And the Emmy goes to …
Hollywood.com talks with TV’s tops about what it’s like to be honored by the academy.
Jeremy Piven: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Entourage‘s Ari Gold
On his fourth Emmy nomination: “Am I just up waiting for the call [on the morning of nominations]? By no means. I am literally surprised whenever it comes because I’m not taking any of this for granted by any means. What an amazing role and HBO is the kind of network that allows a show to find its voice. They don’t pull them. The networks won’t give you a shot whatsoever, if you don’t come out of the gate with ratings they will pull your show. This show would have never made it two seconds on a networks so I feel incredibly blessed that I have this role that allows me to explore the dualities of this tragically flawed type A wrecking ball. I love talking about myself [laughs].
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Kristin Chenoweth: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Pushing Daisies‘ Olive Snook
On which episode she submitted for the nomination: “It is called “Girth.” It was a hard one for me because there are some scenes that I wanted to submit, but you can’t just do a scene. But overall it is where you discover she was a horse jockey…I had broken ribs during that episode as well and that is probably the most pain I’ve been in, in my whole life, but apparently on Vicodin I’ve never been better [laughs].”
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Paul Giamatti: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie
John Adams‘ John Adams
On where he was when he heard about the nominations: “I was in bed. My publicist sent me an e-mail.”
On how he celebrated the news: “We went to In N Out burger.”
On his biggest competition in the category: “I have no idea! Is [Kevin] Spacey nominated?”
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Neil Patrick Harris: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
How I Met Your Mother‘s Barney
On where he’ll put his Emmy if he wins: “I have a People’s Choice Award right next to the Optimist International local award, which was the first award I won when I was 11 years old. So they are right next to each other…[they are] in the office – the media room, [it] seems a little pretentious to put it anywhere else.”
On the episode he submitted for the nomination: “I submitted “The Goat,” which was the episode where I talk about the “Bro Code.” I’m on the outs with Ted. We have a fight in a limo…it is hard because we are a multi-camera show and we are competing with one camera more dramatic shows like Entourage and even The Office and so I wanted to submit something that showed a little bit of an arc, that had a little bit more of the dramatic stuff rather than just wacky, wacky, wacky funny stuff and I thought that was appropriate.” [PAGEBREAK]
Elisabeth Moss: Outstanding Drama Series
Mad Men‘s Peggy Olson
On where she was when she got the call: “I was at home in bed. I woke up at 5:25…No [I didn’t set my alarm], it was by accident. I didn’t want to wake up. But I was up and I figured I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep so I might as well watch. So I turned it on and I watched it and I was really really happy
On her biggest competition: “No way, I’m not going there, I’m not going to jinx that.”
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Lee Pace: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Pushing Daisies‘ Ned
On how he heard the news: “My dog woke me up for a hike like he does every morning and I looked at my phone and there were about 20 messages. ‘Oh, I was probably nominated for an Emmy this morning’…I took the dog on a hike and went to work. I don’t get days off. I mean, it’s cool and exciting. My mom is over the moon about it. She did all the celebrating for both of us. I feel like there’s an obligation to be really thrilled about the Emmys and of course I’m really happy but I don’t think I’m going to win.”
On why he doesn’t think he’s going to win: “Alec Baldwin, Steve Carell, Tony Shalhoub, Charlie Sheen…you never know but, I don’t know, I’m excited but I’m not…I’m waiting for someone to say ‘just kidding!’ I feel really grateful just to be working on a show I really like with people that I like. Nominations it doesn’t improve anything, unless it makes more people watch. I’m happy just to be doing the show. I’m not good at doing red carpets. I like working on set. That’s where I feel comfortable.”
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Tom Hanks, Outstanding Miniseries
John Adams‘ Executive Producer
On the nomination: “The entire Playtone galaxy of stars is thrilled. We don’t quite know what to do. It’s a bit of a shell shock.
