Deadline Hollywood - Emmy Preview/Nominees 1 - 08/09/17

PRESENTS AUGUST 9, 2017 EMMY NOMINEES / PART 1

David HARBOUR Millie Bobby BROWN John TURTURRO Riz AHMED Leah REMINI Geoffrey RUSH Donald GLOVER Mandy PATINKIN

THE

HANDMAID’S

TALE

Director Reed Morano and Elisabeth Moss on the year's most radical, buzzed about conversation starter.

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F O R YO U R E M M Y C O N S I D E R AT I O N ®

22 NOMINATIONS

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES ANTHONY HOPKINS OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES EVAN RACHEL WOOD OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES JEFFREY WRIGHT OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES THANDIE NEWTON OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A DRAMA SERIES JONATHAN NOLAN OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES LISA JOY, JONATHAN NOLAN OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN FOR A NARRATIVE CONTEMPORARY OR FANTASY PROGRAM (ONE HOUR OR MORE) - 2 NOMINATIONS OUTSTANDING CASTING FOR A DRAMA SERIES OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY FOR A SINGLE-CAMERA SERIES (ONE HOUR) OUTSTANDING PERIOD/FANTASY COSTUMES FOR A SERIES, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE OUTSTANDING SINGLE-CAMERA PICTURE EDITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES OUTSTANDING HAIRSTYLING FOR A SINGLE-CAMERA SERIES OUTSTANDING MAIN TITLE DESIGN OUTSTANDING MAKEUP FOR A SINGLE-CAMERA SERIES (NON-PROSTHETIC) OUTSTANDING PROSTHETIC MAKEUP FOR A SERIES, LIMITED SERIES, MOVIE OR SPECIAL OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL MAIN TITLE THEME MUSIC OUTSTANDING SOUND EDITING FOR A SERIES OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING FOR A COMEDY OR DRAMA SERIES (ONE HOUR) OUTSTANDING SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS OUTSTANDING CREATIVE ACHIEVEMENT IN INTERACTIVE MEDIA WITHIN A SCRIPTED PROGRAM

- THE INDEPENDENT

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PRESENTS

G EN ERA L MA NAG E R & C HI EF R EV ENUE O FFICE R

Stacey Farish EDI TOR

Joe Utichi C R EAT I V E DIR ECTO R

Craig Edwards

AS S I STA N T E D ITO R

Matt Grobar

DEA DL I NE CO - E D ITO RS - IN- CHIE F

Nellie Andreeva Mike Fleming Jr.

AWA R DS ED ITO R & CO LUM NIST

Pete Hammond

DEA DL I NE CO NTR IBUTO RS

Peter Bart Anita Busch Anthony D’Alessandro Greg Evans Lisa de Moraes Patrick Hipes David Lieberman Diana Lodderhose Amanda N’Duka Dominic Patten Erik Pedersen Denise Petski Dino-Ray Ramos David Robb Nancy Tartaglione V I DEO P ROD UCE RS

David Janove Andrew Merrill

C HA I R MA N & CEO

Jay Penske

V I C E C HA I RM A N

Gerry Byrne

C HI EF OP ERATING O FFICE R

George Grobar

EX EC U T I V E V ICE PR ES ID E NT, B U S I NES S A FFA IRS A ND G ENERA L CO UNS E L

Todd Greene

EX EC U T I V E V ICE PR ES ID E NT, B U S I NES S D EV E LO PM E NT

Craig Perreault

S EN I OR V I C E PR ES ID E NT, FINA NCE

Ken DelAlcazar

V I C E P R ES ID E NT, CR EATIV E

Nelson Anderson

V I C E P R ES ID E NT, TV

Laura Lubrano

V I C E P R ES ID E NT, FILM

Carra Fenton

S EN I OR ACCO UNT EXECUTIV ES , T EL EV I S I ON

Brianna Hamburger Tiffany Windju ACCOU N T MA NAGE R

London Sanders

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FIRST TAKE Jessica Lange channels Joan Crawford The songs of Big Little Lies Casting Stranger Things

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COVER STORY The Handmaid’s Tale is the dystopian hit of the year.

Elisabeth Moss and Reed Morano walk through it.

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THE DIALOGUE: EMMY NOMINEES David Harbour Millie Bobby Brown John Turturro Riz Ahmed Leah Remini Geoffrey Rush Donald Glover Mandy Patinkin

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EMMY HANDICAPS Pete Hammond makes his picks in the top acting races

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FLASH MOB An evening with HBO’s Big Little Lies

Stranger Things at Comic-Con

A D SA L ES CO O R D INATO RS

​Kristina Mazzeo Malik Simmons

P RODU CT I ON M A NAG E R

Andrea Wynnyk

DI ST R I B U T IO N D IR ECTO R

Michael Petre

A DV ERT I S I N G INQ UIR IES

Stacey Farish

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ON THE COVER Reed Morano & Elisabeth Moss photographed for Deadline

by Josh Telles ON THIS PAGE Riz Ahmed photographed for Deadline

by Jeff Singer

8/4/17 8:19 AM

The song stylings of Big Little Lies

p. 8

| Casting Stranger Things p. 8 |

Plus:

Gold Derby’s Emmy Odds

FEUD

for thought Jessica Lange channels Joan Crawford’s fighting spirit in Ryan Murphy’s Feud: Bette and Joan.

BY AMY NICHOLSON JESSICA LANGE HAS MUCH IN COMMON with Joan Crawford, the icon she resurrects on Ryan Murphy’s Feud. The two highcheekboned actresses launched their careers as models and dancers before studying the art of silence; Lange as a mime, and Crawford as one of the last pretalkies glamour girls to transition into sound. At first, Hollywood typecast them both as “The Babe”, a dismissal they fought by diving into extra homework. Crawford, who quit school after 5th grade, read scripts with a dictionary.

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“She’d have to look up every couple

bimbo debut in the 1976 re-do of

qualities that are innate. Lange

words,” says Lange over the phone

King Kong, Lange became a scholar

became famous channeling Fay

from a well-earned vacation in the

of doomed actress Frances Farmer

Wray, and went on to put her

woods. “She was an absolutely

for the biopic Frances, where she

stamp on all of the great roles, from

dedicated, diligent student—she

met Sam Shepard, her partner for

Blanche DuBois and Maggie the Cat

wanted so badly to be a movie star.”

27 years. (The pair split in 2009;

to remakes of The Postman Always

Shepard passed away shortly after

Rings Twice and Sybil, where she

then, thanks to a toxic cocktail of

my interview with Lange.) Farmer

tackled parts first played by Lana

misogyny, ageism, ego and vodka,

was another screen beauty forced

Turner and Joanne Woodward.

her star faded, a dimming that

to fight the system. She lost, and

Lange embodies with what can

ultimately wound up lobotomized.

or check up on Vivian Leigh and

only be called merciless sympathy.

Lange watched everything she

Elizabeth Taylor. “It’s not going

Her Feud portrayal kicks off

did, even home movies from when

to help my interpretation of that

with Crawford embracing—and

Farmer was an unknown frolicking

character,” says Lange. Which

conquering—gothic camp in the

in summer stock. Lange lost weight

means, no, she didn’t watch Faye

1962 hit Whatever Happened to

and gained dark circles under her

Dunaway’s looney-bin spin on

Baby Jane? “Her scenes in Baby

eyes. On set, she teetered on the

Crawford in Mommie Dearest, either.

Jane showed she was still vital

edge of a nervous breakdown. But

She didn’t even read the memoir,

as an actor,” says Lange, “and

when it was over, she’d earned her

furiously penned by Crawford’s angry

from then on it was all downhill.”

first Best Actress Oscar nomina-

eldest daughter. As Lange explains,

When Crawford’s gamble didn’t

tion, plus a second Best Supporting

it didn’t make sense to trust the

pay off with her agent’s telephone

Actress nomination for Tootsie. And,

viewpoint of “somebody who had

ringing off the hook, and her Oscar

like Crawford and Davis before her,

a lifetime of emotional investment

hopes were handed instead to her

she’d also been landed with the

in telling her story.” Instead, Lange

co-star and rival Bette Davis, the

industry’s booby prize: a rival named

channeled Joan by studying Joan.

legend shuttered her glow from the

Meryl Streep.

