By MARK KENNEDY
AP Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — The first big live awards show to air during the current screenwriters’ strike has retreated to a pre-taped event as the MTV Movie & TV Awards tries to chart a celebratory course through a turbulent Hollywood.
The Sunday show already had lost its host, Drew Barrymore, who dropped out in solidarity with the writers and the show’s red carpet was rolled up. The Writers Guild still promised to picket, meaning stars and presenters would have to walk past demonstrating writers to get into the venue. Late Saturday, MTV scrapped the live event entirely.
“We’re pivoting away from a live event that still enables us to produce a memorable night full of exclusive sneak peaks, irreverent categories our audience has come to expect, and countless moments that will both surprise and delight,” said Bruce Gillmer, an MTV executive producer, in a statement.
The best movie category pits “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Elvis,” “Nope,” “Scream VI,” “Smile” and “Top Gun: Maverick.”
The best TV shows nominated are: “Stranger Things,” “The Last of Us,” “The White Lotus,” “Wednesday,” “Wolf Pack,” “Yellowstone” and “Yellowjackets.”
One things is already clear: Jennifer Coolidge is a winner. Coolidge — who is up for two competitive awards — is also going to receive the Comedic Genius Award.
Coolidge has shot to the A-list with winning turns in both seasons of “The White Lotus” after years of comedic work in such films as “Best in Show,” “Legally Blonde” and “American Pie.” She becomes the sixth person to get the award, which was last presented to Jack Black in 2022.
Coolidge is also up for two honors Sunday — most frightened performance for “Shotgun Wedding” and best comedic performance for “The White Lotus.”
In individual categories, best performance in a movie nominees are: Austin Butler, “Elvis;” Florence Pugh, “Don’t Worry Darling;” KeKe Palmer, “Nope;” Michael B. Jordan, “Creed III;” and Tom Cruise, “Top Gun: Maverick.”
And best performance in a TV show pits Aubrey Plaza, “The White Lotus;” Christina Ricci, “Yellowjackets;” Jenna Ortega, “Wednesday;” Riley Keough, “Daisy Jones & The Six;” Sadie Sink, “Stranger Things” and Selena Gomez, “Only Murders in the Building.”
Other categories for the golden popcorn statuette include best hero, best villain, best comedic performance, best kiss, breakthrough performance, best fight, most frightened performance, best duo, best movie song, best competition series and best host. Two new categories this year are best reality on-screen team and best kick-ass cast.
The 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards will air Sunday on MTV with simulcasts on BET, BET Her, Comedy Central, CMT, Logo, MTV2, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, Pop, TV Land and VH1. ___
Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
