Deadline Hollywood - Emmy Preview/Upfronts - 05/16/16 by Deadline Hollywood

MAY 16, 2016 EMMY PREVIEW/UPFRONTS

PRESENTS

THE SPY AT NIGHT

WHY THE NIGHT MANAGER, STARRING HUGH LAURIE AND TOM HIDDLESTON, MIGHT BE THIS YEARâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S HOTTEST TV EVENT

1 BOB ODENKIRK RASHIDA JONES ELLEN BURSTYN WILL FORTE SISSY SPACEK

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PUBLISHER

Stacey Farish EDITOR

Joe Utichi

CONTENTS

M AY 1 6 , 2 0 1 6

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Craig Edwards

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Matt Grobar

DEADLINE COEDITORS

Nellie Andreeva Mike Fleming Jr.

DEADLINE AWARDS COLUMNIST

Pete Hammond

DEADLINE CONTRIBUTORS

Anita Busch Anthony D’Alessandro Lisa de Moraes Jeremy Gerard Patrick Hipes Ali Jaafar David Lieberman Ross Lincoln Dominic Patten Erik Pedersen Denise Petski David Robb Nancy Tartaglione

AWARDSLINE CONTRIBUTORS

Antonia Blyth Dan Doperalski Greg Evans Gabriel Goldberg Eric Schwabel Stefan Studer

CHAIRMAN & CEO

Jay Penske

VICE CHAIRMAN

Gerry Byrne

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, STRATEGY AND OPERATIONS

4-10

FIRST TAKE On Set: Behind the scenes on Modern Family’s season finale

Mr. Robot’s Rami Malek 3 Questions: Casting Directors Guest Column: America Ferrera on diversity

COVER STORY John le Carré’s The Night Manager gets a glitzy TV update

THE DIALOGUE Bob Odenkirk & Jonathan Banks

Ellen Burstyn Rashida Jones Will Forte

George Grobar

Sanaa Hamri

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Sissy Spacek

Craig Perreault

GENERAL COUNSEL & S.V.P., HUMAN RESOURCES

Todd Greene

V.P., CREATIVE

Nelson Anderson V.P., FINANCE

FLASH MOB Deadline’s The Contenders Emmys event

Ken DelAlcazar V.P., TV ENTERTAINMENT SALES

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DIRECTOR, FILM & TV

Carra Fenton

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES, FILM & TV

Brianna Hamburger Tiffany Windju

AD SALES COORDINATORS

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PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

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ADVERTISING INQUIRIES

Stacey Farish 310-484-2553 sfarish@pmc.com

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ON THE COVER: HUGH LAURIE AND TOM HIDDLESTON PHOTOGRAPHED BY GABRIEL GOLDBERG THIS PAGE: BOB ODENKIRK PHOTOGRAPHED BY DAN DOPERALSKI

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MR. ROBOT’S RAMI MALEK p. 8 | YOU ME HER p. 8 | 3 QUESTIONS: CASTING DIRECTORS p. 9 | AMERICA FERRERA ON DIVERSITY p. 10

u ON SET

OUR AMERICAN FAMILY Behind the scenes of Modern Family’s season finale. by Jo e u t i c h i

shots and things like that.”

precise, witty comedy that landed

ON ONE OF THE LAST SHOOTING

and Sofia Vergara struggle to keep

DAYS of its seventh season, Modern

straight faces as they film a scene in

Family’s shot list spills over onto a

which Manny tries (and fails) to teach

about the dance these actors do with

wins for Outstanding Comedy in its

second page of the call sheet. Things

Jay how to double-click on his tablet.

their crew as they run multiple-page

first five seasons.

move quickly and efficiently on

All this before lunch, and Lloyd still has

dialogue scenes in single takes, refin-

the Fox lot’s Stage 5, as co-creator

time to teach a visiting writer how to

ing and refining with each do-over so

making history last year when Veep

Christopher Lloyd and director James

use the coffeemaker at Craft Services.

the camera moves quicker and the

took the Emmy crown (it’s tied on

comedy gets sharper. Stonestreet

five wins with Frasier, another Lloyd-

R. Bagdonas preside over filming for

“We’ve even got a bit slower since

Indeed, there’s something balletic

Modern Family five consecutive Emmy

The show narrowly missed out on

the season finale. As Mitch, Jesse Tyler

the first three seasons,” says Eric

remembers cracking up when Rodri-

produced show), but co-creator

Ferguson struggles to escape a Little

Stonestreet, who plays Cam. “But

guez and O’Neill practiced the double-

Steve Levitan is proud of the resolve

Orphan Annie costume. The Dunphy

it’s testament to the blueprint of the

click scene at the table read, and

with which his writing staff charged

clan makes plans in the living room,

show: we don’t even think about turn-

it’s funny still when they go for their

into Season 7. “The legacy of the show

as Andy (Adam DeVine) and Haley

ing around on scenes like traditional

first rehearsal on set. But by the time

is something we take extremely seri-

(Sarah Hyland) say an emotional

shows. We’re always raking and pan-

they’re ready to move onto the next

ously,” he says. “And this was a very

goodbye. Rico Rodriguez, Ed O’Neill

ning and we don’t need to do insert

shot, it has morphed into the kind of

ambitious season. Especially as you

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PHOTOGRAPHS BY

Jessica Chou

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ANNIE ARE YOU OK? Main image: James R. Bagdonas walks Jesse Tyler Ferguson through the scene. Above: Cast and crew make the busy schedule look effortless.

lucky with the kids,” says Julie Bowen.

way, that Phil can be a really tough

“You never know what kind of actor

taskmaster, or Claire has the ability to

they might grow into, but we’ve been

be looser.”

so fortunate to be able to write to

Really, Modern Family has always

their strengths. They’re by no means

dealt deftly with two extremes like

just supporting cast.” When baby Lily

this, so it’s no surprise that even the

(Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) started

people who make the show contrast

to speak in the third season, she

when asked to explain what exactly

became Mitch and Cam’s sarcastic

made it a hit. On the one hand it’s

voice of reason. And the show was

a broad, network family sitcom; a

already a hit before Jeremy Maguire

reliable old friend for viewers around

was even born. Today, the four-year-

the world. On the other, it deals with

old who plays Jay and Gloria’s young

issues like mixed-race marriage

son Joe has his first big speech to

and gay adoptive parenting. Not so

deliver, and he has it down to a tee.

uncommon for the networks today,

“Jeremy’s so great,” smiles Sofia Ver-

perhaps, but there’s an argument to

gara. “He’s such a sweet kid and very

be made that this show helped pave

professional.”

that road.

get into the later years of a series, just

feel is not to betray what we started

feeling like you’re not starting to be

out doing, which is delivering a funny,

adult cast fresh material to react

and its drama subtle, sometimes in

terrible is a victory. We’re really trying

quality show that reflects real lives

to. But, says Ty Burrell, it’s equally

the space of a single scene. On the

hard not to let this series finish weak,

and real family emotions.”

important that they stay true to those

Dunphy house set, Alex (Ariel Winter)

original characterizations. “It’s still

is rolling her eyes at her family for

and we did a lot of big shows, and a

Over the course of this day on set,

These new dynamics give the

Similarly, its comedy can be arch

few shows that were very different for

each of the principal actors and many

a sitcom and there has to be a little

forgetting she’s returned from college

us, this year.”

of the show’s longstanding behind-

bit of a reset button so that people

for the summer, and then Haley and

“In theory, it gets harder every

the-scenes talents will give different

can tune into any episode and know

Andy contemplate calling time on a

year because there are fewer stories

viewpoints on why they feel Modern

the characters in that situation. But

relationship that seemed to be doing

for us to tell,” notes Lloyd. “But we

Family continues to work. For some,

having the show be on for seven

favors for the both of them. Lloyd says

still stumble into stories where we

it’s about the way the family mem-

seasons has allowed us to learn so

avoiding over-sentimentality has been

go, ‘Wow, we could have told this in

bers have changed and evolved as the

much about them. Nobody’s grown

the key to making these moments

the first or second season.’ It was out

show has gone on. That’s certainly

out of their own thing, so you can still

work. “Probably the biggest mistake

there, and we just didn’t think of it

true of the younger kids in the family,

expect the same flaws, but it’s very

you can make in comedy is to reach

until now. The greatest pressure we

who are now young adults. “We got

cool to find, at different stops on the

for emotion that you haven’t earned.”

