Lester Cohen/WireImage.comThe only thing hotter than the predawn blaze that closed down the area surrounding the Gibson Amphitheatre before the 2008 MTV Movie Awards was double-threat Johnny Depp.
The masses-approved heartthrob had to wait out a thundering standing ovation before being able to give thanks for his Best Comedic Performance win, his third Golden Popcorn to date for playing Captain Jack Sparrow. And with Juno scribe Diablo Cody having already clutched her hand to her heart the first time, the reception was only a bit milder when Depp took the stage again, when he was named Best Villain for his turn as the murderous Sweeney Todd.
"I'm not really sure how this happened because you can ask anybody—I'm not a very funny person," a clean-shaven Depp said in accepting his first award of the night.
And later: "Two times in one night—that's nutty. Wow…I have to thank all of you who voted for me. That's really a great honor, thanks for sticking with me on this very obtuse and strange road…I'm not particularly eloquent at the moment, but thank you so much."
Like the people who picked Transformers for Best Movie (we were wondering why they kept flashing to Michael Bay) over Juno and Superbad are worried about Depp's eloquence.
But other than the frantic editing needed to bleep out curse words and other R-rated action, the vote-for-your-favorite kudosfest went off without a hitch, the majority of the drama having occurred earlier in the day.
Braving air that was still a little hazy—even by L.A. standards—due to an early-morning fire on the Universal Studios backlot that destroyed several sets and shut down the adjacent theme park and Universal CityWalk for the day, spiffed-up stars such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Charlize Theron, Lindsay Lohan, Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Sean Combs, Brendan Fraser and Paris Hilton and Benji Madden crowded the gold carpet leading into the venue.
Depp-as-Sparrow missed out on a clean sweep of the Best Male Performance category, with that honor going this year to box office golden boy Will Smith for his isolationist turn in the sci-fi hit I Am Legend.
"I've dedicated my life to creating and trying to do things that are different," Smith said. "I've dedicated my life to making everything that I touch better…This film was hard and I was on camera for an hour by myself and y'all still went to see it. Thank you very much."
The statue for Best Female Performance went to Juno It girl Ellen Page, who theoretically could be considered to be in the third trimester of her breakout year, now that it's about time to stop honoring last year's movies.
Tom Cruise was called upon to fete this year's winner of the MTV Generation Award—"Falling in Love With Drew Barrymore Man," "Yelling at Jack Nicholson Guy," "Magic Remote Control Dude" Adam Sandler.
"He liberated us form the presumption that it was not cool to punch old people...and he taught us how to celebrate Hanukkah by drinking gin-and-tonicas," a straight-faced Cruise reminded us during the lengthy tribute.
"Thanks, guys, that was fun—the most arrogant thing I've ever done," the funnyman said after singing his own version of "Nobody Does It Better." "I appreciate everything over the years...Thanks to you guys for always being so cool to me."
Perfectly coiffed Hairspray star Zac Efron, who was sitting in the audience with High School Musical and real-life girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens, won for Best Breakthrough Performance. "I love you, Zacky!" costar Nikki Blonsky shouted from her seat.
Awards for Best Kiss and Best Fight each went to duos who may not yet be household names, but could very well be one day if looks and chemistry have anything to do with it.
Step Up 2 the Streets costars Briana Evigan and Robert Hoffman gave us the usual Best Kiss winners makeout session (not as good as Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen's from last year, though) and Best Fight opponents Sean Faris and Cam Gigandet did the endearing buddy thing when accepting their trophies for their mixed-martial-arts throwdown in Never Back Down.
"Thanks, Grandma, for voting 5 million times," Faris said.
Meanwhile, although anything was going to look benign after Sarah Silverman's Paris bashing last year, Mike Myers proved to be a largely inoffensive host, except for when he trotted out Dana Carvey for a Wayne's World sketch.
"No Country for Old Balls" as the third-best porn title based on '07 films was admittedly pretty funny, but other than that, the skit was largely a tired riff on Tila Tequila's bisexuality.
And, just as they did during the American Idol finale, Tropic Thunder costars Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. turned in one of the funniest bits of the night, a sketch of them plotting a viral video campaign to tout their film that just turns into Downey hitting Black repeatedly in the crotch while holding an Iron Man helmet.
Although we needed two hands to count the testicle jokes and Megan Fox closed the show by promising that Transformers 2 is going to be "f---ing badass," apparently MTV will only push the envelope so far when it comes to one of its biggest telecasts of the year.
Cameras immediately panned way out—seriously, from close-up to aerial shot—when Pineapple Express costars Seth Rogen and James Franco, in promoting their upcoming pot-enthusiast summer comedy, whipped out what really looked like a fatty bag of marijuana and started puffing away on a joint that they assured the audience was totally fake and not at all "really good s--t."
The laughter was scattered for what Franco later said was an MTV-sanctioned bit, but then the moment turned a tad awkward when they presented the award for Best Summer Movie So Far (a category in need of narcotic enhancement, if there ever was one) to Iron Man director Jon Favreau and its prominently rehabbed star.
"Thanks, fellas, for the intoxicating introduction," a bemused Downey said upon accepting the Golden Popcorn.
Here's the complete list of winners of the 2008 MTV Movie Awards:
- Best Movie: Transformers
- Best Male Performance: Will Smith, I Am Legend
- Best Female Performance: Ellen Page, Juno
- Best Villain: Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
- Best Comedic Performance: Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
- Best Fight: Sean Faris vs. Cam Gigandet, Never Back Down
- Best Kiss: Briana Evigan and Robert Hoffman, Step Up 2 the Streets
- Breakthrough Performance: Zac Efron, Hairspray
- Best Summer Movie So Far: Iron Man
- MTV Generation Award: Adam Sandler