Everything Joan. Lange had barely

Crawford became one. And

industry that had once beamed her name in lights.

Hollywood loves a cat-fight.

Lange didn’t watch their versions,

slipped out of the Edwardian

The two talented blondes, born

dressing gowns of her Tony-winning

two months apart, had already

turn in Long Day’s Journey into Night

Lange’s stories differ. Baby Jane was

competed head-to-head for roles.

before her life became a cram

Crawford’s turning point for the

Now, they were up against each

session of Crawford’s biographies,

worse. But dredging up Crawford

other for Best Actress. Ultimately,

interviews, and of course, films—

at her worst has earned Lange an

Streep won for Sophie’s Choice.

effort Joan would approve.

Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy

Lange was content to take home

nomination, alongside co-star Susan

Best Supporting Actress for Tootsie,

a final,” says Lange. She would

Sarandon as Bette Davis—an irony

and 12 years later finally claimed

earmark Crawford’s quotes, and

that would have their characters

Best Actress for Blue Sky. In Feud,

convince Murphy why they needed

howling (and grabbing their phones

Bette Davis sleeps with her Oscars.

to be in the show. Nine times out of

to backstab each other to gossip

“Well, I don’t,” laughs Lange, though

10, he’d agree. “Maybe the frantic

columnist Hedda Hopper, here

she swears “they’re not used as

quality of learning about her helped

played by Judy Davis).

doorstops.”

in some odd way,” adds Lange. “I

Here’s where Crawford and

Arguably, Feud has already helped

Unlike their forebears, new

“It really was like jamming for

think there was a bit of desperation

Lange win two Emmys. Murphy

superstars Lange and Streep knew

on my part, and that carried over

first pitched Lange on the project

not to take the gossips’ bait. Streep

into playing her.”

in 2009, three years before they

admitted that she wished she’d

There’s desperation, sure, in

paired up for American Horror Story,

scored the part of Patsy Cline in

how Lange captures Crawford’s

where the pedigreed Lange startled

Sweet Dreams, but that “Jessica

self-consciousness, the vain thrust

fans and seduced awards voters

Lange did it and she was fantastic.”

of her chin, the thick eyebrows

with a terrifically fun volte-face as,

As for Lange, she insists that

she calculated to be “just about

in different seasons, a vain witch,

she “never paid much attention

the same size and weight and

a wild nun, a wicked mother, and a

to that.” Instead, she focused

darkness,” though they don’t seem

stage diva who chainsawed her own

on recovering from Farmer, an

to dominate Lange’s face as much.

legs off for fame. Clearly, Baby Jane

experience that exhausted her so

In Lange’s cautious diction, you

was on both of their minds. “It was

much she once vowed, “I’ll never do

hear Crawford’s fear of backsliding

always kind of lurking out there,”

a role like that again.”

into the Texas urchin she’d been

admits Lange. Pity her own gonzo

How could she not? Lange came

back when she was streetwise

resurrection hadn’t worked as well

of age during disco, but has classic

Lucille LeSueur. (“Joan Crawford”

for Crawford.

Hollywood in her soul. She has the

was a stage name.) You even see

controlled spine and calculated

that anxiety in her apartment,

voice of an old-fashioned star,

where Crawford has nervously

Still, Lange, too, works doubletime to prove her worth. After her

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FRENEMIES Main image: Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford. Below: with Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis.

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name like stiff velvet.

As Lange’s Crawford sighs in the season finale, “I felt like I always had to be on, that if someone caught a glimpse of the girl beneath the movie star then—poof!—I’d go back to that sad little wretch I’d been.”

Back then, the average civilian couldn’t comprehend the pressure of creating, and maintaining, a public image. Today, thanks to Instagram, we do. And while there’s no single journalist as powerful as Hedda Hopper, a woman who took pride in creating, and wrecking, careers, Lange notes that, “the internet, as a kind of anonymous entity, is successful at that from time to time.

“When you think about being under contract to MGM or Warner Bros., and what you had to do to hold on to that position, it’s hard for people to even understand what was at stake with that stardom,” says Lange. No wonder Crawford was armored—literally. On that infamous 1963 evening when Crawford sabotaged Davis’s Oscar win and stole the spotlight by accepting Anne Bancroft’s award, she steeled herself in a silver beaded dress that weighed over 40 pounds. Murphy recreated the entire backstage of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and sent Lange stalking through it in a tricky single shot where she passes through green rooms and kitchens, nods at wannabes, and even pats a man on the back while he’s at the urinal, before pausing to crush wrapped her expensive furniture

with all the accouterments. It was

LeSueur was sexually abused by her

a cigarette right before she goes

in plastic that had Lange skidding

very disorienting.”

stepfather at 11, then thrown into

onstage to officially win Hollywood’s

a boarding school where she was

Cattiest Queen. “Between takes,

every time she sat down. “Sets

What earned Lange her eighth

like that served us very well,” says

Emmy nomination isn’t her mimicry.

forced to earn her keep by cooking

we’d have to slip the dress off

Lange, “but I found them all so

It’s her empathy. At times, Feud can

and cleaning for her classmates.

because it was just making my back

terribly sad.” As for Crawford’s

seem almost too cruel to Crawford,

Hollywood was LeSueur’s ticket

and shoulders and everything ache,”

rigorous beauty rituals, like the sink

like an early scene where Baby Jane

out, and she seized it with a grip she

says Lange. But Crawford forced

filled with cold witch hazel and ice

director Robert Aldrich (Alfred

wouldn’t release for 50 years. “If you

herself to carry its weight all night.

cubes, Lange laughs, “It can’t do

Molina) recoils from her kiss. The

look at her early films, [Our] Dancing

any harm, but I’m not sure it’s the

show plays that moment for a

Daughters and the early footage of

could have an opportunity to lay

magic elixir, either.”

cringing laugh at the over-confident

her, there’s an abandon, almost a

Crawford’s ghost to rest. What if no

Yet, even after all that

At this year’s Emmys, Lange

biddy who still believes she’s a sex

kind of vulgarity to her,” says Lange.

matter who wins—her or Sarandon,

preparation, Lange blinked when

goddess. But in a blink, Lange makes

“I don’t think it was a mistake that

or their other worthy contenders

she first walked into Crawford’s

you feel Crawford’s pain. When the

[F. Scott] Fitzgerald referred to her

Carrie Coon, Felicity Huffman, Nicole

mock apartment and saw a portrait

script strips Crawford of dignity,

as one of the original Jazz Babies. I

Kidman and Reese Witherspoon—

of her—or rather, of herself as Joan

Lange reveals her vulnerability and

would have loved to ask her about

the actresses march out arm-in-arm

Crawford—prominently displayed

pride. Rejection hurts. But Crawford’s

the extreme of going from that girl

in solidarity, defying an industry that

over the fireplace. “I couldn’t figure

been through worse.

who danced to ‘Black Bottom’ or the

pits talented women against each

Charleston to ‘Joan Crawford,’” says

other? Lange chuckles at the image.

Lange, pronouncing LeSueur’s new

“I hadn’t thought of that!” ★

out who it was for a moment,” admits Lange. “It was my face but

“I became obsessed with her childhood,” says Lange. Lucille

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CHARTED TERRITORY

Gold Derby’s Emmy Odds At press time, here is how Gold Derby’s experts ranked the Emmy chances in the Limited Series, TV Movie, Variety Talk and Variety Sketch races. Get up-todate rankings and make your own predictions at GoldDerby.com

MONTEREY Blues

Big Little Lies music supervisor Susan Jacobs discusses the choices that made the series’ music “pop”.