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O N SET actors know how to block themselves and find marks without having to be told. But if this show is on autopilot, the atmosphere of fun, familiarity and creativity doesn’t let on. “I have the best job,” says Vergara, echoing her fellow cast members. “I get to hang out with family every single day and call it work.” Still, its creators know they’re in the home stretch. An end is in sight, but when will it come? “I think my personal goal at this point would be 10 seasons,” says Levitan. “I don’t know if it’s attainable or not; I think we’ll have to look at it every year, and if we feel like we’re just running out of things to say then it will be time to make that tough call.” “When we sat down in May last year, we had nothing,” Lloyd reflects of this current season. “But we still delivered 22 stories—which took these characters to new places—without too much of a struggle. It tells me there’s a lot of life left.” Ed O’Neill, who knows a thing or two about network comedy after 262 episodes of Married with Children in the 80s and 90s, would like to get to 200 at least. This finale takes Modern FamFAMILY TIES Above: During a break in shooting, Nolan Gould and Ariel Winter forget how to use a sofa. Below: Ty Burrell and Gould rehearse (left) and Rico Rodriguez & Ed O’Neill discuss the ‘double-click’ scene with Christopher Lloyd & James R. Bagdonas.

“THE GREATEST PRESSURE WE FEEL IS NOT TO BETRAY WHAT WE STARTED OUT DOING, WHICH IS DELIVERING A FUNNY, QUALITY SHOW THAT REFLECTS REAL LIVES AND REAL FAMILY EMOTIONS.”

ily to 166, and he didn’t expect to be here. When he first heard about Modern Family—then dubbed ‘My Ameri-

Of course, not having to shoot in

outside notes that the stage previ-

front of a live audience gives the show

ously hosted shows like The X-Files

an excuse to work on location more

and Lost in Space. These comfortable

than its format might traditionally

sets—Mitch & Cam’s hip apartment,

allow; something that has added to

Jay and Gloria’s leopard-print-and-

its authentic feel. The three houses

leather show-home, Claire and Phil’s

that play these families’ homes have

Pottery Barn homestead—were

become popular tourist spots around

modelled on the real houses they

L.A. Two of them are only a stone’s

used to shoot the pilot. They were lit

throw from the Fox lot (Jay and

by James R. Bagdonas, who has also

Gloria’s modernist palace is further

directed multiple episodes, includ-

away, in Brentwood). And the day

ing this season finale. “These sets

before our visit, Jesse Tyler Ferguson

are pretty much practical,” he notes.

had been out on Hollywood Blvd.,

“There are four walls and ceilings,

no particular rush to bring Modern

shooting the other half of the Annie

because the documentary feel meant

Family to a close. But he relates a

scene. “I really took advantage of the

we wanted realistic sets to shoot in.

thought he’d shared with Burrell

surroundings. I found Donald Trump’s

The challenge of that, as a cinema-

earlier in the day. “I told him that

star and took a photo next to it,

tographer and a director, has been

the way to go out is when you start

with me in my Annie dress. People

we sometimes shoot four pages with

thinking, ‘We should probably wrap

thought it was an endorsement; I just

maybe ten actors and they’re mov-

this up…’ That’s much better than,

liked the juxtaposition. Dreams can

ing constantly, so it really does need

‘Oh dear God I want to go on for

happen anywhere, I guess.”

choreographing.”

another year; you don’t get it!’” ★

Stage 5, meanwhile, has been

can Family’—he had taken a courtesy meeting with Lloyd and Levitan because he liked their work. “It’s one of those things that are so inexplicable in Hollywood. I met with them just to tell them, ‘Look, I really don’t want to do another half-hour.’” The script arrived a year later, under its current title. “I didn’t like the title,” he laughs. “But I read it and I thought, ‘This is good.’ And then I read it again and thought, ‘This is going to be a big hit.’”

Nearly seven years later, he’s in

After seven seasons, it’s remark-

home to three of America’s most

able how quickly those problems

■ For an extended photo gallery from

familiar house interiors since the show

can be solved. The cameras become

our Modern Family set visit, go to

started in 2009. A plaque on the wall

characters in their own right, and the

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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 & Movie Actor and Actress races. Get up-to-date rankings and make your own predictions at GoldDerby.com

THE HACKER HIT

LEAD ACTOR LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

How Rami Malek bowled over Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail in one of the most complex lead roles on TV BY ANTHONY D’ALESSANDRO

THERE WAS A POINT during the auditions for

later impress Tom Hanks during his audition for

Mr. Robot when creator Sam Esmail thought he

The Pacific, landing the part of Corporal Merriell

was at the end of his rope. “I’m hearing all these

“Snafu” Shelton, before going on to work with him

great actors from movies and TV, and they had

again in Hanks’s directorial effort Larry Crowne.

interesting choices, but it wasn’t working at all,”

However, much like the anti-corporate slogans

Esmail remembers about his search to find Elliot

Elliot spreads on the web, you could say that

Alderson, the anarchist hacker who suffers from

Malek has gone viral, with Mr. Robot elevating him

a dissociative identity disorder in the hit USA

from supporting roles to leading man.

drama series.

To realize his portrayal of one of the most

One pilot scene in particular, with which Esmail

complex characters on television, Malek studied

would audition actors, was Elliot’s “Fuck Society”

up with Mr. Robot’s technical advisors as well as

rant, which goes down in his head while he’s

the show’s therapist. The show, he says, goes even

sitting disengaged in his therapist’s office. “Then

darker in its second season. “Elliot has a lot of flaws

Rami Malek came in and added this warmth to it,

but a very strong moral center,” Malek explains.

and it changed everything. He added vulnerability.

“He’s a guy who many of us can identify with. We’re

I wanted to hug Elliot instead of saying, ‘Go away;

not all perfect, but we’re trying to do the best we

please stop talking.’”

can and impact our society in a certain way; leave a

The 35-year old actor made his first TV appearance on Gilmore Girls at 23. He would

ways, and he has a unique power to do so.”

YOU ME HER TELLS A DIFFERENT KIND OF LOVE STORY

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Bryan Cranston All the Way

10/3

Courtney B. Vance The People v. O.J. Simpson

7/2

Idris Elba Luther

6/1

Oscar Isaac Show Me a Hero

17/2

Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock: The Abominable Bride

11/1

LEAD ACTRESS LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

ODDS

Sarah Paulson The People v. O.J. Simpson

27/10

Kirsten Dunst Fargo

5/1

Kerry Washington Confirmation

5/1

Felicity Huffman American Crime

13/2

Audra McDonald Lady Day at Emersons Bar and Grill

12/1

positive mark. Elliot goes about it in some peculiar

Polyamorous Affair Reading scripts for John Scott Shepherd’s ‘polyromantic comedy’ series You Me Her, actors Greg Poehler and Rachel Blanchard quickly realized this wasn’t the salacious stuff one might expect from a story about a three-way relationship. Instead, they saw a thoughtfully-considered take on marital issues with a twist, offering roles the actors

ODDS

consider few and far between in the current television market. “It is a balance of drama and comedy, which I think is just life,” says Blanchard. And the grounded portrayal of a subject rarely depicted on screen wasn’t the only draw— the actors were equally intrigued by the opportunity to work with director Nisha Ganatra, known for her work on Amazon’s Golden

Globe-grabbing Transparent. Shooting 300 pages in seven weeks—a rare feat even within the fast-paced world of television—the stars bonded with ‘third wheel’ Priscilla Faia over extended rehearsals and theater exercises, which included tasks like staring into one another’s eyes for five minutes at a time. Poehler was skeptical of that process. “But by the end, when you’re looking at someone, it’s almost a transcendental experience where you feel like you’re seeing through them, or seeing who they really are in some sense,” he says. The series debuted on DirecTV’s Audience Network on March 22nd, and the actors promise continued complication as it unfolds. Says Poehler, “With a three person dynamic, there’s always going to be a literal oddity to it which leaves one person wanting a little bit more.”

