Stars figured they could say and do just about anything at the 2001 MTV Movie Awards on Saturday night. “And I’m gonna,” presenter Halle Berry predicted two hours before she took the stage with her Swordfish co-stars, John Travolta and Hugh Jackman.
Playing off the rumor (which she later denied) that she received an extra $500,000 to show her breasts in her upcoming action movie, Berry encouraged the two men to show a body part. Then she patted their buns as they playfully unbuttoned their jackets in striptease fashion.
It was all part of the fun that took place at the Shrine Auditorium last weekend, where the awards were taped for broadcast Thursday (9 p.m. ET/PT).
Cameron Diaz, solo as she accepted Charlie’s Angels’ best on-screen team award, lifted the top layer of her white peasant skirt to wipe her armpits, explaining that she hadn’t used antiperspirant in six years and usually kept them dry by draping her arms around the absent Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore. Diaz also won for best dance sequence for her fantasy number in Angels.
Fans voted on MTV’s Web site. The audience went crazy over Tom Cruise, who couldn’t stop grinning after he won a tub of golden popcorn for best male performance for Mission: Impossible 2. “It’s MTV, so you’ve got to have fun. That’s why I like coming here, to have a good time,” he said before jumping into his waiting car.
After winning, Cruise opted not to hit the green room, where the stars schmoozed. Sean Combs posed for pictures with admirers when not using his two-way pager. Brendan Fraser chatted with Mariel Hemingway. Diaz held court with Tara Reid, Gwen Stefani and Tommy Lee. When Reid, wearing a Dolce & Gabbana micro-mini dress that featured a sheer black bodice open to her navel, was asked who she was wearing, Stefani butted in and said, “Barely anything.”
What Reid also wasn’t wearing was her engagement ring. “It’s in my safe. I forgot to put it back on. It’s that simple,” explained the actress, who in April said her May wedding to MTV host Carson Daly was postponed because of work.
Tommy Lee also opted for Dolce & Gabbana, but in his dark pinstripe suit with a stark white shirt and tie he wasn’t recognizable even to those talking to him.
“Thirty seconds later they’re like ‘Tommy!’ I’m like, ‘Dude, I’ve been talking to you for 30 seconds and you don’t even know who… I am,’ ” he said.
It wasn’t just Lee’s attire that shocked. By the photo tent, he licked the side of Combs’ face. A startled Combs let out a loud expletive. Presumably the two partied together later because Lee said he planned to head to the Beverly Hills estate of billionaire Ron Burkle, where P. Diddy (as the invitation said) hosted a Wolfgang Puck-catered bash that called for “gorgeous” attire.
Other Highlights Of The Show:
- – Jimmy Fallon, who hosted along with Kirsten Dunst, impersonating Adam Sandler, Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld.
- – Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya and Pink performing Lady Marmalade from Moulin Rouge. – Nicole Kidman, in Melbourne, Australia, to promote the movie, sent a taped message. The Dave Matthews Band and Weezer also performed.
- – A film spoof of The Mummy Returns with Fallon, Dunst, Snoop Dogg and Oded Fehr battling evil nemesis Rob Schneider.
- – Jim Carrey accepting the best-villain award for Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas “telepathically.” His voice was heard on tape, but he never opened his mouth.
