by the time they get over it, I’ll be getting home. Compared to how bad it could have been, I think I made out all right.”

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Lil Wayne

Photo: Thaddeus

Now that Lil Wayne’s teeth are in order, the superstar MC is expected once again to turn himself in to authorities, this time on Tuesday, to finally begin his one-year prison sentence stemming from a 2007 arrest on gun charges.

The rapper will be formally sentenced in a Manhattan courtroom by Judge Charles H. Solomon after last month’s postponement due to Wayne’s dental surgery. Wayne is scheduled to enter his plea, and authorities will then whisk him away for processing at New York’s Rikers Island.

There, Weezy’s world will be unlike anything he’s experienced before in his life.

According to a prison guard who spoke with MTV News, the Cash Money lyricist’s hectic life of recording, touring and performing will be replaced by a regimented routine that features wakeup calls at 4 a.m. and dinner at 3 p.m. The guard, who declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the information, said Wayne should be treated like a regular inmate for the most part, obvious safety concerns aside.

“He’ll be housed with inmates who are classified in his category, and he’ll be able to be a regular inmate,” the guard said. “He’ll be able to watch television, go into the day room and congregate with people of his classification.”

Wayne’s classification, however, will most likely be decided based in part on his fame, the guard said. The guard also suggested Wayne would be placed in the Eric M. Taylor Center at Rikers, on the north side of the facility in East Elmhurst, New York.

“It’s a high-class area where he will be segregated from [the general] population,” the guard explained.

The rapper, though, won’t be in a dormitory setting, as a retired corrections officer told MTV News last month. He’ll likely have his own 10-by-15-foot cell with a toilet, sink, bed and one window. “He’ll be able to see another wall [outside the window],” the guard said.

Wayne also will not be able to make many of his own decisions during his incarceration, including what recreation he participates in and the option to work. “He probably won’t be assigned a job, just to keep things quiet,” the guard said, alluding to the rapper’s safety and the overall safety of the unit he’s placed in.

When Wayne graced the cover of Rolling Stone recently, he said he would bring an iPod loaded with music he could write to; the guard, however, emphasized that an mp3 player would be classified as contraband, meaning the rapper would not be permitted to have one.

Weezy will have plenty of downtime, though, of which he can choose how he passes the time. In between the rapper’s 4 a.m. wakeup calls for breakfast, 11 a.m. lunchtimes, 3 p.m. dinners and evening lights out, he has a number of options. He’s allowed to receive two visits per week, which can be any day of the week or weekends at various times.

With his commissary money, he can purchase a transistor radio. It’s unlikely that he’ll visit the law library, as he has no appeal to make for his case; he’s widely expected to be released after eight months if he serves with good behavior. If he wishes to participate in religious activity, he can be excused to visit the places of worship within the prison.

Throughout Wayne’s sentence, he’ll have an intermittent amount of time to interact with fellow inmates. According to the guard, that decision is one that is made by the governing officers of the facility to keep things orderly. For the most part, Wayne will be isolated and treated like any other numbered prisoner at Rikers Island.

“He’ll have no preferable treatment at all. He’ll be treated like a regular inmate,” the guard said, with one added caveat: “He may have heightened security. A guard will walk with him when he moves from location to location.”

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Bret Michaels

Photo: Michael N. Todaro/ Getty Images

We already knew that Miley Cyrus and Bret Michaels were in a mutual fan club, but fans have been taken aback by the provocative nature of their collaboration “Nothin’ to Lose,” which hit the Internet on Thursday. The Poison frontman was quick to defend the ballad, in which the rocker and the teen queen sing about love and sex.

“We both know better than this/ Still we can’t resist/ Slowly get undressed/ Won’t you fall down on me/ So close I can feel you breathe,” they sing in the chorus. But Michaels told UsMagazine.com that he didn’t even take into account the suggestive lyrics when they laid down their vocals. “It’s blown out of proportion,” he said, adding that he had gotten a number of texts about it. “I was like, ‘What the f— is going on?’ Everyone’s going nuts!”

The song, which he said he wrote and recorded years back without Cyrus, got the 17-year-old’s attention while they were recording her cover of his tune “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” for her next album. Michaels said Cyrus’ mother was with them in a New York recording studio when he played “Nothin’ to Lose,” which he says will appear on his album due out in June.

“[Miley's] like, ‘This is an incredible song, it’s beautiful. Maybe I could [add] some stuff to it, some harmonies.’ I said, ‘That’d be killer!’ ” he said. “She was excited that she didn’t have to follow any rules. I never sat down and said, ‘Look at the content. Look at the lyrical content.’

“The part where it says she slowly gets undressed, Miley says, ‘Yeah, she does,’ ” Michaels continued. “It has no reference to her and [me]. It’s not even a duet. As God is my witness, there is nothing I have to be defensive about. I’m a good dad. I just thought it was a beautiful song. ”

What do you think about “Nothin’ to Lose”? Tell us in the comments below!

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