SUPPORTING ACTOR LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

ODDS

Jesse Plemons Fargo

7/2

Anthony Mackie All the Way

9/1

Sterling K. Brown The People v. O.J. Simpson

9/2

Wendell Pierce Confirmation

15/2

John Travolta The People v. O.J. Simpson

14/1

SUPPORTING ACTRESS LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE

ODDS

Jean Smart Fargo

3/1

Regina King American Crime

4/1

Melissa Leo All the Way

13/2

Sarah Paulson American Horror Story: Hotel

15/2

Emayatzy Corinealdi Roots

16/1

RAMI MALEK PHOTOGRAPHED BY

Mark Mann

5/6/16 1:23 PM

u 3 Q UESTIO NS

Which has been the hardest part to cast in your career?

CARTEL LAND Juan Pablo Raba in Narcos.

Cast Off Essential collaborators for scrambling showrunners, and feared arbiters of actors’ worth, casting directors are responsible for identifying talent, unpuzzling ensembles and launching careers. As the actors they cast enjoy the lion’s share of the Emmy limelight, we put three questions to the people responsible for leading them to the stage. By Matt Grobar

JOHN PAPSIDERA Casual Christopher Nolan’s go-to casting director since Memento, Papsidera’s previous TV credits include Prison Break, Carnivale and Reaper.

CARLA HOOL Narcos Hool worked alongside Carmen Cuba on Netflix’s Pablo Escobar series, specializing in casting an ensemble of Latin talent while Cuba cast the show’s lead roles.

Papsidera: It’s always the small things that inevitably get put under a magnifying glass. On The Prestige and Inception with Chris Nolan were two Asian roles. One was a magician and one was a soldier. We looked forever for those roles. The smaller roles are the hardest thing to do because they need to be alive in a moment, and then leave. Hool: There aren’t a big list of name Latino actors. The same ones always come up—Salma Hayek, Javier Bardem, Antonio Banderas, Benicio Del Toro. That’s something I’m trying to change. In Narcos, Juan Pablo Raba is a great Colombian actor—he plays Pablo’s cousin, and I’ve known him for years but nobody would want to cast him because he was not a name. And now, after somebody gave him a chance, he’s working like crazy. Fiorentino: One of the toughest roles that I had to cast—it was getting the actor that we wanted cast—would have been Alex O’Loughlin in his first series regular role on a show called Moonlight for CBS, in the role of Mick St. John. It was only on for one year, but he was an unknown from Australia. It was incredibly challenging to get the studio and network to sign off on him. It went all the way up the ranks to Les Moonves, who, I’m told, when he saw his screen test, within fifteen seconds said, “Cast him. He’s a TV star.” Saks: I would say that on Elementary, Sherlock was very difficult to cast because we needed to find somebody who took you away from the preconceived notions of Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch. Jonny Lee Miller was my single choice. If he hadn’t fallen into place, I’m not quite sure what we would have done. Farris: Obviously, Elliot (Rami Malek) in Mr. Robot was a huge challenge. He had to be complicated and cerebral, and a loner, yet interesting enough and talented enough to carry the whole show. That was really tricky.

BARBARA FIORENTINO UnREAL Fighting her own distaste for reality TV, Fiorentino worked with co-creators Marti Noxon and Sarah Gertrude Shapiro on the satirical dark comedy.

How long does it take to know an actor is right for a role you’re casting? Papsidera: Once in a while, somebody will surprise you with a choice, but most of the time I think you know pretty quick when they come in the room. I’m a big believer that you get a sense of somebody’s essence most of the time—it’s a natural, instinctive thing that I really try and rely on. Hool: I usually know pretty fast. Usually with the first scene. It’s just a gut feeling—I’ve been doing this for a while, so you just know when someone’s right for the role. Fiorentino: A lot of times when someone comes into the room in that first audition, you just know. That being said, especially when you’re casting a television pilot, a lot of people have to agree with that. Sometimes it’s more of a struggle to get everyone who makes those decisions on board with a particular actor. Saks: It can vary, and it’s dependent on the size of the role, and how much the character has to do in a given script. For series regulars, where you’re looking for someone to either carry a series or be part of an ensemble, I usually know after hearing them read for about ten minutes, and speaking with them. But callbacks are revealing as well. Sometimes in a callback we’ll give them additional material to read, or we’ll give them some direction, and things can snap into place. Farris: Casting is pretty instinctual, so I feel like I have a sense pretty quickly if the person is wrong for the part; that’s always the easiest to discount. Knowing that they’re perfect for the part generally takes a bit longer. You certainly know if they’re in the realm. I would say after the first couple of scenes that show various emotions, I’m pretty much there.

MARK SAKS Mercy Street Having cast everything from Elementary through The Good Wife, Person of Interest and Medium, Saks has been behind many of TV’s biggest hits.

After the Oscar controversy shone a light on a lack of diversity, what’s the role of a casting director in ensuring equal representation? Papsidera: For me, it goes back to writers, showrunners and producers, because ultimately, we can open up that box, but they have to take the present. A lot of it comes down to what’s on the page. It has to start there for it to really change. Hool: I mostly do diversity—I do a lot of Latin projects. In my case, sometimes I give my opinion and say, “What if this role was Latino?” But at the end of the day, it’s going to be the producers and the director who are going to decide who they want to cast. We do give our opinions and bring in actors who would fit the role, even if they were considering the role to be white. Fiorentino: The very first television show that I cast was The Shield, and that was a beautiful landscape of diversity, so lucky for me, I kind of came from that place anyway. And when shows are either set in Los Angeles, especially, or New York, the reality is that these are melting pot cities of all kinds of people from all different ethnic backgrounds. You also want to be true to that. Saks: Color-blind casting, all the time. Saying, “Why can’t this role be African American? Why can’t this role be East Indian?” I find most of the producers, studios and networks I work with are extremely accepting of that, and have been for a long time. I’m always questioning my producers: ”What are the boundaries here? What would work best? What can we do, what can’t we do, and why?” Farris: I think the casting director is just one of many who need to be cognizant of this. Certainly, we’re on the front lines. There is a really huge push for diversity by all the networks these days and I think it’s good. But it’s best when it’s organic, instead of shoehorned in.

SUSIE FARRIS Mr. Robot Alongside Kim Miscia and Beth Bowling, Farris was instrumental in casting the USA Network hit, finding Rami Malek for the lead role.

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GU EST COLUMN

TALKING DIVERSITY

CLERKS. The cast of Superstore, led by Ferrera, middle.

Guest columnist America Ferrera says diverse casting in front and behind the camera needn’t be tokenism. IT ONLY OCCURRED TO ME IN RETROSPECT, but when I

signed on to play Amy in Justin Spitzer’s Superstore, it was the first part I’d ever been offered that hadn’t been written as Latina. I never think of myself as a Latino person; I’m simply a person. And as an actor, I feel capable of inhabiting all kinds of roles and telling all kinds of stories. When I read scripts, I can imagine playing many different kinds of roles. And when this script came to me, they’d already begun casting a lot of the roles, including Colton Dunn as Garrett and Nico Santos as Mateo. Suddenly it occurred to me: none of the roles in the script had specified ethnicities, they were simply casting all kinds of people.

It thrilled me that it was being

want to play a role that’s perpetuating

token. It wasn’t about inserting the

the same old stereotypes.

black character, or the sassy Latina

accepted narratives about audiences’

They went out and found funny

lack of interest in films and shows

people and cast them regardless of

starring people of color are lies. Under

their skin color. But this is really rare.

the veil of making business decisions,

The debate that threatened to swal-

we allow the conversations about

low this year’s Oscars continues to

the relative worth of female-led films,

dominate—as it should—but the tricky

or the importance of beefing up the

thing with casting diversely is avoiding

guys’ parts, to go unchallenged, and

the kind of tokenism that only pays lip

when we don’t call out those narra-

service to the issue. The characters

tives, we become complicit in things

in Superstore, I felt, were real people,

staying the same. It’s not true, either,

written with intelligence, humor and

that it’s just white men propagating

depth. And of course, when I stepped

those narratives: we’re all complicit to

into the role of Amy, she became

a smaller or greater degree. The bar

Latina because I’m Latina... It just

that we expect women and people of

wasn’t her only point of definition.

color to clear is often just higher.

