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Lady Gaga's Runway Debut At Mugler Fashion Show

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From Robert Pattinson's hairdo to his love scenes with Reese Witherspoon, MTV News has you covered.
By Eric Ditzian

Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon in "Water for Elephants"
Photo: 20th Century Fox

The question for Robert Pattinson wasn't if he would make the leap from "Twilight" vamp to major-studio player but when. The answer came in January 2010, when news broke that the British actor was eyeing a role in Fox's "Water for Elephants." Ever since, MTV News has been following anything and everything connected to the film, an adaptation of Sara Gruen's best-selling novel. Now the movie is set to hit theaters and we're gathering all our coverage into one place for a "Water for Elephants" cheat sheet.

Training

When word broke of Pattinson's intention to play a veterinary student named Jacob in "WFE," Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon was already signed on to play Marlena, a beautiful circus performer who's married yet falls in love with Jacob when he joins the troupe. Sean Penn was originally eyeing the role of Marlena's husband, but the part eventually went to another Oscar winner, .

With Pattinson's new part came a new haircut: Goodbye, Edward Cullen's messy locks, hello Jacob's cropped do.

The first shot of Pattinson in action arrived in June, when a photo of him climbing a train popped up online. More pics followed, including looks at Reese and Rob sharing a smooch.

Paparazzi weren't the only ones paying attention to the production. Fans were everywhere, too.

"The only thing I can compare it to is when Leo was in 'Titanic,' " Witherspoon told MTV News in December. "It was that kind of fervor about a person. The women lining up outside the set — it was just unbelievable — till 5 o'clock in the morning waiting to just glimpse him."

Rehearsal

Shortly after our chat with Reese, Fox released the first "Watermfor Elephants" trailer, highlighting the film's story of a circus-centered love triangle between Jacob, Marlena and Marlena's cruel husband, August/. That, and Rob's many smoldering looks. A second trailer debuted in March, showing a darker tone and, perhaps to lighten the mood, Reese and Rob's kiss.

As the film's release date neared, MTV News announced a live-stream event with Pattinson. The star debuted a new clip from the film and stuck around for a 30-minute chat, touching on everything from cursing on the set of "Breaking Dawn" to an awkward "WFE" love scene with Reese.

"The love scene in this, I was doing it when I had a really bad cold," Pattinson explained. "I'm not generally that awkward doing stuff apart from when I've got my belly coming out. But my nose is running all over the place and it was in one of the additional photography scenes, and Reese had this wig on, and literally, I was wiping my nose on her wig."

Performance

The live chat wouldn't be our only chance to talk with Rob and the rest of the cast. We met back up with him at a press event a few weeks later. This time around, Pattinson discussed love at first sight (he believes in it) and his preferred circus job (manual labor).

"I find it very satisfying. I like stacking boxes and stuff like that," he said. "And also I looked at all the background guys who were putting up a tent as a part of a scene and they were doing this stuff, like in 'Dumbo,' and it looked like something appealing about that, being a part of this team that creates this town in two days, and it's quite cool. And I like the idea of being the absolute everyman as well."

And, just in case you didn't get enough of RPattz, MTV News presented a live stream from the "Water for Elephants" red carpet in New York. Turns out, Rob barely made it to the event.

"It was a mad rush to get here!" Pattinson said of trying to leave the set of "Breaking Dawn," which wrapped production hours before the premiere. "I was leaving at, like, one o'clock in the morning. They're like, 'C'mon, we need one more shot!' and you've got three people pulling you from either side!"

Check out everything we've got on "Water for Elephants."

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

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What do critics think of Robert Pattinson's non-'Twilight' acting?

Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson in "Water For Elephants"
Photo: David James/FOX

"Twilight" films are never highly praised by critics. "New Moon" wallows at just a 29 percent approval rating at the Rotten Tomatoes review aggregator, and yet that film (like all in the franchise) has gone on to gross hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office.

Robert Pattinson's latest offering, the romantic drama "Water for Elephants," is similarly seeing mixed reviews thrown its way. And while, again like "Twilight," the film is based on a best-selling novel, "WFE" isn't expected to open with anything like the box-office bang Pattinson's vampire flicks have.