On whether he was surprised by the number of nominations: “Well yeah, are we competing with ourselves in a few of them as well?…But we were very lucky to have one director and one screenwriter for the whole thing.
On finding out about the nominations: “No, I’ve been working nights so I woke up to all the e-mails at like 2 in the afternoon.
I called my agent and said if we don’t win all 23, he’d be fired!”
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Jon Hamm: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Mad Men‘s Don Draper
On where he was when he found out: “I was in a car on the way back from JFK airport into the city.”
On his reaction to 16 nominations for the show: “It doesn’t suck! It feels amazing. It’s really nice to have recognition from a group of people whose job it is to recognize—things like this too—it’s really wonderful.”
On his biggest competition: “They’re all incredibly strong shows so whoever wins, everybody wins because it’s a really great year for television.”
On how he celebrated the nominations: “[Jen [Westfeldt] and I went out and had dinner, it was really nice, we were in the city [NYC].”
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Julia Louis-Dreyfus: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
The New Adventures of Old Christine‘s Christine Campbell
On being nominated for another Emmy: “It’s absolutely and totally delightful. And I am completely flattered and complimented by it and it gives me a huge boost of confidence and I would lying to say otherwise.”
On what it’s like to hear your name called: “It goes by in a heartbeat, you know it happens quickly, kind of like a car accident and then you lose. [laugh] No, I mean most of the time you don’t win, you know that the odds are stacked.”
On how she found out about the nomination: “I was in bed fast asleep in the middle of having a bad dream…Peter Roth, President of Warner Brothers Television called me about 5:30 in the morning.”
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John Slattery: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Mad Men‘s Roger Sterling
On where he was when he heard the news: “I was in my car. I was on my way to the beach to go surfing. I surf in the morning. I got a phone call. From my publicist…They said “is this Emmy nominee John Slattery?’ I started laughing. It was funny. Then I called my wife and then I went surfing for a while which was the perfect way to decompress.”
On how he celebrated with the cast: “Oh, it was fantastic, everybody was so happy. I knew we’d get show, but it was amazing. It’s really a great thing to see this show grow from the beginning and to get 16 Emmy nominations in the first year, and 20 nominations for AMC. It’s a testament to how well they do their jobs. Everybody on this show does a good job, and is allowed to, by AMC.”
On his biggest competition: “Everybody, I see myself as the dark horse. Having never been in this situation, all those guys, some of whom I know, have been out there trying for so long. But it’s really nice, really good company, it’s a great job and I feel really fortunate to be part of the whole thing.”
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Vanessa Williams: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Ugly Betty‘s Wilhelmina Slater
On her biggest competition: I’m literally a fan of all the women. I love Amy Poehler. I love Kristin [Chenoweth], Kristin is a friend of mine…it is going to be fun.
On how she found out: My publicist called me in the morning, woke me up…I was shooting yesterday I’m exhausted. My phone woke me up at 6 a.m.
On what she loves about Wilhelmina: I’m glad you hate her, because she is such a wonderful character to play because she is so unexpected and devious and exciting and vicious. It is never boring with Wilhelmina.
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Michael C Hall: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Dexter‘s Dexter Morgan
On finding out about the Emmy: I got in my car and I for some reason had forgotten to bring my phone in and it stayed in my car overnight and I sort of remembered that the nominations were being announced as I turned on my phone and saw that there were like 17 messages and thought that was a good sign.
On what episode he submitted: I think they sent in the 10th episode of the second season. I don’t know what the title is, it is the first one that Doakes is there in the cabin. It starts with Dexter tending to his gunshot wound and end with Dexter recovering the memory and putting the pieces together and realizing that his father killed himself – the sense that he killed his father.
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January Jones, Outstanding Drama Series
Mad Men‘s Betty Draper
On what it is like to be nominated: “It’s very exciting, very humbling…We were at work. We were popping champagne. Everybody was really excited, for like five minutes and then it was back to work.
On picking out a dress: “Yes, now I can officially start looking.”
Additional reporting by Gerri Miller