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It also isn’t about shaming people

ences. I don’t know any people of

into doing the right thing. It’s really

color who go around thinking, “I’m

about all of those people in positions

going grocery shopping as a Latina,”

of power—and they’re usually good

or, “I’m going to read this book as

people—asking themselves what

an Asian person.” My experience of

they’re doing to change those narra-

growing up in America was in the San

tives. I get the hesitation: everyone

Fernando Valley, with mostly Jewish

wants to get their stuff made, and you

friends. It took me a very long time

will always go down the path of least

indeed to even start relating to what

resistance in this business. But there

it meant to be Latino in America.

is a middle ground to find, where you

It just wasn’t something I grew up

can tell your story without that kind of

thinking about.

compromise.

Tokenism is about inserting diverse

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I do believe that the widely

chick, or the one-joke Asian dude.

We’re all the sum of our experi-

always have to think about whether I

done in a way that wasn’t in any way

When I look at the faces on

characters because you feel you

television and compare them with

have to; true diversity means writing

film, I realize how far we’ve come on

characters that aren’t just defined

the small screen. It’s important to

by the color of their skin, and casting

celebrate the success that’s been

the right actor for the role. Diversity is

made even as we acknowledge

on everyone’s agenda today, but it’s

there’s further still to travel. All audi-

something I’ve had to think about my

ences want to see the world they

entire career, because, in a way, it’s

live in reflected on screens big and

like the tax you pay for being a person

small. At a certain point, it becomes

of color in this industry. You don’t get

unavoidable to notice that we’re being

to avoid these questions. It’d be great

ignored. Young people are turning to

to go and audition for roles that don’t

YouTube, Snapchat and Vine to find

have to be representative of every

the content that speaks to them,

Latino person on the planet, but we

and you have to wonder why. Viewers

aren’t always given that freedom. I

don’t want to be pandered to; they

can’t just play a housekeeper or a

just want genuine, authentic storytell-

drug dealer, no matter how interest-

ing experiences. That was what first

ing the character might be, because I

drew me to Superstore. ★

PHOTOGRAPH BY

Eric Schwabel

5/6/16 1:09 PM

To watch additional episodes of this and other 20th Century Fox TV programs, go to TCFTVScreeningRoom.com.

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THE WATCHMEN Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston fight a psychological battle with one another in The Night Manager.

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From luxury hotels to shoreline mansions, AMC’s The Night Manager is a glittering advert for the world of international espionage and high‑stakes arms trafficking. As the Arab Spring ignites, two adversaries go to war. The John le Carré adaptation redefines the spy genre for the 21st Century, finds Dominic Patten.

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With a great nimbleness, The Night Manager makes change look very good. “The center of the novel is arms dealing. It was happening in the early 90s, and of course it’s happening now,” reflects Tom Hiddleston on the updating of John le Carré’s 1993 novel for event television. Personified by leads Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie, the Susanne Bier-directed miniseries stands on the giant shoulders of le Carré’s prose, deftly transposing the action from the dank end of the Cold War and South American drug lords to the bloody fallout of the Arab Spring. 14

In the first le Carré TV adaptation in

updated and wedded to the world we

over 20 years, Hiddleston is recruited to

live in,” Hiddleston adds on a LA spring

play former military man Jonathan Pine,

day, as he sits down with Laurie and

the hotel night manager of the title.

Bier to reflect on the series. “Hugh can

Having been seasoned by atrocities

talk about that more because he was

during his tours in Iraq in the preceding

such an admirer of the novel when it

decade, Hiddleston’s Pine is a haunted

came out.”

man suddenly “stirred,” to quote the

“I remember 1993 like it was

show, to coming out from behind the

yesterday,” cracks Laurie laconically,

5-star lobby desk and pressing himself

causing both Hiddleston and Bier to

into action.

laugh deeply. A confessed devotee of

“He’s a deeply romantic character

le Carré’s work, Laurie actually tried

but a closed human being,” notes Bier,

to option The Night Manager when

“and in the course of becoming a real

the book was released, but found the

spy he then becomes an actual human

rights already in Sydney Pollack’s hands.

being as well.”

Pollack’s death in 2008, and the two

Jonathan Pine’s transformation

stunted attempts at making a movie

in The Night Manager begins with

that followed, saw the rights shift back

a chance encounter in the unrest-

to le Carré’s estate. When the author’s

drenched Cairo of early 2011. Managing

sons Simon and Stephen Cornwell

a top hotel in the middle of the uprising

resurrected the project for television

that brought down Hosni Mubarak, Pine

via their Ink Factory shingle, Laurie was

learns some very deadly information.

quickly onboard as a lead and executive

The arsenal he discovers being ordered

producer.

in the middle of the protests in Tahrir

Despite a varied career, Laurie’s

Square is the catalyst for him to leave

seamless performance as the evil and

his crafted life behind and to infiltrate

enticing billionaire has surprised many

the circle of international arms dealing

– a reaction that doesn’t particularly

presided over by the worst man in the

surprise the amused multiple Emmy

world, Laurie’s Richard Roper.

nominee and two-time Golden Globe

“In order for the show to have the

winner. “I simply observe that noth-

same impact as the book, it had to

ing I’ve ever done in my entire career

speak to our political climate now;

has not been prefaced by the words

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THE GOOD WIFE Elizabeth Debicki is The Night Managerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s breakout star.

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DARK WATER At the center of The Night Manager’s impeccably-cast ensemble, Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston shine as Richard Roper, the international arms dealer, and Jonathan Pine, the hotelier thrust into the world of international espionage.

‘unlikely’ or ‘improbable,’ and that’s how I think of myself,” he laughs. “I take it as a compliment and actually I rather relish it. I made a rod for my own back. For 20-odd years, I played goofy, inconsequential characters as a way of hiding.” Taking a pause, Laurie shifts gears and goes for a lighter ending. “Having said that, I frequently confess to Tom the lengthening list of actors that I would have cast instead of me to play Richard Roper,” he says, to more laughter from Hiddleston and Bier, who both insist Laurie was by far the obvious choice for the character. One reason for that, to paraphrase Roper himself in the David Farr script, is that he and Hiddleston both bring a “little swashbuckling” here and there in

compass; his is completely screwed.

The Night Manager. Plus, as any good

Also in a representative way, it was the

female characters had some substantial

thriller requires, there’s sexual and

right decision—nowadays, lots of spies

elements to play with,” agrees Bier.

political intrigue with co-stars Elizabeth

are women.”

“Jed’s a troubled human being and not

Debicki—as Jed Marshall Roper and

Co-star Debicki chimes in: “It’s so

Pine’s love interest with deep fraught

funny; I have read the book, but I can’t

secrets of her own—and Tom Hollander—

even imagine Burr being a man now.”

as the arms dealer’s foul-mouthed right

Gender played another role in the

“I wanted to make sure that the

just a gloriously beautiful girlfriend.” “We made an active choice that we wanted her to be a real person,” continues Debicki. “To have an internal

hand man. In a pivotal role, Broadchurch

series too. Shifting away from the

struggle and layers, and for them to be

alum Olivia Colman plays Angela Burr,

Bond girls and eye candy that populate

revealed in the same as everybody else’s

the heavily-pregnant head of the Inter-

most spy shows and movies, The Night

characters.” Certainly, as The Night

national Enforcement Agency. It is the

Manager creatives and cast sought to

Manager progresses, both Burr and Jed’s

relentless Burr and her small-staffed and

redefine what it is to be a female char-

nuance become more profound and, at

ill-treated division of British Intelligence

acter in the genre. “There are so many

the same time, more normalized.

that receives Pine’s information and

actresses who play these roles, but

recruits him to take down Roper.

they know in their hearts that they’re

the male roles in a lot of things, were

And that’s where another change

“Imagine if Jonathan Pine in this, or

complex, wonderful, layered human

completely one-dimensional. We’re not

from le Carré’s novel kicks in: Burr was

beings and yet they’re playing people

going to watch that show and it’s not

a man in the book. “It was the right

who are only one strain or another,” says

going to be a great hit,” she suggests.

decision because I think Burr being

Debicki. “But, in a genre where women

“More interesting roles are being written

the absolute opposite in every way to

are very often the object of beauty and

for women and appearing on the page,

Roper is a logical progression,” remarks

nothing else, things are changing. Angela

it’s just not as common as it has been

Colman of the change. “She’s making

Burr is a perfect example of that and so

for men for so long.”

life; he’s destroying life. She has a moral

is Jed, who is complex herself.”