PREVIOUSLY COLLABORATING with Jean-Marc

I think of it more like a color box,” Jacobs says of the

Vallée on two films—Wild and Demolition—music

limited series’ music, which ventures across genres

supervisor Susan Jacobs rode the waves of Mon-

into soul, funk, and the blues, both classic and con-

terey to her first Emmy nomination with HBO’s Big

temporary. “I feel like this is a seven-hour film, and

Little Lies. While the series is based on Liane Mori-

Jean-Marc’s commitment to lack of score is very

arty’s novel, Vallée encouraged Jacobs to go into

much what made this whole thing work.”

the project blank, “because he had a very different

In a series about women and their

take on how he was going to present this.”

(precariously) tight-knit community, every

While the recurrence of Agnes Obel’s

character has their voice, manifest through

melancholy “September Song” might trick the

music. For Jane, it’s Martha Wainwright; for Nicole

audience into thinking the series has a score,

Kidman’s Celeste, that voice is Neil Young.

what is most notable and successful about the

“I think it’s really about range, because

director’s process, to Jacobs, is the fact that

that’s exactly what he tries to get with his

he operates without a composer, allowing the

performances and these characters,” the music

tracks selected to create a unity, and a strong,

supervisor says. “This was really representing a

memorable atmosphere.

town. It’s about giving voice and heart to all of

“These [choices] are not just about songs.

these things.” –Matt Grobar

CUBA’S CASTING COUP Stranger Things casting director Carmen Cuba discusses the fruits of a local Atlanta casting search.

kids internationally—but when the primary cast was assembled, the challenge shifted to scouting Atlanta locals who could hang in with the pros. “To find actors who are at the same level, and can hold scenes opposite them, is always a PINT-SIZED Discovery Noah Schnapp in Stranger Things

challenge with any location,” Cuba explains.

WITH ITS OUTSIZED debut

chance to level up screen veteran

last year, it’s strange to think

David Harbour, while giving fresh

among the Season 1 crop of

that Stranger Things was once

exposure to the brightest stars of

Atlanta discoveries were Joe

considered a “tiny show”. Posing

tomorrow.

Keery and Barb herself, Shannon

little financial risk for Netflix, the

Finding a group of child actors

In the end, Cuba delivered—

Purser, whose short-and-sweet

project gave Emmy-nominated

to hang a show on was no easy

turn on the series earned her an

casting director Carmen Cuba the

feat—Cuba saw nearly 2,000

Emmy nod. –Matt Grobar

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OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES

ODDS

1

Big Little Lies

5/6

2

Feud: Bette and Joan

19/10

3

The Night Of

10/1

4

Fargo

66/1

5

Genius

80/1

OUTSTANDING TELEVISION MOVIE

ODDS

1

Black Mirror

11/10

2

The Wizard of Lies

13/5

3

Sherlock: The Lying Detective

11/2

4

Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

11/1

5

Christmas of Many Colors

100/1

OUTSTANDING VARIETY TALK SERIES

ODDS

1

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

13/10

2

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

12/5

3

Late Show with Stephen Colbert

10/3

4

Late Late Show with James Corden

66/1

5

Jimmy Kimmel Live

66/1

OUTSTANDING VARIETY SKETCH SERIES

ODDS

1

Saturday Night Live

1/10

2

Portlandia

40/1

3

Billy on the Street

50/1

4

Documentary Now

66/1

5

Tracey Ullman’s Show

66/1

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DIRECTOR REED MORANO AND LEAD ACTRESS ELISABETH MOSS WERE TWO OF THE MOST INTEGRAL COGS IN THE WHEEL THAT MADE HULU’S THE HANDMAID’S TALE TURN, INTO ONE OF 2017’S MOST BELOVED, AND PRESCIENT, PIECES OF TELEVISION—WITH THE SHOW COLLECTING 13 EMMY NOMINATIONS. THEY TELL JOE UTICHI HOW THEY DID IT.

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PRAISE BE Elisabeth Moss and director Reed Morano made dystopian speculative fiction look easy with their Hulu adaptation.

THERE IS PLENTY OF CATCHING UP

when Elisabeth Moss and director Reed Morano reunite for Deadline’s photoshoot for The Handmaid’s Tale at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood. After all, even before the show they made together aired, they were having respective moments on their continued ascendance to the upper echelons of film and television. Morano has recently wrapped production on I Think We’re Alone Now, a feature starring Peter Dinklage and Elle Fanning, while Moss has been involved in a mess of high-profile projects this year, such as the second season of Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake, and Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner The Square.

They both alighted on creator Bruce Miller’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale at similar times, and, as they explained over coffee after their shoot, gave each other a leg up on the project, having first collaborated on Morano’s 2015 directorial debut, Meadowland. Morano, who directed the first three episodes of the season this year, reflects on the series with only the regret that it would have been impossible to do more. Along with cinematographer Colin Watkinson, she set the tone for a show that can be, at turns, gritty and chaotic, and still and painterly.

The Handmaid’s Tale belongs to Moss’ Offred, a woman kept against her will in the household of a high-ranking commander, in a dystopian future America in which the fertility rate has dropped to catastrophic levels and a new totalitarian government has seized power. Her only crime? That she has survived the fertility lottery and can bear children. And she is but one of many women subjugated and suffering under the regime’s brutal control.

The Hulu-aired show earned 13 Emmy nominations this year, after critics wagged their tongues in the particular direction of the series’ eerie prescience in a real-world in which the foothold of conservatism seems to be gaining strength and technology continues to disconnect us from reality. And yet Atwood’s work was no less prescient when it was written 30 years ago; it was and remains a cautionary tale for where we might find ourselves if we continue in our determination to look on those around us as other.

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“We didn’t have any rules for what we were approaching. All of our references were movies or paintings, and they were all very unusual, and even the films were kind of obscure.

But 'painterly' was a word we used so much, with the colors, with the cinematography; we didn’t want to do anything you’d seen before.”

—Elisabeth Moss

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You had worked together before, on Reed’s

you push too much for somebody that everyone

directorial debut, Meadowland. So who joined

knows is your friend, and that you’ve worked with

The Handmaid’s Tale first?

before, it can backfire. I knew it was important

Reed Morano: My agents were coming and saying,

that Reed be everybody’s choice, not just mine. I

“You should do some TV.” They introduced me to

purposefully took a light touch with it. So you had

what the different networks were doing; what kind

a call with Bruce and Warren, right?

of material. Hulu gave me a pilot script for The

RM: I Skyped with them. Or, you know, it was only

Handmaid’s Tale before Lizzie was attached to it.

Skype for the first five minutes because it never

The message was, “Just take a look at this. It’s out

works. We saw what each other looked like, and

to a very big director but you can see what kind

then it was a conference call [laughs]. But there

of stuff we’re doing.” But if there was ever a pilot

was a lot of excitement on that phone call.

that was up my alley, it was this one. I read the

EM: They called me the next day and were like, “Oh

book in college—around 1996, so well after it had

my God, we just had the most amazing pitch with

come out. I remember it as one of the few books in

Reed.” So then, she wrote this pitch book… I want

college I actually enjoyed reading, and that stayed

to say it was 60 pages?

with me. So I read it and, of course, I fell in love with

RM: 72 pages. A lot of them were pictures though

it. I said, “I would really love to pitch on this.” Just

[laughs].

throwing it out there.

EM: It had a soundtrack to accompany it.

