MTV Movie Awards

Speeches * Pictures * Comments

Speeches:

Best Musical Sequence: “Elephant Love Medley”

JOHNNY KNOXVILLE: And the winner for best musical sequence is…Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor.

[Music: “…heroes, forever and ever…”]

[EWAN & NICOLE meet in the aisle and kiss]

[Music: “…we could be heroes, just because I-----I will always love…”]

[EWAN & NICOLE walk to the stage, shake hands with presenters WILL SMITH & JOHNNY KNOXVILLE; NICOLE takes the trophy from WILL. She and EWAN put their arms around each other. The cheering from the AUDIENCE starts to die down.]

EWAN: Um…

[He looks at NICOLE, who gestures for him to speak first.]

EWAN: Um, uh, making this film was—making this film was very much like a—a dream come true for me, so I’d like to thank everyone at Fox, and I’d like to thank, um, Baz Luhrmann very much, and I’d like to thank her.

[He points at NICOLE, then kisses her on the cheek. He steps off to the side so she can have the mike.]

NICOLE: And I’d like to thank all of you for like, supporting the movie very early on, ‘cause, um, [laughs] it kind of had to be discovered, and, um, and then the rest of the world kind of followed, so thank you. And also, I’m really bummed we didn’t win best kiss! We should have rehearsed more.

EWAN: I know. . .

NICOLE: We need to kiss more, Ewan!

EWAN: Ah well, never mind. The next time.

NICOLE: Thank you.

[EWAN gestures to NICOLE to pick up the trophy. She does, and they exit, stage right.]

Best Female Performance: Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge

NATALIE PORTMAN: And the winner is…

EWAN: Nicole Kidman from Moulin Rouge!

[He points at NICOLE in the audience. She gets up and walks onstage, hugs EWAN, and kisses him and NATALIE on the cheek. EWAN & NATALIE step to one side so NICOLE can have the podium. She giggles as the cheering dies down.]

NICOLE: A year and a half ago I would never have thought that I’d be standing up here getting this. so I, I—I’m, I’m not gonna be funny, I’m gonna be sincere. Um, you guys really supported me through a really tough time…

[AUDIENCE cheers]

NICOLE: …Thank you. And, you went and saw, um, my films, which is really lovely, and, um, and, uh, I have to say, this isn’t about me though, it’s about Baz Luhrmann, who directed Moulin Rouge, who is…

[AUDIENCE cheers wildly]

NICOLE: [laughs]…He kind of defied the odds, um, everyone told him that a musical would never work, [laughs] and, um, and he sort of has this mantra which I think is really good. It’s about being, um, bold, being brave, taking risks, and being strong, and, uh, I pass that on to you.

[She picks up the award and exits stage right with EWAN & NATALIE. On his way past the podium, EWAN picks up the winner’s envelope.]

Pictures: (Click to see the full-size picture)

Comments:

It’s nice to have an awards show that doesn’t take itself seriously once in a while—I mean, I love all the pomp and circumstance of the Oscars, but a show like this is refreshing after watching months of serious awards shows (and just imagine what the people who go to them all feel like!). Also liked the musical theme, from the opening production number, “Movies Kick Ass” to the Busby Berkeley dancers, which I like to think was a nod to Moulin Rouge—“did we kick Moulin Rouge’s ass or what?” Jack Black yelled after the opening number.

Ewan was in attendance—maybe because he was actually nominated, maybe because he’s in town anyway, filming (Down With Love), maybe because he has a movie to promote (Attack of the Clones)—whatever, he was there. His tribute to director Ted Demme (he was set to star in his next film) with Natalie Portman—both of them saying “ass crack!” in unison—was so funny, and probably would have been funnier if I was in on the joke (must ask friend who has actually seen his movies). And he and Natalie Portman did a nice send-up of the horribly artificial award-presenters banter (EWAN: Now, I got to admit to everyone, the nominees in this category, they were all so incredible, that I’ve got to admit, I’m stumped. I don’t really now which one to go for. NATALIE: Ew-an! EWAN: Yes? NATALIE: You don’t pick the winner, the MTV audience does. EWAN: Oh, right, okay. Well, that’s good. I wouldn’t want to piss off four actresses.) Because Ewan was presenting the award for Best Female Performance though, it would be nice to think that he really was rooting for Nicole—and he did seem pretty excited when she won.

I was really glad Nicole won, especially since she beat out Halle Berry (nothing against her, but I just wasn’t a fan of Monster’s Ball with all its pretentious grungy depressiveness—ooh, look how awful these two people are! Why, they’re just heartless! But wait! They have raw ‘artistic’ sex and now the healing has begun and they’re on their way to being better people!—and it’s actually really unfair to judge the performances side by side, since Ball was MR’s polar opposite, and if Nicole had given the kind of performance Halle gave, it would have been a disaster, and vice versa). And, that aside, Nicole gave a really lovely speech—kind of makes you wonder what she would have said on Oscar night. I love how everyone who wins an award for Moulin Rouge makes a point of saying that the whole thing is really Baz’s vision—since these people worked with him, they have a lot more insight than the damned myopic Academy—and I really loved how the audience erupted in cheers when Nicole mentioned him. If only there’d been a Best Director category… But, back to Nicole’s award, the clip they showed was the one I had been sure they would use at the Oscars—the ‘we’re going away from you…’ one, instead of the silly one they did end up showing there, which actually would have fit in here much better. The ‘we’re going away’ clip is much more a traditional awards show clip, with dramatic performances, and tears, and the like. So why they showed the traditional clip at the irreverent awards show and the silly clip at the traditional awards show is beyond me.

As for the Best Musical Number award, I think it was a given that MR would win, seeing as it was the only musical—and it had two numbers nominated. Given the exclusion of numbers like “Roxanne” and “Come What May”, I assume that it had to be a continuous linear number (but then where was “The Pitch”? and “Like a Virgin”?), and not a montage sequence. Well that, or there was a limit—if it was up to me, I’d nominate all the sequences! And, the upset for Best Kiss…well, not really an upset I suppose, since more often than not the winner of this award is the same-sex kiss done for comedy, not the romantic kiss. But still… At least we got the joking around from Ewan and Nicole about needing to practice more…it would’ve been better if they’d won, I’ll bet they would have done a really funny speech. For an award like that, it’s pretty much impossible to do a straightforward sincere speech.

One more note: in the clips shown over the closing credits, when they asked the stars what they had thought of the awards, I thought Nicole’s response was so funny. She said “unbelievable!” in a sort of nervously giggling way, and she looked like a camera-shy teenager asked to comment on a home video.

This story is about truth, beauty, freedom, but above all, love…This story is about truth, beauty, freedom, but above all, love…