With the 2011 Best Foreign Language D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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A PERFECT SPY One of Britain’s most accomplished acting talents, Olivia Colman plays Angela Burr in The Night Manager, an overworked and under-resourced beacon of British intelligence, determined to stop Roper in his tracks.

Oscar winner Bier at the helm, the $30

amidst the fervored ambiguities of

2,” Hiddleston postulates, drawing

million series was shot over 75 days

ambition and national interest that

parallels between Bier’s resonance and

from March to June 2015. The locations

loom over our 21st Century lives.

the world of The Night Manager itself.

ranged from Zermatt, Switzerland

A tone that Bier fostered on the

“She says, ‘You have to be believable

to London and Devon, UK; as well as

set of the production, says Debicki. “I

and credible as the second worst

Marrakesh, Morocco and British banker

think the world Susanne creates is sort

man in the world; first place is already

Lord James Lupton’s 17th-century

of hyper-naturalistic and that’s what

taken.’ Pine takes that to heart. His

home in Majorca. The former stood in

she demands of her actors,” the actor

commitment to the dark side is what

for Cairo, Egypt while the latter nicely

declares. “She never strays anywhere

actually gives him the space to be

portrayed Roper’s well-appointed lair.

near melodrama in any way. Early on,

heroic because the only way to bring

Debuting in the UK in February, The

Susanne said to me, ‘I’m allergic to

Roper down is to get close to him.

Night Manager became a ratings and

fake,’ which I found interesting and

He’s the most method actor of all

cultural phenomenon over its run on

discovered to be very true.”

method actors and his performance is

that side of the Atlantic. “I think it was and is successful because it works on so many different

“It’s something that Burr encourages in the scene in the hotel room in London in episode

immaculate in the process.” Which is exactly what you could say of The Night Manager itself. ★

levels,” asserts EP Stephen Garrett of the BBC and AMC co-production. “If you are looking for a smart Bond-like thriller, it works for you. If you are looking for a psychologically complex Hitchcock game of cat-and-mouse, it works on that level. It is three different love stories in a way; Pine and Roper, Jed and Pine and Burr and Pine, in their desire to bring Roper down. Lastly, I think it is successful because it’s about something going on in the world.” Even more so than back in the 90s, the reality of today’s Britain having long run out of imperial steam, if not influence, permits the well-connected Roper to ferret in and out of the spaces between diplomacy and official armed response with guile and deceit and leave chaos and death in his wake. To that end, against the bloody backdrop of over a decade of terror and war in the Middle East, and the ever-sprawling resulting refugee crisis Europe faces today, The Night Manager provides a degree of clarity D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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F YC | O U T S T A N D I N G D R A M A S E R I E S

“ONE OF THE MOST SUBVERSIVE SERIES ON TV” “TRULY, THOUGHTFULLY DIFFERENT”– Variety “SUMPTUOUS” “IRRESISTIBLE”

“AS SWEEPING AND ADDICTIVE AS EVER”

– TV Guide

– The Hollywood Reporter

“DAZZLING” – Deadline

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR

Caitriona Balfe Sam Heughan

Tobias Menzies

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN

OUTSTANDING WRITING

Jon Gary Steele

Ronald D. Moore, Ira Steven Behr, Anne Kenney, Toni Graphia,Richard Kahan, Matthew B. Roberts, Diana Gabaldon

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN Terry Dresbach

AND D ALL OTHER CATEGO ORIE ES

STARZ and related channels and service marks are the property of Starz Entertainment, LLC. Outlander © 2016 Sony Pictures Television Inc. All Rights Reserved. Emmy® (and the Emmy Statuette are) is the trademarked property of ATAS/NATAS. PBR4614-16-A

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D THE DIALOGUE EMMY SEASON 2016

★ BOB ODENKIRK & JONATHAN BANKS Better Call Saul

“When Castro emptied out his prisons, and they all landed in Miami, the Catholics sent a bus for them and brought them to Albuquerque. They had taken over the drug trade in 60 days, and I mean brutally.” —Banks

★ ELLEN BURSTYN House of Cards

“I walked my dog in Central Park on the first weekend it was shown, and so many people came up to me who had already seen the whole season.” —Burstyn

★ RASHIDA JONES Angie Tribeca

“I wasn’t looking to return to TV after having a daydream job on Parks and Recreation. I knew how difficult [that schedule] was. In addition, I was writing and producing, but this was non-negotiable.” —Jones

★ WILL FORTE

The Last Man on Earth

“There were just so many amazing shows on the cable channels that were pushing the boundaries, and I think that we got in there at the right time.” —Forte

★ SANAA HAMRI Empire

“I like pushing boundaries. I like being outside of the box. But one doesn’t create just to do that; one creates out of the truth of the character.” —Hamri

★ SISSY SPACEK Bloodline

“When I read something, it’s really about how it touches me and how I connect to it, but mainly it’s the people involved. Bloodline is the ensemble, and you’re only as good as the people you’re working with.” —Spacek

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IT’S ALL G OODMAN ★

★

an extreme difference in tone from the highstakes crime of Breaking Bad to a quieter, more pensive drama that has dealt with topics as thrilling as elder law and Cocobolo desks. More than once, Banks heaps praise on his co-star for making Jimmy compelling enough to sell that shift. “Taking this show was a huge risk for all of us, but I’ll never stop blowing smoke for Bobby,

Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks on the slow drip of spin-off hit Better Call Saul. BY JOE UTICHI

because he came in, did page after page after page of monologue, and he deserves to give himself credit for pulling it off.” Odenkirk screws his face up, but Banks peryou gotta give yourself so much credit for what you did with this character.” “Yeah, but I had nothing at stake, Jon,” Odenkirk counters. “I had no status in this world as a dramatic actor that I could lose. I was a comedy and sketch writer, and that was who I was, and

T COULD SO EASILY HAVE GONE DRASTICALLY WRONG, and for a minute it felt like it might. When Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould announced they were looking to spin Breaking Bad’s zany lawyer Saul Goodman off into his own half-hour sitcom, none of the precedent set by Bad could settle fan fears that it was a big mistake. How could one of the most highly acclaimed crime dramas in television history spawn a law procedural sitcom without fracturing memories of the serious intensity that defined the original? But when a retooled one-hour drama aired last year as Better Call Saul, it felt less like a poor imitation than a stay of execution. Even after Breaking Bad’s grand finale, it promised, there would be more stories to tell in the compelling Albuquerque underworld Gilligan had imagined. Just another taste.

I was lucky enough not to have been famous enough as a comic actor that I had anything to work against.” Banks rolls his eyes. “Bobby will yammer and yammer, as he always does, but this is what it fucking came down to: he did it.” “Two years from now, then I will brag.” “Well I’m gonna brag on you now, because you deserve it.” Of course, like so many of Walter White’s clients chasing after their hit of Blue, the voracious appetite of Breaking Bad fans has them clamoring to find out when their favorite characters might crossover into Jimmy’s world. This

“Breaking Bad ended before people were done

Their process, instead, has been to find the story

year’s arc marked a welcome return for Mark

with it,” says Bob Odenkirk, who plays Saul’s pre-

in the telling of it, and it’s only in the hopeful minds

Margolis as the villainous Cartel boss Hector

Bad alter ego Jimmy McGill. “That was a big boost

of fans that it might one day wrap up with Saul

Salamanca, witnessed before the stroke that

for us. If that show had gone three more seasons,

Goodman shaking hands with Walter White. This

rendered his character motionless and silent in

and then we tried to do Better Call Saul, there

was the same approach taken for Breaking Bad too,

Bad. ”Albuquerque’s not the biggest city in the

would have been nowhere near as much goodwill

so why break with a winning formula?

world,” argues Odenkirk, “and it’s not at all over-

and hunger for more.”

