Jennifer Lawrence Talks Training To Play Katniss Everdeen In 'Hunger Games'

'I've done archery for about six weeks, rock climbing, tree climbing and combat and running and vaulting,' star tells MTV News.
By Kara Warner, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Jennifer Lawrence
Photo: MTV News

For all the "The Hunger Games" fans out there — and we're talking about those who've been onboard since reading (and likely becoming obsessed with) author Suzanne Collins' spellbinding dystopian trilogy — the news surrounding Lionsgate's big-screen adaptation has been almost as intriguing as the books themselves.

MTV News has been hot on the trail of as many details we can muster, and we were lucky enough to chat recently with the young woman who will be Katniss Everdeen, Jennifer Lawrence, about landing the coveted role.

"I was a huge fan of the books before I even really knew about the movies," Lawrence said. "I met with [director] Gary Ross, and we had a very long, nice meeting before the audition," she explained. "And then by the time the audition came around, we were familiar with each other."

Lawrence also spoke about the intense amount of training she's undergone to prepare for Katniss' intense action sequences.

"It's lots of training, but the training is actually really fun," she revealed. "I've done archery for about six weeks, rock climbing, tree climbing and combat and running and vaulting," she said. "Also yoga and things like that to stay cat-like."

The 20-year-old has also addressed the group of folks who took to the Internet to express their less-than-pleased opinions about Lawrence's casting as Katniss.

"I wasn't aware that everybody was so upset until I after I got my hair dyed, and people were like, 'Oh my gosh, blond hair can turn brown. Wow. It's a miracle,' " she joked. "So now is the only time that I'm being told that people hated me at first."

Check out everything we've got on "The Hunger Games."

For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

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Britney Spears' Next Femme Fatale Single Is 'I Wanna Go'

Spears fan site Breathe Heavy announces the latest release.
By Jocelyn Vena

Britney Spears
Photo: Jive

While there's been lots of speculation about Britney Spears' next single, on Tuesday (May 10), it was announced that Spears would release "I Wanna Go" next from Femme Fatale.

The announcement about the track, produced by Max Martin and Shellback ("3," "If U Seek Amy"), came via Spears fan site Breathe Heavy. "BreatheHeavy.com can officially announce Britney's third music video off Femme Fatale is 'I Wanna Go,' " the post reads. "The shoot will take place May 25-26 in Los Angeles."

"I Wanna Go" is a funky dance track about going out, letting loose and having a great time, regardless of the consequences. On the song, Spears coos, "Lately I've been stuck imaginin'/ What I wanna do and what I really think, time to blow out/ Be a little inappropriate 'cause I know that everybody's/ Thinkin' it when the lights out/ Shame on me/ To need release/ Un-uncontrollably."

A rep for Spears had not responded to MTV News' request for confirmation by press time.

This single follows "Hold It Against Me" and "Till the World Ends" (both the album cut and Nicki Minaj and Ke$ha-fied remix), as Spears readies to hit the road this June with Minaj.

"I feel like Britney kind of has her own genre: If you look at songs like 'Toxic' and 'Piece of Me' and 'Oops! ... I Did It Again,' they all were sort of influential and led the way," Dr. Luke, who worked with Spears on Femme Fatale, recently told MTV News. "She wanted to keep on with that and do stuff that was forward-thinking [for this album]. So we put some dubstep stuff in there, in bridges; snuck it in different places."

Are you happy "I Wanna Go" is the next single? Let us know in the comments!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1663589/britney-spears-i-wanna-go.jhtml

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In The Nicks Of Time

Last night I had the great honor of FINALLY seeing one of rock’s most amazing female musicians live in concert and the only think I could keep thinking throughout the entire show was … what the Hell took me so long to see Stevie Nicks live in concert?! If you can believe it, I managed [...]

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Michael Jackson - The Way You Make Me Feel

The Way You Make Me Feel

• Artist: Michael Jackson
• Label: Epic

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M-Bone's Family, Fans Remember Cali Swag Star At Funeral

'I never got to tell him this: He taught me a lot,' groupmate Yung tearfully tells M-Bone's mourners.
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Kelly Marino

The remaining members of Cali Swag District at M-Bone's funeral on Friday
Photo: MTV News

On Friday (May 27), family, friends and fans paid their respects to rising hip-hop star Mante "M-Bone" Talbert of Cali Swag District at an Inglewood, California, funeral open to the public. The 22-year-old, who was born September 17, 1988, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting on May 15 in his hometown of Inglewood.