Yet his performance is garnering much critical praise. Oscar winner Christoph Waltz, too, is being lauded for his villainous turn. Reviews have also applauded the film's lush visuals, though they've also criticized it for subpar character development and an attempt to pack too much of the novel's story into the film. For those critiques and more, read on for what the pros are saying about "WFE":

The Story
" 'Water for Elephants' is partly a sawdust love story, partly a survival story. It opens with an old man's reminiscence, as Jacob Jankowski (Hal Holbrook) tells a young circus hand about his own Depression-era adventures under the big top. He didn't join the show out of any romantic impulses about carnival life. The well-planned veterinary career he expected was torpedoed by a family tragedy. And the first train he could hop just happened to be carrying roustabouts, a menagerie, a gorgeous trick rider, Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), and her possessive husband, the circus' owner and ringmaster, August (Christoph Waltz). That's where the romance enters in. And the survival drama, too." — Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

The Performances
"Pattinson and Witherspoon, despite the limits of their earnest and fairly foolish characters, eke out a real spark of romance between them; several slow dances between them crackle with unspoken feelings, and even their lame flirty jokes feel genuine. Lurking over them both like some ghoul of violent circuses past is Waltz's August, essentially Hans Landa in the big top but less fun to be around. Waltz brings shades of honor and even pity to August, but the movie is written in such broad strokes of right and wrong that from the moment August beats Rosie with an iron bar, there's nothing to do but root for his inevitable downfall." — Katey Rich, Cinema Blend

The Visuals
"Visually, the film is a handsome thing. With the help of production designer Jack Fisk ('There Will Be Blood'), filmmaker Francis Lawrence ('I Am Legend') conjures a mostly believable world, circa 1931, of acrobats, sideshow entertainers, clowns and roustabouts down on their luck. You won't ever forget that you're watching a show, but it's a highly watchable show nonetheless." — Michael O'Sullivan, The Washington Post

The Adaptation
"Mr. Lawrence is so busy awkwardly jamming the novel's minor events together and introducing (before dropping) colorful minor characters who have so little screen time that they barely register, that the movie fails to develop a sense of wonder. ... As a piece of storytelling, the film displays its most disastrous choice when it makes the book's climatic rampage seem perfunctory. This sloppily directed scene, which ends almost as soon as it begins, leaves you feeling cheated out of a necessary cathartic release." — Stephen Holden, The New York Times

The Final Word
" 'Water for Elephants' is one of those big, extravagant-looking romances that you might automatically deem 'conventional' — except for the fact that almost nobody makes big, extravagant-looking romances anymore. That's the elephant in the room that the movie's director, Francis Lawrence, faces head on. Whatever his movie's flaws may be, he's alive to the wonder of spectacle, and he still believes in the old-fashioned idea of movie stars: Those with two legs, and especially those with four." — Stephanie Zacharek, Movieline

Check out everything we've got on "Water for Elephants."

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

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1662536/water-for-elephants-robert-pattinson-reese-witherspoon.jhtml

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Britney Spears' 'Hold It Against Me' Pop-Culture References

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'Judas' singer goes on curse-filled rant in new issue of NME.
By Jocelyn Vena

Lady Gaga
Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Lady Gaga is on the defense these days. Fans aren't sure how they feel about her Born This Way cover art, and in the new issue of British music magazine NME, the singer felt the need to let the world know that she's not some gimmick and her shtick is the real deal, protruding face bones and all.

"Let me tell you something. If you f---ing rip my hairbow and my wig off my f---ing head, my shoes, my bra, every single thing on my body, and you throw me on a piano with a microphone, I will f---ing make you cry," she proclaims in the magazine, which hits newsstands on Tuesday (April 19). On the cover, Gaga appears in a see-through body suit, with zippers over her lady parts, wearing heavy eye makeup, her now signature "BTW" prosthetics and a wig she wore in the "BTW" video.

"I feel I have been probed endlessly about who the f--- I am," she continues. "I have been quite open about it. And still nobody seems to have a clue."

Gaga recently unveiled her second single, "Judas," off her May 23 album release. Parts of the song may pay homage to some of her past hits, but it is certainly not the type of pop song that Katy Perry or Britney Spears would record. "I'm not going to start churning out what you expect," she said. "If you want me to be a manufactured act, you can f--- off."

The star also defended her prosthetics recently in Harper's Bazaar. "Well, first of all, they're not prosthetics. They're my bones," she said in the issue. "They've always been inside of me, but I have been waiting for the right time to reveal to the universe who I truly am. They come out when I'm inspired."

She mirrored that sentiment on her Twitter page on Tuesday, writing, "Born This Way is who I am. An artist in a constant state of half-fantasy/half-reality at all times."

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