“People have an immense amount of patience

populated, so you’d run into each other in these

“It was the storytelling,” agrees Jonathan Banks,

for well-crafted storytelling and they don’t really

the other Bad holdover in the cast, who plays Mike

need those bells and whistles,” continues Oden-

Erhmantraut. “It’s like the ending of Les Miserables,

kirk. “What you get in Saul is the very high standard

says Banks of the real Albuquerque. “A couple

where you don’t want it to stop.”

[Vince and Peter] set themselves, and we all get to

of retired police officers I talked to said that

trust that we’re going somewhere.”

when Castro emptied out his prisons, and they

As the two actors sit down to discuss the recently-wrapped second season, Odenkirk cred-

Banks thinks that if Better Call Saul does no

circles. These people are out in the world.” “There’s a real underbelly of the drug trade,”

all landed in Miami, the Catholics sent a bus for

its Gilligan and Gould for finding a way in. “They

more than tap the rich backstory of these char-

them and brought them to Albuquerque. Put

created a show that, from the start, felt bold and

acters, it’ll have heightened the experience of

them to work in the Octopus Car Wash for a

unique and surprising. It wasn’t playing into your

Breaking Bad no matter where it ends up. “There’s

month, got them a room. They had taken over

expectations, and that’s a big thing. It didn’t feel

a lot to be seen. You’ve never seen Mike be treated

the drug trade in 60 days, and I mean brutally.”

any responsibility to Breaking Bad; they just let it

gently, for example, and I have a feeling it’s one of

be what it was, and they’re finding what that is all

those things where the weakness in the beast is

this season, and Jimmy hovering nearby ready to

the time.”

when somebody shows tenderness. But I like the

tag along, it’s probably safe to assume we will,

mystery of Mike. He was separate in Breaking Bad

soon, witness the emergence of slimy Saul. This

February, Gilligan and Gould stressed repeatedly

and he’s separate in Better Call Saul. He lives out

season’s final moments hinted that Jimmy’s

that they don’t have as much of a grand plan for

there…somewhere else.”

legit days may be numbered, after all.

This is no exaggeration. At a PaleyFest event in

the show as fans and critics would like to believe.

Still, if the Mike we meet in Saul isn’t too far

With Mike inserting himself into that world

“It’s a bit of the Wild West,” Odenkirk says, to

They’d expected that Jimmy might have adopted

removed from the one we meet in Bad, it’s in

follow Banks’ Albuquerque tale. “You can imag-

the Saul Goodman moniker by the end of Season

Odenkirk’s fragile, naïve Jimmy McGill that we

ine this shit happening. You can pull all this stuff

1, but the writing hasn’t led them there to date.

find a real distance still to travel. Not to mention

off, and nobody can find you.” ★

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JO NAT HA N BAN KS : G ROO M I N G BY ST E P H A N IE H O BGOO D FO R E XCLUS I VE A RT I STS M AN AG E M E N T US I N G P E T E R T H O MAS ROT H ; BOB ODE N K I RK : G ROOM I N G BY K AT BA RDOT

sists. “No, you do. I know you’re self-critical, but

Dan Doperalski

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JO NAT HA N BAN KS : G ROO M I N G BY ST E P H A N IE H O BGOO D FO R E XCLUS I VE A RT I STS M AN AG E M E N T US I N G P E T E R T H O MAS ROT H ; BOB ODE N K I RK : G ROOM I N G BY K AT BA RDOT

BURSTYN’S LAMENT ★

★

rare visit by her daughter to vent her frustrations, culminating in a spectacular loss of control in one scene that is as raw and heart-stopping as anything the Oscar-winning Burstyn has done. The response was immediate, Burstyn says, reflecting a world in which this season, as always, landed on people’s Netflix accounts in one burst. “I walked my dog in Central Park on the first weekend

As Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn joins the cast of House of Cards, she reflects on the illogic of the presidential race and film financing. BY JOE UTICHI

it was shown, and so many people came up to me who had already seen the whole season,” she laughs. “I’ve never done anything in my career that has gotten as much attention as House of Cards.” Burstyn appears in five of the season’s 13 episodes, and in three of her appearances, she is directed by the woman behind Claire, Robin Wright. Burstyn, who is looking to make her first film as a director with a feature called Bathing Flo, watched her carefully. “It was a kind of in-and-out relationship with Robin,” she recalls. “She’d be in

LLEN BURSTYN IS MAD AS HELL, and she’s not going to take it anymore. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” she exclaims, her warm voice rising an octave or two as she does. She chuckles at a thought. “And I’ve had a very long life.” Of course with Burstyn, as with so many others this year, the frustration has surfaced through watching the race for the Republican nomination, in which Donald Trump has taken a commanding lead on a platform that includes rhetoric about building a wall to keep out Mexican “rapists” and “temporarily” barring all Muslims from entering the country. “I can’t understand it,” she continues. “The only thing I can think—and this is just a hypothesis; I have nothing to base it on—is that the fact we elected a black president has excited an underlying racism, and it has come to the surface. Now they’re saying, ‘OK, it’s our turn. The racists get a turn.’ I can’t imagine any other election year that there could be this ridiculous and overpowering support for that particular candidate.”

the scene with me, and then the next moment she’d be behind the camera, changing the shot. I was interested in watching that change of character. She’s very popular on set; they have different directors, but I think the crew all favor her.” Progress on her directorial debut is slow, but hopeful. She plans to star in the film too, and thinks she might be on the cusp of securing finance. “Whether or not they’re going to close the deal remains to be seen.” So much of the development process, she says, relies upon the algorithmic calculation of risk, and much as Burstyn might appreciate the reality of that, she can barely countenance the logic of it. “What happens is you submit your script with an idea of what the budget might be, and the

It’s a different kind of approach from that of Frank Underwood, the fictional president of Netflix phenomenon House of Cards, who favors a subtler,

for the office, if not each other?’ It’s just so uncivil,

financier will offer you less than that. In order to

and I don’t know what happened.”

do it for less, it means cutting out the art, usually.

It’s that word—“uncivil”—that best describes

With The Last Picture Show, Peter Bogdanovich

more indirect style to advance his agenda. Burstyn

the machinations of Underwood et al. in House of

brought the script to the company that made

joined the cast this year as Elizabeth Hale, the

Cards. This season starts with Frank separated from

it, they liked it, and they gave him the money he

First Lady’s stone-cold mother, amidst a fictional

his wife Claire, whose own political aspirations are

needed to make the film. He cast it with the actors

White House world in which murder, extortion

ready to be realized. Claire, meanwhile, returns to

that he thought were right for the parts. Now it’s

and political game-playing are the orders of the

her family home on the pretext of caring for her sick,

the reverse. You must get well-known actors, stars,

day. For all the insanity of House of Cards’ fourth

elderly mother. And if Claire ever seemed cool and

to commit to doing it, and they want them all to

season—and there is plenty of delicious insanity

distant before, this is the season in which we learn

work for scale. It’s ridiculous.”

this season—it has felt uncomfortably tame next

where that came from.

to the bombast of this election cycle. “It seems crazy,” Burstyn says. “I’m just

“I did want the audience to see me and go,

That system doesn’t make room for new talent, she says. “When we did The Last Picture Show, the

‘Ah, now I understand where Claire gets her sharp

whole cast was unknowns and we all got careers

stunned. That’s why it’s so important that we get

edge from,’” says Burstyn. “Elizabeth has a lot of

from it. Well, I don’t think this could be done now.”

either Hillary or Bernie into office.”

resentment about Claire’s relationship with her

The Last Picture Show, The Exorcist, Alice

father. I think she’s actually jealous of Claire. And

Doesn’t Live Here Anymore—these films that

flying between supporters of the two Democratic

Though she shares a concern that the vitriol

Claire’s so cool that it was hard, really, to relate to

helped define New Hollywood in the 1970s and

candidates is splitting a vote that could keep the

her in a loving way, even if she had tried.”

made Burstyn’s name—none of them would

Republicans out of office. “For a while I thought

The cold, uncaring way these two powerhouses

pass the commerce test today, she says. It’s with

we were looking pretty virtuous by comparison.

behave around each other, in the somehow

a sigh that she signs off, to gather resolve to

But I’m afraid that’s degenerated now. I just want

claustrophobic surroundings of an echoing

keep fighting for her new passion. “Trying to hold

to get them all together in a room and say, ‘Folks,

mansion that has seen better days, becomes one

onto the beauty of a film,” she opines, “and not

we’re all human beings here. We’re all Americans.

of the most beguiling aspects of the show this year.

just the bare-bones storytelling… You know.