More than 2,000 people, including Talbert's grandmother, uncle and the three remaining members of Cali Swag, attended M-Bone's funeral at the Faithful Central Bible Church. Talbert, who made his mark as one-fourth of CSD, will be remembered by the hip-hop community as the group's energetic dancer. Bone was most famous for doing the Dougie, a 1980s dance that found new life thanks to the quartet's 2010 platinum hit "Teach Me How to Dougie."

CSD member Yung spoke at the funeral about his fallen friend's impact. "I never knew anybody's body can move that way before I met M-Bone," he said to the crowd while sobbing. "Since the sixth grade, me and him been dancing together, but I never got to tell him this: He taught me a lot."

While the service was no doubt emotional, as loved ones mourned the life of M-Bone, some friends, like Pee Wee of the hip-hop group the Rejectz, urged people to remember the positive aspects of his life. "We lost a great person, but it shouldn't be no tears. We should be celebrating, turning it up," he told MTV News.

After the service, M-Bone was laid to rest.

At approximately 10:30 p.m. PT on May 15, police were called to the 400 block of La Brea Avenue in Inglewood. When they arrived on the scene, they founded Talbert seated in the driver's seat of his vehicle with two gunshot wounds to the head. Witness accounts confirm that a gunman pulled up alongside M-Bone in a separate vehicle and let off at least two rounds.

MTV News reached out to the homicide division of the Inglewood Police Department early Friday and learned that there have been no arrests and there are no suspects in connection with M-Bone's murder.

The Inglewood Police Department is asking anyone with information to come forward and call its homicide division at (310) 412-5246 or its 24-hour anonymous hotline at (888) 41 CRIME, or (888) 412-7463.

Share your thoughts for M-Bone's friends and family in the comments.

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Lady Gaga 'Started To Cry' When She First Heard 'Marry The Night'

'Imagine if Bruce Springsteen had a baby with Whitney Houston — that's what it is,' she says of Fernando Garibay-produced Born This Way track.
By MTV News staff

Lady Gaga
Photo: MTV News

Lady Gaga has been working with producer Fernando Garibay for years, with the first fruits of their labor being the Fame Monster deep cut "Dance in the Dark." But, as Lady Gaga put it in MTV's "Inside the Outside" documentary that premiered Thursday, the pair had yet to "conceive" a hit record when she began work on Born This Way.

That all changed when Gaga heard the church-bell-filled sounds Garibay had concocted while on the road for the Monster Ball Tour.

"He goes, 'Your show is a religion and your fans are a cult,' " Gaga recalled. "It's this epic music. It's just so big. And I started to cry. He said, 'What's wrong?' And I said, 'I can't believe that you hear me so big.' "

Gaga sat down, and lyrics for what would become the Born This Way track "Marry the Night" just started pouring out: "I'm gonna marry the night/ I won't give up on my life."

"It's like Whitney, but imagine if Bruce Springsteen had a baby with Whitney Houston — that's what it is," she said. "And that was it! We made a baby. Finally. After all that fornication, miserably long and tedious, Fernando and I finally conceived."

When MTV News sat down with Garibay, he told his side of the "Marry the Night" conception. "I just kind of got on the American leg of the tour — this was after Australia — and she goes, 'I want to write another song that can define where I'm at with this album and my life.' "

So Garibay listened again to their first collaboration, "Dance in the Dark," and tried to top that energy. "I remember being backstage and hearing the concert start, so I go out there and hear 'Dance in the Dark' open up the whole concert, and I wanted to outdo that feeling. I wanted to outdo that moment that opens up the show. I'm just that way."

Garibay did his thing while Gaga was onstage doing hers. "I go back to the studio bus; I'm just like working on parts, working on parts, and then, two hours later, she comes offstage, and she goes, 'Do you have something to play me?' " he said. "And I go, 'I do, actually. It's a little different, but I think you'll like it.'

"So I played her the instrumental for 'Marry the Night,' and she goes, 'I love it, but can you change this?' So she starts changing around a few chords, and then she goes, 'Open up a mic.' ... She starts laying down the whole song, like, off the cuff. She didn't have time to live with it. She kind of meditated a few minutes, and then it's like, 'OK, I'm ready. Let's go.' And right offstage, using the energy of that crowd and going into the studio, it was amazing. I can't compare it to anything."

That incomparable feeling was exactly what Gaga was aiming for with Garibay: "I kept saying to him, 'I don't want to do anything I've done before, I don't want to sound like anything I've done before, I don't want to feel like anything I've done before. I want it to be new.' "

Do you think "Marry the Night" tops "Dance in the Dark"? Let us know in the comments!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1664761/lady-gaga-marry-the-night-fernando-garibay.jhtml

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