Paramore, B.o.B., Bruno Mars prep for VMA medley (AP)

LOS ANGELES � Billed by MTV as the Video Music Awards "dream team," Paramore, Bruno Mars and B.O.B. had some fun on stage as they rehearsed the three-song medley they'll perform on Sunday's show.

During Saturday's rehearsal, Mars crooned "beautiful squirrels" instead of "beautiful girls" as he and rapper B.o.B. prepared to run through their hit, "Nothin' on You."

Later, Mars entertained himself and a few dozen workers inside the Nokia Theatre by singing The Police's 1978 hit "So Lonely."

"Why are you trying to sing higher than me?" Paramore lead singer Hayley Williams asked playfully over the microphone.

"Sorry," Mars sheepishly responded.

Not to be outdone, B.o.B. chimed in with a few verses from Cee Lo's expletive-laden new single. Mars accompanied him on piano.

Mars and B.o.B. also beat-boxed between performances of their medley, which also includes the rapper's "Airplanes" and the rockers' "The Only Exception."

Williams confessed that she got a little turned around on the show's expansive, space-age set with its sloping canopies and multiple video screens.

"I thought the stage was over there," she said, running to her spot in front of the band. "I was lost, but now I'm found."

The three young entertainers are among a slate of performers expected at Sunday's ceremony, including Kanye West, Eminem, Usher and Mary J. Blige.

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On the Net:

http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/2010/

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Swift to sing about West debacle this year at VMAs AP

NEW YORK Be warned, Kanye: Taylor Swift has written a song about you, and shes singing it at Sundays MTV Video Music Awards.

The country superstars win for best female video last year was marred when Kanye West got on stage and said it should have gone to Beyonce.

Swift wrote a song about the experience earlier this year, and a source familiar with the show said Saturday the 20-year-old will sing the new song at the VMAs, which will be aired live on MTV. The source did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The song is on Swifts upcoming album "Speak Now," due out in October. The source said Swift performed it during a secret rehearsal in Los Angeles for the VMAs on Friday.

Though the West-Swift moment only lasted but a few minutes, it has endured for what seems to be a lifetime. It became a cultural watershed moment and gave West the most intense backlash of his career, despite an apology delivered later.

He dropped out of the spotlight, and last week on Twitter, said that he endured death wishes, had to cancel a tour and let go of employees. He again apologized to Swift and said he wrote a song for her and hoped she would sing it � and if not, he would perform it for her.

But instead, Swift will be singing her own song. The Grammy-winner is known for writing intensely personal songs, and skewering a few former boyfriends along the way.

After initially expressing her hurt, Swift has avoided addressing the matter.

West will also be a performer at the awards show; both are nominees. Its not clear what song he will sing.

Though there was anticipation of possible fireworks related to last year with Wests performance, Swifts song all but guarantees it.

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Online:

http://www.taylorswift.com

http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/2010/

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Firth stammers to success in "The Kings Speech"

By Janet Guttsman

TORONTO | Sat Sep 11, 2010 3:34pm EDT

TORONTO Reuters - The story of the man who would rather not be king is stealing Oscar buzz at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, with Colin Firth as the monarch who overcame a debilitating stammer to do the job.

"The Kings Speech" stars Firth as Britains George VI. It centers on the monarchs relationship with an Australian speech therapist, played by Geoffrey Rush, as his brother abdicates and kingship is quite literally thrust upon him.

"This movie has best picture and best actor nominations written all over it," Hollywood Reporters Risky Business blog wrote. "And maybe best screenplay, best director and best supporting actor too."

George VI, known to the family as Bertie, had never expected to inherit the throne. But his older brother, Edward VIII, stepped down in 1936 so he could marry a twice-divorced commoner, American Wallis Simpson, and Bertie became the king who would lead Britain into war against Nazi Germany.

"Most stories about kingship are about the pursuit of power, the seductions of power and the corruptions of power," director Tom Hooper told reporters this weekend.