Could we just quiet down and have a little respect

Elizabeth, in the late stages of cancer, uses the

It’s a real war.” ★

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A JONES FOR SATIRE ★

★

Rashida Jones gets laughs on Angie Tribeca by playing it straight. B Y A N T H O N Y D ’A L E S S A N D R O

OR A PHYSICAL TV COMEDY loaded with gags, one in particular sticks out for Angie Tribeca star Rashida Jones, during the episode The Wedding Planner Did It: Tribeca turns to a surgeon, played by Adam Scott, and says, “While I have you here doctor, I’d love you to check out this mole.” The surgeon responds, “That’s a suspicious mole, you should have it looked at.” And there’s Jones with an animal trainer between her legs, wrestling a live mole to her face while it poops on her hands. “For me, that’s the heart of the show,” says Jones remembering the scene.

is more subtle on Angie Tribeca, and that characteristic kicks the onscreen hijinks to a higher echelon of hilarity. Her Angie is tough-ass (she destroys her plywood dummy during a fighting sequence), she’s fearless about going the distance (goes undercover as a nude model and wears a wire), and like any career-obsessed, single woman on TV, is afraid of marriage (she lost her old partner Sgt. Pepper, played by James Franco, on the job, but he’s coming

technical stuff that has to be worked

back in Season 2).

zany, call the straight man; or in this case,

in,” explains Jones. Case in point, during

the woman. That’s what Steve and Nancy

the pilot, there’s a scene where Angie

she’s doing,” enthused Steve Carell about

Carell did when they tapped Jones to play

questions the mayor’s wife, played by Nancy

Jones at the Television Critics Association

the no-nonsense LAPD detective of the

Carell. During their exchange, Mrs. Perry

winter tour. “She makes it look effortless.

RHCU (Really Heinous Crimes Unit) in their

offers Angie a ridiculous amount of food,

But she plays the part and commits to it,

TBS comedy series, Angie Tribeca, a police

which she scarfs down. With each take,

giving it depth amid all the absurdity and

comedy that has resurrected the satirical

all the action has to be reset, the actors

the silliness. She’s the lynchpin for the

physical comedy genre made famous by the

repositioned, and food wiped off their faces.

entire show. We met with a lot of funny

1960s show Get Smart and the early 1980s

On Parks and Rec, Jones says, “It was a little

people. It’s such a specific tone. It’s not

short-lived Police Squad, which ultimately

looser. Rarely were there marks on the floor,

about being funny, but understanding

blossomed into the Naked Gun movie

because there were two or three cameras

when to pull back, and not have a self-

franchise.

capturing what was happening naturally.”

awareness of being funny.”

“I didn’t read for it,” says Jones. “Steve

As the Harvard-educated daughter of

“There’s a high level of difficulty to what

Angie Tribeca returns June 6 for

and Nancy emailed me directly and said,

award-winning musician and producer

Season 2. The timing couldn’t be more

‘We have this script. We have you in mind.

Quincy Jones, she quickly rose in Hollywood

perfect, as it raises the show’s profile

It’s really dumb and we hope you like it.’

as an actress who could balance equal parts

during what is a very competitive Emmy

I liked it very much, but I wasn’t looking

drama and comedy. While many remember

nom period. Season 2 will send-up

to return to TV after having a daydream

Jones as Ann Perkins, the level-headed

shows like Fargo and True Detective, and

job on Parks and Recreation. I knew how

best friend to Amy Poehler’s scatterbrain

will feature such guest stars as Heather

difficult [that schedule] was. In addition,

Pawnee, Indiana government official Leslie

Graham, Mary McCormack, Noah Wyle,

I was writing and producing. But this was

Knope on Parks and Rec, one of Jones’

Maya Rudolph, Eriq La Salle, Danny Pudi,

non-negotiable.”

early breaks was on David E. Kelley’s drama

Busy Philipps, Kevin Pollak, Rhys Darby,

Boston Public in which she played the high

Ed Begley Jr, Joe Jonas and Joey McIntyre.

to sharpen up her comedic timing on

school secretary, embroiled in a romance

Some of Angie’s headaches include drug-

Angie Tribeca. “Every single scene is highly

with an English teacher, and penning a sex

dealing lifeguards, and the murders of a

choreographed as there are several visual

advice column in the school newspaper.

sushi chef and a boy band bad boy.

What intrigued Jones was the chance

gags in any given scene. I say, ‘It’s a booby

Leslie Nielsen was known for sarcastically

Says Jones about Season 2: “Our hope is

trap,’ and then someone is touching the

winking at the camera as calamity flew

that it will be a little drier since the audience

boob on the mannequin. There’s so much

around him on Police Squad. However, Jones

is accustomed to the way we tell jokes.” ★

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Whenever a comedy scene requires

Stefan Studer

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ST YL IN G BY B RAD GO RES K I; M A KE U P BY JA M I E G RE E N B ERG ; H A I R BY KY LE E H E AT H

WILL TO SURVIVE ★

★

As The Last Man on Earth eyes its third season, Will Forte reflects. B Y A N T O N I A B LY T H

ITH THE LAST MAN ON EARTH closing out its second season and renewed for a third, Fox’s hit comedy is currently top of the network’s game. This past season, the show has evolved through location changes, cast expansion, surprise guest stars and creator Will Forte’s decision to stand aside as showrunner—a choice Forte says didn’t change his experience all that much. “I thought I would have a chance to have a little bit more of a life doing the second season,” he says, “but I’m too much of a control freak I guess.” And with streaming services offering more creative freedom than networks—or even cable shows—have enjoyed in the past, Fox has gamely kept up with this brave new TV world. As Forte says, “content-wise they’ve allowed us to do just as many kind of weird risky things as we would’ve done if we were on a cable channel.”

What are some takeaway lessons learned from Season 2? You just get to know the characters better. You get to know the process better, which makes everything so much more efficient. You get to know the actors better, the writers. We have just a really delightful group of people involved in the making of the show from the writers’ room to just an awesome crew. Everyone just gets more and more comfortable with each other. I feel like we grew as storytellers in that second season. That karaoke duet of Falling Slowly with Sudeikis—how much rehearsing did

There are so many gems in this second

but I felt like it was a really cool thing to get

that take?

season—Will Ferrell’s guest spot to name

to stretch and do a kind of different mode.

What people might not know is that we do

one. Do you have any personal favorites?

There wasn’t a single joke in that fourth act

so much karaoke, we sing that song with

Well, there are so many favorites. I just love the

of the tenth episode, so I was really proud of

each other all the time. When we lived in the

people I work with so much, you know. It’s an

that show and excited that Fox would let us

same city we’d go to karaoke, just the two

embarrassment of riches to get to work with

do something like that, and it seemed like the

of us, and just sing together. I went to New

Kristen Schaal and Mel Rodriguez and Mary

viewers were okay with us doing it too.