Months went by and I didn’t hear anything, but

RM: Well, music is so important to people. Music

then I read a story on Deadline that Lizzie was cast

is particularly very important in Lizzie’s process, if

as Offred, and the project suddenly got a whole lot

I may say.

sweeter, because I love Lizzie. I think she’s one of the

EM: Absolutely, and in Reed’s. I was just like, “Yes,

most talented people of her generation and this role

girl. Yes.” It was exactly what we needed to see and

was so, so perfect for her. And I just thought, What

it wasn’t long before Warren said, “I think it would

do I have to lose? So I emailed her to congratulate

be a huge mistake not to hire Reed.” She made it

her, and I was like, “By the way, I’ve been trying to

impossible not to hire her with all the qualifications

pitch on that job.” And I didn’t hear back from her,

and the passion for the project.

because she was busy shooting. But around a week later I got a call from my agents. “They want you to

The music is a perfect example of the coex-

come in and pitch on The Handmaid’s Tale.” I just

isting contradictions in this project: you have

was not expecting that. So I’m sure a little birdie

a very chaste, puritan environment and then

whispered into their ear, and I think I know who that

these riotous songs dominate the soundtrack.

was.

The show mixes handheld shots with these

Elisabeth Moss: [laughs] Yeah, it was very sort of

incredible, painterly vistas. Offred is so quiet

copacetic. You were actually already on the list.

when we see her, but then her voiceover has

RM: Right, make me feel better.

this tremendous agency. Were those sorts of

EM: It’s totally true! There were a lot of people

contradictions central to your approach?

on that list, ranging in experience and ranging in

EM: Absolutely. We didn’t have any rules for what

fame, and some great people. I was shooting in

we were approaching. With most films and TV

Australia and I did get an email. And it just helped

shows, everyone tends to say, “It’s like this mixed

to know that she was interested in it. Our criteria

with that.” We never did that. All of our references

was simple in the sense that we wanted someone

were movies or paintings, and they were all very

obviously really talented, but also someone who

unusual, and even the films were kind of obscure.

wanted this and who was going to love it and be

But “painterly” was a word we used so much, with

as passionate about it as we were. We, meaning

the colors, with the cinematography; we didn’t

me and Bruce and [executive producer] Warren

want to do anything you’d seen before.

Littlefield. So when Reed reached out, it made

RM: What was so nice about everybody who

it really easy to be, like, “We should definitely be

was in charge was that I had some kind of wild,

taking a look at Reed.”

out-there ideas, but everybody was pretty game to

RM: Lizzie’s smart, and she has tactics where,

go for them. Allowing the director to have that kind

if she wants things, she doesn’t push too hard

of creative freedom, and then trusting that it’s the

because she doesn’t want it to backfire. She likes

right risk to take, I commend everybody in charge,

to plant the seeds of things that she wants to see

Lizzie, all the producers, Warren and Bruce and

happen.

everyone at Hulu and also at MGM, because I think

EM: In these situations, it can be tough because if

they knew that this was kind of out-there and we

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UNDER HIS EYE From Top: Elisabeth Moss's Offred reconciling her fate; the Handmaids coalesce, led on by Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd); the price of rebellion in Gilead.

D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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were pushing the boundaries a little and they were so supportive of it. It becomes its own, new style, and hats off to them for letting us do it.

We told it more like a piece of music than a TV series, and I think the storytelling works on an episodic level, but it also allows you the freedom. The thing I was most drawn to was the writing, because even though there was so much voiceover, I felt it gave the actors a lot of opportunity to express things without words. And to be honest, there were so many moments that I would be watching Lizzie doing a scene, and everything that was in the voiceoverI found she was conveying it on her face.

So we didn’t have to use every piece.

EM: I would use the voiceover as a little personal guide to what my character was thinking and feeling. Then my objective was always to try my damnedest to not need it, and often it was challenging in that sense. It’s much easier just to explain oneself in voiceover. We really needed that voiceover to be the cherry on top that gave you something else you weren’t seeing. It had to be something that we weren’t showing visually.

RM: Like a bit of satire, or something.

EM: Exactly. It works best when it’s the opposite of what’s in her face. That enhances and elevates.

The voiceover also reminds us that she’s playing a part, and some times, that's easier for her than at others.

EM: Yes. It’s a perfect way to adapt a book that is so first-person narrative-driven. Reed and Colin did that in the visuals by making it such a point-ofview show, and Bruce did it in the writing, which is how we got Margaret Atwood’s voice in it. That’s where we’re able to hear her.

People have talked about how prescient the show has become with the way the world has turned in the last twelve months. I would guess that this particular writing was on the wall even when you were making it. This world, sadly, never seems far away.

EM: Yes, we actually watched the election together, because Reed had come back to shoot a scene. We were on to Episodes 4 and 5 at that time. The show was already written.

RM: We had already shot Episodes 1 through 3 at that time, and we thought then about its political significance, but I would say we didn’t change our approach based on what happened.

EM: No. It just became even more prescient and relevant. The day after the election I went to do two scenes with Joe [Fiennes]. One was him explaining the meaning of Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum

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and the next was where he delivers that incredible Margaret Atwood line: “Better never means better for everyone. It’s always worse for some.” I get chills just saying it. There’s no way that’s not going to

BLESSED ARE THE MEEK Clockwise, from top left: Aunt Lydia, emotional at Ceremony; The Commander (Joseph Fiennes) and his wife, Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) toe the line of the new America; the Handmaids wash blood off the walls.

feel deeper and more grounded because of what had happened at 2:30 that morning. But I agree with you in the sense that the book was written in 1985 and it was relevant then. It would have been relevant for women in 1700s America, and it would have been relevant for many, many other countries over many years.

Margaret says, quite wisely, that the constitution is very young. There have been older documents that have been toppled far quicker. So in the scale of things, it’s quite recent that we decided we were going to have this kind of a country, and it could be undone so easily.

RM: I think you have to remember also that in those weeks after the election, it felt like every day, something was getting undone. That’s frightening to everybody, but the automatic thing I think everyone working on The Handmaid’s Tale was remembering was Moira’s line, where she says, “We didn’t look up from our phones until it was too late.” That’s America in many ways.

EM: Everything just started to strike you right in the face. Even up to today; I was just reading articles about men’s fertility dropping. Have you read those?

RM: Yes. Someone sent me a message and was like, “What is happening?”

Do you think you accidentally stirred the pot?

EM: [laughs] I wish! If we were that powerful we could turn it around.

RM: Yeah, we would use our power for good and not evil. Unfortunately we are just a television show.

It must have been rewarding to feel the reaction from people when the show aired.

EM: It’s been amazing, and very different from anything I’ve done. The reaction has been so very personal—people saying things like they were

“The book was written in 1985 and it was relevant then. It would have been relevant for women in 1700s America, and it would have been relevant for many, many other countries over many years.” —Elisabeth Moss D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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“The automatic thing I think everyone working on The Handmaid’s Tale was remembering was Moira’s line, where she says, ‘We didn’t look up from our phones until it was too late.’

That’s America in many ways."

—Reed Morano

inspired or strengthened. Just last night, someone

continue this journey?

commented on an Instagram photo of mine saying

EM: We’re pretty far into it right now. We’ve got

they were going through a really dark time and this

outlines and I know what happens throughout the

show had helped them get through it. You hope to

whole season. We took quite a few departures and

create something entertaining and beautiful, and

liberties from the book in Season 1, but what’s so

at the end of the day we’re all just doing something

amazing about what Bruce and his writers’ room

we love to do. You don’t necessarily expect for it to

did was that it felt so seamless. In the book, Luke

have this kind of effect.

and Moira die, and you never hear from them

RM: It’s pretty amazing. Also the subject matter

again. Ofglen 1 dies, and you never hear from her

and the story; I mean, the book is universally loved,

again. They all disappear. So we took these really

but it could be polarizing if it’s not done right. But

important, big characters from the book and gave

every aspect of it seemed to go together in such

them all entirely new storylines. We changed the

a way. And maybe it is partially timing, but I think

Serena/Commander dynamic, and their whole

to have so many people universally identify with it,

story, quite a bit. We made them younger. But we

there’s nothing more thrilling.

always stayed loyal to the tone of the book. That’s

And also, how difficult is it to take a character who is not herself—who has been stripped of her

just made it work for a longer-running story.

