2000 MTV Movie Awards (2001/08/29)- Tickets to Movies in Theaters, Broadway Shows, London Theatre & More

CULVER CITY, Calif., May 3, 2000 — Letting loose can have its rewards.

Just ask Mark Wahlberg, who set the early un-PC-meter on the MTV Movie Awards (if you don’t count R&B singer D’Angelo’s loooooww-riding pants) by saying the Best Villain award should go to Charlton Heston for being president of the NRA.

He then ranted, while he and George Clooney opened the envelope, that “[the winner is] obviously not [nominee] Christopher Walken, because it’s MTV.”

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But he can do that, see, because it’s MTV, so there’s a better chance they might air it (the awards were taped, so goof-ups and expletives can be excised in time for its June 8 premiere). After all, this is the show where Wahlberg’s “Boogie Nights” er, prop won Best Prosthetic [one of the show’s “joke” categories] at the 1998 awards.

This year was no different in its outrageousness, with host Sarah Jessica Parker’s 14-outfit ensemble and some landmark winners (the first girl-girl Best Kiss, first Song winner with a bleep in the title — from “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut,” dontcha know).

Although there was no Jim Carrey, who lost out on the popcorn for the first time in six years, the press still had plenty of fodder to wax on backstage, from Halle Berry (too many driving jabs to mention) to George Lucas (squeezing as much data as possible about “Star Wars: Episode II”).

Here’s what else we learned:

COMING TO THE AWARDS COHERENT IS A RARITY: Witness the loopy behavior of Cameron Diaz (yet again) and Catherine Keener as they presented the Best New Filmmaker award to their “Being John Malkovich” director Spike Jonze. The two ladies stumbled and giggled so incoherently that we can only hope they were called back to retape. Best Musical Performance winners Trey Parker and Matt Stone were more forthright about their condition: “We’re less drunk [than the Oscars],” they said after their win. “We were so f***ed up then.”

THERE’S NOT ENOUGH INFORMATION: But what we do know about “Star Wars: Episode II” is that Samuel L. Jackson will have a showcasing lightsaber scene, according to George Lucas’ acceptance speech for Best Action Sequence (Jackson gleefully said this was news to him). Jackson told us he’s supposed to report to work in Sydney, Australia, on July 6. Lucas also discloses that this one “will involve more Jedi, so there will be more chance for women to do their swordfighting and stuff.”

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THEY DON’T LET YOU KEEP THE AWARD: Keanu Reeves tried. Trey Parker and Matt Stone tried. But in reality, even winners go home empty-handed. The popcorn gets bungeed out of their hands after the press conference and back into the possession of the headset-wearing event managers. Later, their names are engraved into the popcorn statuette and mailed to the winner.

SUMMER LOVE IS IN THE AIR: The MTV crowd was treated to public displays of affection by their favorite young couples. Among them: Carson Daly and Tara Reid, Katie Holmes and Chris Klein, Selma Blair and Jason Schwartzman, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. Tom Green, on the other hand, eschewed galpal Drew Barrymore for a coffee maker, which he brandished Ten Commandments-style to a cheering red carpet crowd. Gellar and Blair brought their dates backstage after their win, and as Prinze blushed shyly, Gellar declared her love for “this amazing person.”

THERE’S TOO MUCH/NOT ENOUGH FLESH: Trash it all you want, but Jennifer Lopez’s Grammy presence was all over the awards, with what-glue-did-you-use plungers worn by Tara Reid, MTV VJ Ananda Lewis, Katie Holmes and “Matrix” star Carrie-Anne Moss. Fans and famous alike drooled over Halle Berry’s miniskirt, which rode so low her G-string gave a featured performance, and did we mention D’Angelo’s pants?
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