Celebrity Tattle: Sundance 2012: Our Favorite Interviews

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Sundance 2012: Our Favorite Interviews

Drake and Spike Lee among MTV News' favorite sit-downs at this year's Sundance Film Festival.By Josh Wigler, with additional reporting by Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz)

and Sam Hendrick

The Sundance Film Festival is still raging on in Park City, Utah, but the MTV Movies team is back home safe and sound after a weeklong journey filled with movie screenings and high-profile interviews. If you're interested in hearing about the films that caught the most buzz at Sundance this year, never fear: We've got you covered.

But there's more to enjoy at Sundance than just the movies themselves; there are also interviews with countless actors, filmmakers, musicians and other stars for you to chew on. From the absurdly hilarious to the cool and informative, here are our favorite interviews conducted by MTV News at Sundance this year:

5. AnnaLynne McCord
It was the nip slip heard 'round the cyber-world. Weeks ago, "90210" actress AnnaLynne McCord inadvertently posted a photo of herself on Twitter that revealed more than she bargained for. But lest you think she's embarrassed about the overexposure, think again. "The moral of the story is not to stop taking pictures of yourself naked," she told MTV News. "We all like being naked. Just make sure that the little bit of your areola isn't in the picture before you send it to a hundred billion people."

4. Andy Samberg and Rashida Jones
The stars of "Celeste and Jesse Forever" tackle uncomfortable but often funny subject matter in their Sundance indie. In real life, the situation isn't so different. Samberg and Jones are both hilarious in their regular "SNL" and "Parks & Rec" gigs, and in person, the laughs are there as well — even when it comes to a topic as uncomfortable as Lana Del Ray's "SNL" collapse. "People gave her a lot of crap. I saw it online. BriWi," he said when we asked about the incident; BriWi, of course, refers to "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams' critique of the performance. Try watching the veteran newsman without thinking of him as "BriWi" again. It's just not possible.

3. Spike Lee
The New York filmmaker brought Brooklyn to Park City with his new film "Red Hook Summer," a spiritually charged drama that takes a dark and unexpected turn before the credits roll. The movie hasn't been kindly received by all critics, but regardless of reception, Lee's thought process behind the film was a revelation to hear. "We wanted to make a film about young black kids like 'Stand by Me,' " he said. "I love that film. Where's the people-of-color version of that film? I'm not saying this is it, but that's the type of film. ... I want to see that. [Writer] James [McBride] and I wanted to see this film in a theater. We wanted the world to see these characters in this isolated part of Brooklyn, Red Hook."

2. Drake
Battling tigers is not always easy. But when you're Drake, it's always awesome. The Toronto MC performed at Sundance and spoke with MTV News ahead of the gig, recounting his recent trip to Africa, during which he did battle with a true-blue tiger. We kid you not. "I went on a safari. I got tackled by a tiger. It was crazy," Drake recounted for MTV's Sam Hendrick, who mustered the only response humanly possible to such wild and crazy news: "That's dope!" Co-signed, Sam.

1. Paul Giamatti
MTV Movie Brawl 2012 came to a close during our time at Sundance. With hours to go before the polls closed, David Cronenberg's "Cosmopolis" clinched the win with an absolutely insurmountable lead. One of the film's many stars, Paul Giamatti, was on the ground in Park City and was happy to accept the top honor on the "Cosmopolis" cast's behalf. "Holy cow, that's astounding!" he said upon hearing the news. "The fact of that is amazing. ... That's a really cool thing that it brings that visibility to that movie."

Bonus: Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim
Perhaps the greatest of all the interviews we enjoyed at Sundance is one we have yet to unveil: our conversation with the absurd duo behind "Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie." We cannot verify the film's actual budget, but our interview with Mr. Heidecker and Mr. Wareheim is worth at least a billion bucks. You'll see it soon, but for now, some out-of-context teasers: Will Forte. "Filet of fish, no bun." "Back to you." If it doesn't make sense yet, just wait — it'll be even less clear when the insanity-fueled interview hits the Web. Stay tuned ...

Stick with the MTV Movies team as we roll out more coverage from the Sundance Film Festival!