identity—and she’s the main person whose eyes

So for Season 2, there isn’t as much concern

you’re seeing through? How would the audience

about that, because we had already changed a lot

be able to relate to someone like that? This person

of shit. There’s also so much stuff we haven’t done

can’t be an individual, but there is no character you

in the book. Things we never got to explore, like

identify with more, and I think that’s obviously credit

the colonies and the histories of some of the main

to Lizzie and her performance, and Bruce’s writing

characters. I think we feel less beholden to Season 1

and Colin’s cinematography, and how we choose to

than you might imagine, and we’re more just excited

shoot from her perspective. It’s almost like piecing

to extend it. It shouldn’t feel like a second season. It

together a mystery. You’re peeling back the layers of

should feel like 13 more episodes.

the onion throughout the whole of the first season,

EYE SEES YOU From Top: Bodies hanging in the churches of yesteryear; two Handmaids wade through their dark world as snow falls.

why I think it works. We didn’t change the tone, we

We’ve learned a lot too. Some of the concerns

and that’s a ballsy move.

we had, like, is the voiceover going to work? Is it too

EM: We used that phrase, “balls to the wall”, over

dark? Is this musical choice going to go over like a

and over again. We felt like the only mistake we

dead weight? Are people going to be like, “What the

could make was in not going far enough, or not

fuck? Why is an ’80s song playing?” They worked

going dark enough, or using less interesting musical

brilliantly, so now we know we can go further in

choices. We felt like there was nothing to lose.

those directions.

Because if we didn’t go far enough, we wouldn’t have been loyal to the book. We were like, “Fuck

Talking of direction, Reed, will you be back?

it, what’s the worst that can happen? We do 10

RM: There’s been a lot of trying to shift major

episodes and then we’re done, but we're proud of

schedules to make it happen. I’m always

what we did.”

never say never, because you never know, and it sort of depends on whether a few

18

Fortunately you aren’t done. The show is

things align. I’m doing as much manipulation

coming back for a second season. How do you

as I can to try and make it so. ★

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D THE DIALOGUE

EMMY NOMINEES 2017 PART 1 INTE RVIE WS BY ANTHO NY D’ALESSANDRO, M ATT GROBAR, NEV PIERCE & JO E UTICHI

David HARBOUR

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Stranger Things

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M I CH A EL B UCK NE R

Was production on Season 2 a different experience, now that the show has found its place in the zeitgeist?

Now, we know that we have something special, and I think we feel an obligation for the fans. I’m more afraid this season than I was last because we’re very aware we do not want a sophomore slump. Each scene, I’m thinking a lot more specifically, and I’m thinking a lot harder. It’s like, you created vanilla ice cream in the first season, and it’s so tasty, so delicious, but in the second season, you can’t redo vanilla. You have to create strawberry. —J.U.

M I CH A EL B UCK NE R

On your first reading of Stranger Things, did you immediately sense that this was something special?

It was the best pilot script I’ve ever read, and certainly the best character I’d ever been asked to play, in terms of his complexity and his depth. I feel in storytelling, people are so afraid that you won’t get it unless you pound them over the head. In this show, he wakes up and you see the picture of his dead daughter, and you know this guy’s messed up.

But in the next scene, you realize the sophistication of a guy who’s been through tragedy but has had to develop a way of living with it. Just to have it be, “We’re not going to tell you exactly who this guy is, we’re going to let him be a real human being,” was very unique.

Millie Bobby BROWN

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Stranger Things What has the last year been like for you, witnessing the stratospheric rise of Stranger Things?

Honestly, it’s been unreal—it’s been magical. I’m so grateful for the response that the show has gotten. We really didn’t intend for it to blow up but we thought that this show was different, unique and had something to it that no other show really had. I didn’t think Eleven would be that popular. I thought she would just be the sidekick, which I was okay with because I believed in the show.

M I CH A EL B UCK NE R

M I CH A EL B UCK NE R

Why do you think your character, Eleven, has so resonated with people?

Eleven, I think, resonates because she’s different. She’s an outcast, she’s a freak, and that is why people relate to her. People love her for being a freak and for being different, and Mike loves her for being a unique character. When I auditioned for the role, I never even knew I had powers. I didn’t know who she was, honestly, until I was like, “Wow, she has power.”

That was pretty cool. It took two episodes for me to figure out who Eleven was, and now it’s like she’s a part of me. —J.U.

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D

THE DIALOGUE

John TURTURRO Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie The Night Of

You so completely wore John Stone for this project. Going in, did you know this man?

I know a lot of people in different professions who have tremendous abilities, and they’ve never had the constitution to survive what may be in Stone’s case: to hold someone’s life in his hands, and maybe it didn’t work out the right way. There was something so human about that; a guy who’s a wiseass and has all this black humor, and his body is betraying him. By the end, I had so much stuff to do with my feet and my makeup every day. It’s like my attrition—you sink in.

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J E FF S I NG E R

M A RK M A NN

Was there a particular prosecutor you consulted in crafting Stone?

Kenny Montgomery—a star prosecutor and defense lawyer— helped me a lot, because he was able to delineate what he actually goes through. Even though he’s really successful, it does cost him a lot. He’s like the guy maybe that Stone could be, you know? A lot of these people, their lives are a mess. It’s hard to have a family.

Sometimes people are divorced three, four times, and they’re nightcrawlers. You don’t get material like that. —A.D’A.

Riz AHMED

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie The Night Of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series Girls

J E FF S I NG E R

M A RK M A NN

Approaching The Night Of, what were the aspects of Naz Khan that compelled you?

He goes through quite a transformation, not just in his intentions, the message that he learns, or his outlook in life, but really the raw fundamentals of who he is transform. There’s a lot of things going on under the surface.

As a character, he’s not able to be very active, so you can’t chart that journey of transformation through massive decision after massive decision. He is being pinballed around and those transformations take place, so it was quite tricky, in lots of ways, but when I signed up to do it, I didn’t know what was going to happen with the character. Really, what attracted me to the character was how subtly it was written. It left enough negative space in the writing for you to try and create something with it.

What preparations did you go through?

I needed to start going to a gym, and I needed to get a massive wall full of post-it notes and start plotting how this transformation would take place, from one scene to the next. That was a bit of an “Oh, shit” moment. I thought I knew what I was getting myself into, but it was something else. —J.U.

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THE DIALOGUE

Leah REMINI

Outstanding Informational Series or Special Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath What were the most satisfying moments in the production of Season 1?

The show is inspired by Amy Scobee and her mother Bonny, who told her story from her hospice bed. Her wish was that we were able to stop Scientology and its disconnection policy from hurting families, and I think we’ve done her a service because people are now thinking of Scientology as something to be looked at. It’s not something to make fun of and walk away from. It is not innocuous—it is actually hurtful and damaging. I’m grateful that our peers have taken a look at this show and seen the bravery of these people speaking out, because there are repercussions to their actions. The policy says to destroy them utterly.

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M A RK M A NN

M I CH A EL B UCK NE R

What does this recognition by the Television Academy mean, for you and for the world?

It’s made me very happy to see that the voters are seeing the truth behind Scientology propaganda. They have taken it in by even nominating us, and we will be eternally grateful for that. I think Scientology’s machine makes you believe that Scientology is very prevalent in Hollywood— it isn’t. —M.G.

Geoffrey RUSH

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Genius

Having lived with Einstein now for a great deal of time, what are the lessons we can take from the physicist and apply to our present historical moment?

The most obvious context around that is his passionate belief in the goodness of scientific inquiry. That is something that we’re battling with, but I think he always had a rather golden quality, that science should only and can only be used for the goodness of human existence. —M.G.

M A RK M A NN

M I CH A EL B UCK NE R

What preparations did you go through to portray Albert Einstein?

