[IMG:L]What goes through the mind of a newly-minted Emmy winner? Because Hollywood.com had a ringside seat backstage at the Shrine Auditorium as the parade of stars streamed off the stage at the 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, we can tell you the answers:
Jaime Pressly on her good luck charm: “I have a necklace in my purse that two of my best friends… gave me, when the baby was born, a necklace with his initials and his name on the back, and his initials on the front, and I have that with me.”
[IMG:L]James Spader on winning over James Gandolfini: “I really thought you know anybody but myself could win. I really thought everybody who was nominated certainly deserved it. I thought with James’ because it was his last season and Hugh Laurie is due one of these, Denis Leary as well. I ran into Keifer and told him he’s the hardest worker of all of us. I really thought it could have been anybody but me. Part of that is… I tend to live in a little bit of a vacuum. It could be that as well.”
[IMG:L]Al Gore on his guiding light: “The real answer to that is more than a catch phrase. Joel Hyatt and I have tried to follow a guiding principle that if we can be truly in dependent and have absolute integrity, the best of our ability to keep that right in the straight and narrow and then open up its network so that young people can, and all the people by the way. Because mostly the young people make up the videos. Then we are headed straight for that light. We trust in them. It sounds boring to say we trust in the people. But now that the technology is made possible, whether it’s this way, that lives at the Emmy Award and I’m very gratified that their work has been rewarded tonight. I want to ask Joel to come on.”
[IMG:L]Robert Duvall on preparing for Broken Trail and being a cowboy: “For Broken Trail I bought a horse a year in advance to get him ready for it. Long before the financial stuff was in place or anything… I could have been a cowboy, but I’m not really a cowboy. I can hang on the end of a saddle. I used to jump horses some. I have a feel for cowboys and raising cattle. My uncle had one of those, a cattle, a sheep, a ranch in Northern Montana. We’d work there as young kids. There’s where I first got my first love of the west.”
[IMG:L]Conan O’Brien on host Ryan Seacrest: “He’s done now right? It is over. If he’s still doing it in the parking lot then that is very, very sad. Is he hosting a show after the Emmys? He did a preshow, then he did a show then he ran to the parking lot to do a post show and then he’s going to do a morning show for ABC. I think he’s lost his mind.”
Edie Falco on the great Sopranos writers: “The best part about Sopranos, is you could portray a true woman, we portrayed a real woman’s emotions, a true woman’s strength. Sadly a lot of the writing for women today isn’t real. You know what I mean? So it was an honor part of truth, absolute truth.”
[IMG:L]Jamie-Lynn Sigler on growing up on the Sopranos: “I just want to say that being on the show for 10 years I still feel like a little bit of a rookie because this show stands alone in this experience and I know it is so different. I know people talk about the pressure especially for women in Hollywood and things like that, but to go to a place of work especially for me in my own personal experience where you never felt judged and you always felt loved was a true honor.”
[IMG:L]Tina Fey on whether the Emmy win will boost ratings for 30 Rock: “I certainly hope that it will. I don’t think it’ll hurt us certainly. I had friends that worked on Arrested Development so I know how hard it can be. Yes, we’re hoping this helps a little and we’ve got some exciting guest stars coming up. We have Jerry Seinfeld in the first show and Edie Falco, so hopefully a combination of things will help us.”
Terry O’Quinn on his big win: “It’s just a little frosting, on being nominated. It’s just an honor to be nominated. Beyond that, I don’t have any expectations. I can’t say I would have been happier if Michael Emerson would have won. Happier, but I would be very happy because he’s a real champion. He’s a real pro. I’m very flattered to be here, invited to the party.”
[IMG:L]Sally Field on her censored acceptance speech: “I think probably I shouldn’t have said the God in front of the Damn. But you know, when you’re up there and the lights flashing, I felt I would have liked to have said more bleeped out words. I cut it down to that. You know, that’s life. I didn’t have a point to get across. I had no agenda. I didn’t have any political something I wanted to say. I wanted to pay homage to the mothers, and especially the mothers who wait for their children to come home from the war. If they bleep it, oh, well. I’ll just say it someplace else.”
[IMG:L]America Ferrera on what it means to win an Emmy: “I think it symbolizes all of the wonderful, wonderful blessings I’ve had in the past year. I’m so, so happy and humbled to be on a television show. It is not only fun to be a part of, but that I believe and have experienced first hand when people come up to me and give me their experiences is actually making a difference and inspiring people and changing the way we look at prejudice and diversity and it is fun and it is funny and entertaining and I feel so incredibly blessed to do what I love to do and then to be acknowledged for it and to know that people are watching it and enjoying it. Furthermore this is just a dream for me since I was probably 5 years old this is all I thought that I would do. It just kind of reassures me of the power of dreaming and now I have to set my heights even higher.”
[IMG:L]Helen Mirren on her winning streak: “Well I have had a few losses, not actually this year but past years I have sat out there and not won. I am very familiar with that feeling as well, but it has been an amazing year for me I have to say. It is always down to the writing and I’ve said this every time, it always comes down to the writing and of course the direction, but the writing is where the role springs from and I was lucky enough to have some beautifully brilliantly well written roles.”
[IMG:L]Jeremy Piven on winning his second Emmy: “My first job was when Carol Burnett did a return to television, called Carol and Company and I was a part of that cast. It was unbelievable. I learned so much. I went to her house and I saw all these Emmys and it was literally somehow seeing pictures of the moon. I was like how could anyone even come close to that? There’s something premeditated about any of this. I’m going to put it right next to the other one and keep working as hard as I can and that’s all we can do.”
[IMG:L]Jon Stewart on speeches being bleeped: “Did they use when I said cock? I had a huge cock bit that I hope they used. No, I didn’t know that [they bleeped Sally Field and Katherine Heigl]. I was in there and heard what they said…My sources tell me that shit was uttered. [Laughs]”
