'It's an opportunity to have a performance that will be talked about forever,' band says of taking the Movie Awards stage on June 3.
By James Montgomery
Nate Ruess of fun.
Photo: Getty Images
Given that Fun. are the first musical act announced for the 2012 MTV Movie Awards, you'd think they'd be privy to all sorts of insider info on the big show, like potential hosts, nominees, etc. But, you'd be wrong. Turns out, they're just as much in the dark as the rest of us.
"We haven't heard anything. Who's going to be there?" frontman Andrew Ruess laughed. "Jackie Chan? Jon Bon Jovi? They better be there, for sure."
Sadly, we can't vouch for either gentleman's availability on June 3, when the Movie Awards air live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. But we can tell you that the guys in Fun. are planning on making the most of their time on stage, by going big with their performance of chart-topping smash "We Are Young."
"It's one of the most flattering things that's happened to us on this rollercoaster ride of this song and this album, because I just remember watching all those award shows — like the Video Music Awards and Movie Awards — and you always wonder like how they're doing it, what their big reveal is going to be, all those other type of things," Ruess said. "We've had meetings about how our set's going to be and what it's going to look like, and it's so exciting. It's so exciting how much effort MTV puts into this show, like, we have to show up and play the song, but they build this whole entire world around us, and it's so amazing."
"It's also an opportunity to have a performance that will be talked about forever," guitarist Jack Antonoff added. "Like, I still talk about [the 2000 VMAs], when Eminem had the thousand people dressed like him, or when Smashing Pumpkins did 'Tonight, Tonight' [at the '96 VMAs] ... these are moments that, for us, growing up, last forever, and if we could pull off something like that, it would be amazing."
And as if being tapped to perform at the 2012 Movie Awards wasn't already a big enough deal for the band, there's also the fact that they've got previous MTV awards-show experience ... though, to be fair, this will be the first time they've actually been invited to attend.
"I went to the Video Music Awards when I was 14. My friend from camp had a friend who had a dad who was involved, and we sat near Rebecca Lobo and the Spice Girls," Antonoff said. "It was the year that Fiona Apple gave the big speech, which, in hindsight, was pretty inspiring. My mind was blown, and I thought 'This is just filled with famous people, and somehow I'm in the middle of it.' So, to be able to go back to an MTV awards show — not through a friend of a friend who has a dad who works at Viacom — but to actually be invited, is an honor."
The 21st annual MTV Movie Awards air live Sunday, June 3 at 9 p.m. ET/PT from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.
Portia Medina 
Independent online video enthusiasts may recall the early 2010 original noir mystery web series based out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Steps told the story of Charlie Madison, ?a lowlife private investigator from Los Angeles who?s forced to live under an assumed identity in middle America to escape his criminal past.? And The Steps was able to tell that story (as well as promote it by way of billboards on Chattanooga buses) because its writer/director Dylan Kussman received a financial grant from Create Here, ?a local program to build Chattanooga?s cultural economy through arts, economic and cultural development initiatives.? For the second season of The Steps, Kussman and his production shop Giantleap Industries wanted to take Madison?s story back to the town where Madison came from, and give the character a 24-hour action-packed window in which the former Hollywood PI attempts to find evidence that would clear his name and instead finds trouble. ?Charlie Madison, is a man defined by his polarities...sober versus drunk, loving versus violent, being of service versus inflicting damage, recovery versus addiction,? Kussman said. ? We thought Season 2 was a great opportunity to illustrate the geographic manifestation of his internal tug-of-war: Chattanooga versus Los Angeles.?