Certainly for the period I was playing, from his early 40s until his death at 76, there was a lot of extraordinary material. I just noticed the other day they sold the “tongue-out” photo for $125,000 at some auction in America. I think he got sick of the celebrity, and always having to smile for photographs, because he had elements of his personality that were so clown-like. He did kind of what Harpo Marx would call “doing a gookie,” sticking your tongue out and going, “Ah, there you go.

Take that.”

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Donald GLOVER

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series Atlanta Season 1 has been a huge success – have you made a conscious effort to change things up in the writing of Season 2?

I always try to get down to the basics of what you want. I think it’s kind of silly to come to it like, “What do I want to do?” No, what do people want to feel after seeing this season? So, yeah, I made a conscious effort to just “up” everything. I’m glad people liked Season 1 and are excited for Season 2, but if we do our job right people will be like, “Wow, this season’s way better!” That’s my goal.

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M I CH A EL B UCK NE R

DAVI D V I NT IN E R

Will you direct more this season?

I don’t want to direct too much.

I’m still very new to it and I want to learn a lot. I think Hiro [Murai] is so masterful—and him and Christian [Sprenger, the cinematographer, who also shot GLOW] are so good together— I’d rather just watch them, to be honest. I’ll probably direct something, but I don’t want to take it over at all. —N.P.

Mandy PATINKIN

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Homeland

Are there topics you’d like to see the series address in its final two seasons?

There a couple of things I’m hoping for. One is attention to the truth. Real facts—not false information, not bots, not sock puppets, but truth. I hope that there is a continuing attention to a place we have visited, filmed in, and incorporated into the story over these six years, which is Israel, and the Palestinian crisis—because for me, it’s the epicenter of the world crisis. —M.G.

M I CH A EL B UCK NE R

DAVI D V I NT IN E R

What impact did Donald Trump’s election have on Homeland’s sixth season?

I think a character came to the forefront that wiped all the rest of the characters away, and that was the character of truth.

I got a call from a friend that said this was his favorite season to date. He’s watched them all, he’s very critical. He said, “This one wasn’t even close to the truth; it was beyond the truth. It was just terrifyingly accurate.” I wish we had to stretch further for material than we had to stretch this season. Our team, they don’t screw around. They really research shit. This isn’t made up.

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EM M Y H AN DICAPS / BY P ETE H A M M O N D

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES There will be a rather large shake up in this race, even though four of the seven nominated actors are returning from last year. None of them (Bob Odenkirk, Matthew Rhys, Liev Schreiber & Kevin Spacey) have won before in the category, but they have a real shot this year in the absence of reigning champ Rami Malek, whose work on Mr. Robot this season didn’t draw a nomination after criticism of the show’s sophomore outing. But for one of these vets to finally take home the Emmy, they’ll have to overcome some stiff new competition.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Sterling K. Brown

Anthony Hopkins

Brown is the only one of this bunch to have taken home an Emmy last year, albeit for his supporting work in the limited series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. He is back as a breakout of the ensemble of NBC’s This Is Us, but he may have a tough time overcoming competition from his own co-star in that show, Milo Ventimiglia.

HBO’s sci-fi adaptation led all drama series with 22 nods including this one for the veteran Oscar winner delivering a precise and chilling performance. His very presence in this race for the first time classes up the joint and makes him a major threat, but total screen time is somewhat limited.

This Is Us NBC

Westworld HBO

A rich and varied field of veteran stars highlights this impressive collection of performances. Jonathan Banks of Better Call Saul has been overdue since his Breaking Bad days; David Harbour is great in the wonderfully creepy Stranger Things, but he’s overshadowed by the kids; Ron Cephas Jones had a stunner of a death episode in This Is Us; Michael Kelly is a staple in House of Cards; Mandy Patinkin is just about singlehandedly flying the flag for the one-time Emmy darling Homeland; and Jeffrey Wright is solid as always in Westworld. But if multiple Emmy winner John Lithgow, a SAG Award winner for his role as Winston Churchill in The Crown, doesn’t also take this prize for his bulging mantle of awards, I will be shocked.

WINNER: John Lithgow, The Queen

Bob Odenkirk

Matthew Rhys

Liev Schreiber

Kevin Spacey

Milo Ventimiglia

AMC’s spinoff from its multiple Emmy winner, Breaking Bad, has become a staple at the Emmys, as has its star, who has really run with this role and made it his own in ways that most sequels—or, in this case, prequels— rarely allow. Odenkirk is one to watch here, especially as the series gets increasingly complex.

Rhys and the show finally broke through in the Emmy race last year after being a critical darling for its entire run. Though the final season of the series failed to make the Emmy list this year, a win here would be a fitting tribute for Rhys, who delivers in every episode.

And it is Emmy voters’ last chance to recognize him.

Schreiber is a favorite of the actors’ branch, who keep returning him to the competition even when it seems he may be down and out.

Don’t bet on it. Ray Donovan provides him a unique opportunity to shine in a more traditional kind of series role, tough and dependable each and every season.

This is Spacey’s fifth consecutive nomination for playing the slippery Francis Underwood in the venerable Netflix political series. But you have to wonder: if he hasn’t won it yet, will he ever? The show is still getting love from Emmy with multiple nominations, even if the events depicted are being overshadowed by the goings on in the real Washington DC.

A bit of a surprise inclusion, voters plucked this nevernominated star out of the ensemble of NBC’s smash family drama. A win would be a first for an actor whose entire role is essentially played in flashback. He’s also facing off against his co-star Sterling K. Brown, which might be a liability.

Better Call Saul AMC

The Americans FX

PETE’S

WINNER PICK

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Ray Donovan Showtime

House of Cards Netflix

This Is Us NBC

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OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES Just like the lead actor race, this one is ripe for a shakeup since last year’s surprise winner, Tatiana Maslany of Orphan Black, hasn’t returned due to the show not being eligible this year. That leaves room for a winner from two years ago, a couple of perpetual nominees, someone on their last chance, and a newbie to the race. A survey of the field, though, comes up with two distinct frontrunners.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

Viola Davis

How to Get Away With Murder ABC The newly-minted Oscar winner actually became the first ever African American to win in this category just two years ago for the first season of her mystery series.

She failed to beat Maslany for a second consecutive win, but she’s back again to try and regain her crown.

It would be a rare feat in that circumstance, and her show comes from ABC while the competition is all from more highly regarded (by Emmy voters) cable and streaming shows.

Claire Foy The Queen Netflix

The SAG and Golden Globe winner is definitely a strong bet to take home an Emmy as well in her first season as Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix’s popular The Crown. This is despite her—and the show’s—shocking shutout at the BAFTA TV Awards, thought to be a sure thing for the very British series.

Emmy actors’ branch members, however, love the Brits even if they won’t show love for themselves, so look for a possible win here.

Elisabeth Moss

Keri Russell

Evan Rachel Wood

Robin Wright

Moss was virtually an annual presence in this category for her role as Peggy on Mad Men, yet she never secured a win. Until Jon Hamm prevailed in the final season, the actors on the show were never more than nominated.

All bets are on that this won’t be the case for the much talkedabout series that leaves Moss looking like a real winner.

She will definitely be giving Foy a run for her money in the battle of first season nominees.

Another overlooked TV veteran, Russell finally broke through for this highly-acclaimed series and may be the best chance it has to cash in at this year’s Emmys, now the show has wrapped its run on FX. Sometimes it matters, as in the case of Jon Hamm, that voters know this will be the final moment to recognize a terrific performance, and that could work in Russell’s favor.

Although she doesn’t dominate events in the HBO series, Wood remains a haunting presence throughout, and delivers her best role in years. The sci-fi genre doesn’t usually get much love from Emmy, but with the across-the-board support for Westworld this year, Wood’s chances here are strong.

Like castmate Kevin Spacey, Wright has been a perennial nominee for her unforgettable and ever-evolving turn in House of Cards. It seems to be one of those shows that repeatedly gets nominated but never takes home the roses.

