[i]Bloody Epic Earns 5 Nods, Including Best Movie[/i]
The “300” Spartans have one more battle to conquer: The MTV Movie Awards.
A bloody action epic that chronicles King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and his 300 Spartans’ march against the massive Persian army in the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., “300” earned five MTV Movie Award nominations Monday, including Best Movie.
According to MTV, the movie also nabbed nominations for Best Performance by Butler, Best Breakthrough Performance by Lena Heady, Best Villain for Rodrigo Santoro and Best Fight (Butler vs. the “Uber Immortal”).
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“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” was next with four nominations, including Best Movie and Best Performance nods for Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley.
Vying against “300” and “Pirates” for the Best Movie trophy – a gold-plated popcorn bucket – are the Will Farrell-Jon Heder comedy “Blades of Glory,” Sacha Baron Cohen’s mock-documentary “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” and the Oscar-nominated road-trip comedy “Little Miss Sunshine.”
Taking on Butler, Depp and Knightley for Best Performance are Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce Knowles — both for “Dreamgirls” — and Oscar nominee Will Smith for “The Pursuit of Happyness.”
Like before, the fans vote on the awards — and to get them even more involved in this year’s show, the new “Best Movie Spoof” category has been added. For the competition, fans will have the opportunity to submit their own original movie shorts parodying films from the past year.
Another new category for this year’s ceremony is Best Summer Movie You Haven’t Seen Yet. The nominees are “Evan Almighty,” “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” “Hairspray,” “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” “Rush Hour 3” and “Transformers.”
“Spider-Man 3,” “Shrek the Third” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” didn’t make the cut because they will be released before the awards ceremony June 3.
Unlike past ceremonies, this year’s MTV Movie Awards will air live. Comedian Sarah Silverman was previously announced as the show’s host.
Fans can cast their vote online at the MTV Movie Awards Web site through May 29.