"This is a story about a man who absolutely at the core of body did not want to be king, did not want the job and tried to avoid it. When you see this story, theres no way you can look at it and say how lucky the British monarchy is. It comes with a curse, and he rises to meet it."

Some of the most painful scenes in the movie show Firth tongue-tied in front of a microphone, unable to shape a single word. His audience watches, concerned, embarrassed, sometimes even distressed.

Firth, nominated for an Oscar for last years "A Single Man," said one of the challenges in the movie was finding a tempo for a story that centers on an individual who really cant string two words together.

"This is a guy who takes 20 minutes to get a word out. Its hard to pace that one," he said. "How much can we afford to dwell on painful silences? Having established them, can we afford to perhaps pick up the pace a bit?"

But the movie is also about trust and class, as Bertie is forced to shed his royal reserve to work with a therapist whose methods are unconventional at least.

Rush, an Oscar winner for "Shine" in 1997 and a two-time nominee, plays Lionel Logue, an Australian transplanted to a dark and grimy London. He insists on calling the king by his family nickname, Bertie, and wants Bertie to call him Lionel in return.

"Theres this class and cultural divide between an imperial figure and a very anonymous colonial guy," Rush said.

"The Kings Speech" opens on Nov 24.

Editing by Doina Chiacu

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Sofia Coppolas Somewhere wins top Venice prize AP

VENICE, Italy Sofia Coppolas "Somewhere," a story about an actor dealing with the emptiness of his life thanks to his child, won the top Golden Lion prize at the Venice film festival Saturday.

Director Quentin Tarantino headed the jury which unanimously chose Coppolas film as the best movie at the 11-day annual festival.

"This film enchanted us from its first screening," Tarantino said.

Coppola has described the film as a "portrait of todays L.A."

"Somewhere" tells the story of a movie star, played by Stephen Dorff, who comes to see the emptiness of his existence through the eyes of his 11-year-old daughter, played by Elle Fanning.

With "Somewhere," Coppola, who herself grew up in the world of film thanks to her father, director Francis Ford Coppola, lampoons Hollywoods star treatment.

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Sofia Coppolas film on celebrity wins in Venice

VENICE | Sat Sep 11, 2010 2:32pm EDT

VENICE Reuters - Sofia Coppolas "Somewhere," an insiders look at the life of a Hollywood actor who becomes numb to life through drink, drugs and a string of one-night stands, won the top prize at the Venice film festival on Saturday.

The choice of the U.S. directors movie for the Golden Lion award will come as a surprise on the Lido waterfront, where reaction to the Los Angeles-based drama was mixed.

Coppola tells a story of Johnny Marco, an up-and-coming star whose days are divided between five-stars hotels, Ferraris and blonde pin-ups, but also loneliness, tiresome media attention and boredom.

Marco, played by Stephen Dorff, is finally faced with the question of where a life so enviable on the surface is ultimately heading when his 11-year old daughter unexpectedly comes to stay with him.

The daughter of director Francis Ford Coppola and an Oscar winner for her screenplay of "Lost in Translation" partly based the film on her own experiences as a young girl traveling with her father from one hotel to another.

"Thanks to my Dad for teaching me," she said at the awards ceremony.

The best director award went to Spaniard Alex de la Iglesia for "Balada Triste de Trompeta" The Last Circus, a horror movie that doubles as a metaphor for fascist Spain.

Vincent Gallo won the best actor prize for his performance in "Essential Killing," where he plays a suspected Taliban fighter on the run from U.S. forces in Afghanistan and later in Europe.

Gallo, who does not utter a single word throughout the film and has spent his time in Venice escaping the paparazzi, did not take the stage to accept the award.

"Vincent, come on, are you here?" Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski said as he took the prize in Gallos name.

Ariane Labed won the best actress prize for Greek film "Attenberg," while Monte Hellman scooped a special career award with "Road to Nowhere."

Editing by Michael Roddy

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