If voters actually watch the episodes, though, Wright might have a fighting chance at an upset.

The Handmaid’s Tale Hulu

The Americans FX

Westworld HBO

House of Cards Netflix

A two-time winner, a 13-year-old newcomer, some old-timers and some first-timers make up the mix in this intriguing race that seems impossible to call, on the surface.

Uzo Aduba has won for Orange Is the New Black, both in this category and as a Guest Actress, so she clearly has the voters’ attention. The rest of the field is in virgin Emmy territory.

Samira Wiley and Ann Dowd are facing off against each other for The Handmaid’s Tale, lessening the chances for either one, though Dowd also grabbed a nomination for The Leftovers in the Guest Actress category, which may help her chances either there or here.

Thandie Newton is a strong presence in the popular Westworld ensemble and I wouldn’t count her out. Kids rarely win, but Millie Bobby Brown’s turn in Stranger Things is irresistible. Then there is Chrissy Metz, who has been out campaigning and telling her backstory about almost giving up on acting when the role in This Is Us landed in her lap. That could play very well, and will likely result in a victory.

WINNER: Chrissy Metz, This is Us

PETE’S

WINNER PICK

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EM M Y H AN DICAPS / BY P ETE H A M M O N D

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES This race hasn’t changed much from last year’s, when Transparent’s Jeffrey Tambor took his second consecutive Emmy for his groundbreaking transgender lead. There are two new boys on the block to add some flavor to the mix of a category that tends to offer repeat invitations year after year—until it doesn’t. Just ask Jim Parsons, who won the last of his four Emmys as Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory but hasn’t even been nominated since, even though the series remains the number one comedy on TV. Voters can be fickle.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

Anthony Anderson

Aziz Ansari

Anderson has managed an invite into this category for each of his show’s three seasons and would seem ripe for a win.

Or, is he one of those legions of perennial Emmy nominees who sit in the audience year after year but never hear their name called? Certainly the show, with a second Comedy Series nomination, does have momentum and could help his cause to make this third time the charm.

Ansari is a jack of all trades with this clever and very personal Netflix show, and he even took an Emmy last year for writing it.

This is his second time around in this category and if anyone could upset two-time winner Jeffrey Tambor it is probably this guy.

Black-ish ABC

Master of None Netflix

There is extremely little change in this category’s contenders from last year, with repeat visits by reigning winner Louie Anderson of Baskets, Tony Hale and Matt Walsh of Veep, Tituss Burgess of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Ty Burrell of Modern Family. Hale and Burrell are also past winners in this category, and the other nominee here, Alec Baldwin, although new to this contest, is also a twotime Emmy winner in the Lead Actor Comedy Series category for 30 Rock. He may be helped most by events on the night of November 8th, when his Donald Trump SNL performance was guaranteed a full season run. Baldwin is also nominated this year as Reality TV host for The Match Game, but is a near-lock as Trump.

WINNER: Alec Baldwin, Saturday Night Live

Zach Galifianakis Baskets FX

After missing out on a nomination last year, when his co-star Louie Anderson took home the Supporting Actor prize, Galifianakis’ fate changed when he scored a surprise nod himself. Perhaps after that Louie Anderson victory more voters checked out the show and noticed its star?

Donald Glover

Atlanta FX If ever there was a hot ticket contender across the board in this year’s contest it has to be Donald Glover, who is the creative force behind this quirkily clever and real new FX comedy, as well as its star. It seems inevitable, especially after scoring Golden Globe, WGA, PGA and Critics Choice awards, that Glover is going to be called to the stage at some point for one of the hat-trick of categories (writing, directing, acting) in which he is named this year. Will it be this one?

William H. Macy

Jeffrey Tambor

A veteran of past Emmy nominations and wins, Macy is enjoying his fourth consecutive nod in this category for the show which has already brought him two SAG wins in just three years. The show’s switch from drama to comedy categories in the Emmys clearly helped Macy’s cause more than any other aspect of the venerable Showtime series.

The Amazon series missed out on the Comedy Series category this year, perhaps because some voters thinks it more properly belongs in drama. That hasn’t hurt Tambor, who is back for the third year in a row for his landmark role. Since Emmys like threepeats, is this also going to be his year?

Shameless Showtime

Transparent Amazon

PETE’S

WINNER PICK

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OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Pamela Adlon

Jane Fonda

Even Adlon says she was shocked when her name was called as a nominee for the little-buzzed Fox comedy series. It just proves, though, that Emmy voters were watching the show she created with Louis C.K. and in which she plays a single actress trying to raise three kids. The fact she was singled out to join this group makes me think she could be a real contender for the upset win.

For the past two years Fonda has been left out while co-star Lily Tomlin was the only nominee from their Netflix comedy series, but this year the show has gained a little more heat and, with that, the first ever Emmy nomination in this category for past Emmy winner and two-time Oscar winner Fonda. She’ll have to first square off with her co-star in order to break through with a win.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Tracee Ellis Ross

Lily Tomlin

This is where history could be made. With a sixth consecutive win in this category for this character Louis-Dreyfus could bust past the record she currently shares with Murphy Brown’s Candice Bergen.

Dreyfus is already in the history books for winning Emmys for three separate comedy series. Clearly she is on a roll and the wild politics in real life can’t hurt her chances here.

Ross is back in the category for a second straight year, and has added some heat to her chances by taking home the Golden Globe for the show earlier this year.

With the series also nominated again, she could be ripe for a victory. She also is the only person of color in the contest, which certainly helps when you consider the importance of diversity on TV.

Tomlin is clearly a long time favorite of Emmy voters and is now named in this category for a third year in a row.

She is a past winner of six Emmys, with 24 nominations. She also represents her fellow actors on the Television Academy’s Board of Governors. It is no wonder they love her, but this year she also has to go head to head with her co-star Jane Fonda and that could be tough.

The biggest question in this category is whether history will actually be made with Julia LouisDreyfus taking to the Microsoft Theatre podium for a sixth straight year. The category is one of the more crowded with seven entries, meaning someone came within two per cent of the sixth place nominee and won an invite as well. With three other returnees looking to knock LouisDreyfus off her perch, a couple of newcomers including a two-time Oscar winner, and a carpetbagger from the supporting category, this could be one to watch. Or not, if Julia gets her way.

Allison Janney Mom CBS

A two-time winner for this character already in the Supporting Actress category, Janney decided she’s the star of the show which has her as the title character. She entered into the Lead Actress race and was immediately accepted with a nomination, her 13th overall. Incidentally she tried this same gambit after winning twice in Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for The West Wing, before switching to the Lead category and winning twice there for the same show. If it worked before...

Ellie Kemper

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Netflix Kemper has obviously become an Emmy favorite, as has her Netflix show in which she exhibits a kind of Mary Tyler Moore vibe in a traditional sitcom.

She is back in the running for the second year but with this kind of competition it is uphill all the way.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Veep HBO

Better Things FX

Black-ish ABC

Grace and Frankie Netflix

Grace and Frankie Netflix

Anna Chlumsky received her fifth consecutive nomination here for her role in Veep, but she has never won.

This could be her year if you look at the competition and consider that they might cancel each other out. Why? Vanessa Bayer, Leslie Jones and last year’s winner Kate McKinnon are all up for the same show, Saturday Night Live, while Kathryn Hahn and Judith Light will be duking it out for Transparent.

Even though the law of averages says the person without any direct conflict or competition from a fellow cast member should prevail, it would be surprising for Chlumsky to finally pull it off, though she did get a lot of attention on Emmy nomination morning as one of the two celebrity announcers so don’t count her out.

However McKinnon is gold these days and another Emmy for her Hillary Clinton impersonation would seem fitting, especially if Baldwin’s Trump wins as I expect.

WINNER: Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live

PETE’S

WINNER PICK

D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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EM M Y H AN DICAPS / BY P ETE H A M M O N D

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOVIE Two past winners in the category face off against a certified movie legend and a two-time Oscar winner on his first Emmy nomination. Plus two stars of the same acclaimed HBO limited series, and another screen star joining the run of Fargo make this a distinguished lineup that may not be as competitive as the ladies’, but holds its own intrigue nonetheless.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOVIE

Riz Ahmed The Night Of HBO

The new British star may be best known these days as Bodhi Rook in the most recent Star Wars film, but he also set the small screen on fire as a murder suspect in this riveting limited series, and earned his second Emmy nomination after a 2012 guest star turn in Girls. He’s got a real shot to pull this off even if the show appeared early in eligibility period, and he has to compete with co-star John Turturro.

Benedict Cumberbatch

Sherlock: The Lying Detective PBS Nominated five out of the past six years in this category, four of those nods came from his continuing work as Sherlock Holmes in the Masterpiece Theatre series of films. He won in 2014 for the role and he is obviously a favorite of Emmy voters so we can’t count him out on winning yet again.

Well, we can probably start by eliminating Bill Camp and Michael Kenneth Williams, both nominated for The Night Of but not only overshadowed by the eight part series’ stars but also likely to split votes. Then there is Alfred Molina, tremendous as director Robert Aldrich, and Stanley Tucci, nailing Jack Warner, in Feud, also likely to split votes from lovers of that terrific limited series. David Thewlis as V.M Varga in Fargo is formidable to be sure, but doesn’t this category belong to Alexander Skarsgård as Perry, the husband with demons he can’t control in Big Little Lies? Skarsgård took a difficult role and made it three dimensional.

He’s certainly the most talked about in this category.

WINNER: Alexander Skarsgård, Big Little Lies

Robert De Niro

Ewan McGregor

Geoffrey Rush

John Turturro

Richard Dreyfuss first took on Bernie Madoff in an ABC two-part movie last year but it brought him no Emmy recognition. Can the legendary De Niro be the one to put Madoff in the Emmy books? The HBO movie itself didn’t win the kind of wide acclaim you might expect for an extremely rare TV appearance from the seven-time Oscar nominee and two-time winner, but nevertheless he is Robert De Niro so attention must be paid for this, his first Emmy nomination.

Though known for his big screen work, McGregor was actually nominated for an Emmy 20 years ago for a guest turn on ER. It has only taken him two decades to land his second nomination (and a third as Narrator on Highlands: Scotland’s Wild Heart) in the dual roles of Emmit and Ray Stussy in this continuing limited series. Will absence make the heart grow fonder for Emmy voters this time around?

This Oscar, Emmy, and Tony winner is always a contender no matter what he does, and he is back in contention once again playing a real life legend, Albert Einstein, in the tenpart series Genius.

He won an Emmy in this category playing a comedic genius in 2004’s The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, and now is out to prove truth is better than fiction when it comes to Emmy success. The only drawback is he shared the role with Johnny Flynn playing the younger version of Einstein and appeared mostly in the second half of the series’ run.

One of the best and most consistent of all actors, Turturro is surprisingly light on awards but did win a Guest Actor Emmy in 2004 for an appearance on Monk.

As John Stone in The Night Of he went toeto-toe with co-star Riz Ahmed and stole several scenes. It may be tough to choose between the two.

The Wizard of Lies HBO

PETE’S

WINNER PICK

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Fargo FX

Genius National Geographic

The Night Of HBO

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OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOVIE Perhaps the most fiercely contested acting Emmy category in a long time, no less than four Best Actress Oscar winners and a Best Actress Oscar nominee and Emmy winner go up against a relative novice in the awards game enjoying her first major nomination for anything. Who will come out on top in this tricky and almost impossible to call race?

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOVIE

Carrie Coon

Felicity Huffman

In a key female role in the TV version of a film that won its star Frances McDormand the Best Actress Oscar 20 years ago, Carrie Coon as Gloria Burgle is the David versus a category full of Goliaths in terms of awards and fame. She is critically acclaimed for the role and has landed her first Emmy nomination in an intriguing contest where she might be the beneficiary if two pairs of Oscar winning stars manage to cancel each other out.

A former Oscar nominee for Best Actress, and Emmy winner for Desperate Housewives, Huffman has her third consecutive—and final—nomination in this category for the cancelled series American Crime. The unique angle here is she has managed to do this playing a different character each year in the anthology show and received perhaps her most acclaim yet this season. Will that help her break through against the juggernauts of Feud and Big Little Lies?

Fargo FX

American Crime ABC

Nicole Kidman

Jessica Lange

Susan Sarandon

Reese Witherspoon

A Best Actress Oscar winner for The Hours and four-time nominee, threetime Golden Globe winner and ten-time nominee, and a past Emmy nominee in this category in 2012 for Hemingway & Gellhorn, Kidman is looking for her first Emmy win in a rare foray into television. The physical and emotional trauma she traverses in a complicated marriage is raw stuff not often seen on the small screen and makes her a real contender.

The statistics are daunting. A six-time Oscar nominee and two-time winner as both Best Actress and Supporting Actress, a 15-time Golden Globe nominee and five-time winner, and an eight-time Emmy nominee and threetime winner (twice in this category), Jessica Lange is a force to be reckoned with. And her portrayal of Joan Crawford in Feud could make her the rare recipient of an Emmy for playing an Oscar winner—that is, unless her co-star beats her to it.

A five-time Best Actress Oscar nominee and past winner, as well as a five-time Emmy nominee looking for her first win, Sarandon didn’t have the juiciest role of the two acting legends in Feud but she made her portrayal of Bette Davis remarkably human and poignant, while also getting to play the richest scenes in their recreation of the making of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. Like co-star Lange she would be the rare Emmy winner for playing an Oscar winner.

Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning star Witherspoon landed her first Emmy nomination for Big Little Lies as Madeline, the suburban wife and mom who seems to be the community cheerleader on the outside, but who has her own secrets buried deep inside. As the most accessible of the quartet of female stars in the popular limited series, her portrayal is complex enough to be the sleeper in this category if she and Kidman don’t cancel each other out.

Big Little Lies HBO

PETE’S

WINNER PICK

Feud FX

Feud FX

Big Little Lies HBO

With two stars from Feud, two from Big Little Lies, a two-time Emmy winner from American Crime, and another screen heavyweight in a rare TV role, this category is as rich as its Leading Actress counterpart.

The big question is whether wonderfully comic Jackie Hoffman as Joan Crawford’s right hand and Judy Davis’s deliciously gossipy Hedda Hopper will cancel each other out for Feud. Or does the same split occur between Laura Dern and Shailene Woodley in Big Little Lies, leaving the field open for a third consecutive win for Regina King playing yet another character in anthology American Crime? Or does Michelle Pfeiffer in an extremely rare TV turn as Ruth Madoff in The Wizard of Lies pull off an Emmy win on her first nomination ever?

The winner is hard to forecast but I am going to take a shot on a force to be reckoned with.

WINNER: Laura Dern, Big Little Lies

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DEADLINE PRESENTS AN EVENING WITH BIG LITTLE LIES JULY 27 / DGA / LOS ANGELES Top, clockwise from left: Alexander Skarsgård; Nicole Kidman; Kidman and Reese Witherspoon; director Jean-Marc Vallée with executive producers Bruna Papandrea and Nathan Ross; Vallée.

This row: Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Alexander Skarsgård and Jean-Marc Vallée; Witherspoon.

From left: David Harbour; Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer sit down with EP/director Shawn Levy; Caleb McLaughlin and Gaten Matarazzo; Millie Bobby Brown with her onscreen captor, Matthew Modine.

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RE X /S H U T T ERSTOC K

STRANGER THINGS AT THE NETFLIX EXPERIENCE JULY 22 / COMIC-CON / SAN DIEGO

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Outstanding Comedy Series

Anthony Anderson Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Tracee Ellis Ross Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Wanda Sykes Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

#blackish

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