York a week-and-a-half ago and we went to dinner, and sure enough we ended up at

Coleman and January Jones, but then to get

How much creative leeway did Fox give

to bring Jason Sudeikis into the mix, you know,

you in general?

we’re like brothers from all that time we spent

Well, I definitely think that we got into the

What’s your favorite duet other than

together. So, to get to have him be back in my

situation with Fox at exactly the right time

Falling Slowly?

life in that way after we traveled so much road

for a weird show like this, because when

We love doing Always and Forever. I Can’t

together was a really special experience. I’m so

we came up with the idea for the show

Fight This Feeling is one that we do a lot.

excited that Will Ferrell came and did that part

we definitely felt like it seemed more of

and Fox was really good to us to let us do that

like a cable-type idea. I think at that time

What’s up next for Season 3?

episode that was basically just Jason alone

there were just so many amazing shows on

I don’t know. It’s going to be tricky because

with Mark Boone Junior.

the cable channels that were pushing the

we love trying to keep people guessing

boundaries, and I think that we got in there

where the show’s going to go, and so now

we ended the first chunk of shows in the

at the right time so that Fox wanted to try

it just gets harder and harder. Once you’ve

second season with Mary doing surgery on

something that might be more cable-like. We

covered more territory it gets harder to find

Boris and cutting that together with Jason

haven’t changed the show at all because it’s

another way to do that, but we’ve got just

hurtling through space towards Earth. That

on Fox. We might have thrown some swear

a really wonderful group of friends who are

was an exciting thing for me because you

words in. In fact, for sure we would throw

awesome writers that will hopefully figure

know we’re doing just a little dumb comedy,

some swear words in there.

out something exciting. ★

One of my other favorites was just how

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karaoke. We are just karaoke buffoons.

PHOTOGRAPH BY

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Steenburgen and Boris Kodjoe and Cleopatra

Stefan Studer

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EMPIRE STATE OF MIND ★

★

If you look around you, America is very diverse, and the diverse people are watching television. Minorities are not a minority—they’re a majority. That’s the truth that everybody’s scared to talk about. I’m not scared to talk about it, because I know it’s the truth. Empire is about being inclusive of everybody and everybody’s issues—I feel like that’s what the world is now. The world was always that way, it’s

Director and executive producer Sanaa Hamri on musical innovation in Empire. BY M AT T G R O B A R

just now we’re realizing and we’re no longer scared about telling what the real truth is. What still needs to happen in television to further the progress we’re seeing? In order to make great art, we need to be fearless, and being fearless means embracing differences as well as not categorizing—what, where, how, who—just telling great stories. I’m multiracial; I know sometimes when I walk in a room, not many people look like me, but at this point, it doesn’t

ANAA HAMRI IS AN INNOVATOR. As executive producer and director on Fox’s record-breaking series Empire, the music biz vet continues to pave the way for the family drama’s success. The show’s Season 1 soundtrack grabbed a Grammy nomination last year, and in Season 2, Hamri has facilitated the presence of even more music per episode, all the while incorporating live instrumentation. Taking a break from post-production on the tail end of Season 2, Hamri addressed the process of executing Empire’s big song moments, her dream cameos for the series, and the bottom line on diversity.

really matter to me because I have my own voice. We all have different voices, and we need to embrace those voices because ultimately, that’s what audiences want. They want the truth, and to have fun at the same time. What do you think about the way in which the show portrays women? Women need to be depicted as they truly are, from all walks of life. On Empire, you have Cookie, who was in jail, got out of jail, and she’s the smartest

Season 1 begins with Lucious abdicating

is, Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz wound up doing a

one. Our genitalia shouldn’t dictate what we do

the throne of his own will, but in Season 2,

video that was an homage to that rap battle. So

with ourselves, in terms of excelling. That, to me,

he is forcibly removed by a vote. How will

I feel like we need to be unique, in our own way,

is from the dinosaur age. We’ve got to move on.

this reversal change the dynamic of the

to lead the way.

Because later on, much later from this interview,

show going forward?

the genders are going to collide and it’s not going

Right now, where we are in the season, Lucious

You’ve pushed the music of Empire forward

has to take his empire back. His son took it from

in new directions, increasing the amount of

him and he has to take it back. What will he do

musical numbers per episode and bringing

What has Season 2 meant for the people

to take the empire back, and how is that going

live instrumentation into the mix. What’s

behind the series?

to affect the family? What is he teaching his

behind these ambitions?

Season 2 is about the emotional connections

sons through his actions? It’s a tangled web,

I’m a person who always wants to innovate, and

between each of the characters, and about

and that’s why the Shakespeare reference of

I like pushing boundaries. I like being outside of

transitioning and evolving as artists. I think we, the

King Lear is the best way to put it, because it is

the box. But one doesn’t create just to do that;

behind-the-scenes people, are doing that as well.

intricate, and that’s where we are right now.

one creates out of the truth of the character.

We love the success. What we love the most is

When you mention live instrumentation, it’s

being able to move audiences, and I think we focus

How challenging is it to execute Empire’s

something that has been very important to me

on that.

big song moments time after time,

because young people need to learn how to play

given the time constraints of television

instruments—there’s so much digital music. So

The showrunners have indicated that they

production?

any time we have a chance to have a live band

will be pulling back on the amount of guest

Whether it’s the look, the style, the choreog-

and show the process, I try to keep it as real as

stars going forward, but are there any dream

raphy, the tone, I’m always competing with

possible. It helps people understand the art of

cameos that come to mind for you?

my past self, and I’m also always watching the

making music.

I want to see different types of musical artists showcasing their work, as long as it works within

we’re leaders in that; for example, in one of our

Empire is a show that has been embraced

story. I really want D’Angelo to perform on the

episodes, we had a rap battle between Jamal

by black viewers, who rarely see television

show with his band—again, I’m always going to

and Hakeem. It was slightly hyperreal and I had

catered to them. Is this show an example of

push for live instrumentation and musicianship. I

Funkmaster Flex there, who’s an amazing DJ

the way in which issues of representation

would love to have [saxophonist] Maceo Parker

from HOT 97, because I wanted that authentic

might be shifting in TV?

on. There are so many great artists out there that

vibe. It was funny because a lot of rap battles

I think there was always this Emperor’s new

don’t have the exposure, whether it’s Lianne La

are not done that way, but the point of the story

clothes thing about who’s watching television.

Havas or Judith Hill. ★

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latest that the music industry is doing. I feel like

to really be about male and female anymore.

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HA I R BY DAM O N YOU N G ; M AK E UP BY AU TU M N M OULT RI E

BLOODLINE IN THE SAND Sissy Spacek settles into the complex world of the Netflix drama.

★

have a sense of the whole arc, or are you just going along for the ride? Kind of going along with the roller coaster, and that’s been the challenge for me. You’re building towards something, is the way I’m used to working. And this, it’s more like real life. You’re just in it, and you don’t know where it’s going, and you’re flying by

B Y G R E G E VA N S

★

How do you approach that? Do you

the seat of your pants. Kyle Chandler and Linda Cardellini have

★

done this before, worked in this kind of television successfully and brilliantly, and they have been really generous and have shared a lot with the rest of us. From them, I’ve found that you may not know where you’re going, so you can’t set something up here early on that’s going to have the big giant payoff over here, but you just have to

CTRESS SISSY SPACEK NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION, and her inspired turn as matriarch Sally Rayburn is just the latest coup in a distinguished career. Known broadly for her work with cinema’s greatest auteurs—among them, Terrence Malick, Brian De Palma, and Robert Altman—over the course of her 44-year career, Spacek has been learning from the best in the business from the very beginning, and continues to do so. Indeed, the transition from movie stardom to serialized Netflix drama was a daunting, yet exciting adjustment, she says.

keep each moment real. It’s really about being in the present moment, which is kind of like being in a prizefight with your hands tied behind you. You get pummeled. And then there’s the added challenge in playing Sally, who is the only member of the Rayburn family who isn’t completely in the know about what happened with Danny. Sally is in the dark. She’s still grieving the

When approaching Bloodline, which were

you’re trying to put in nuance and behavior

loss of her husband and the loss of her son,

the names that jumped out at you? What

and create characters within a family drama

her firstborn, which I’ve always said is like

were the exciting elements?

that’s also a psychological thriller.

the first pancake—you have to throw it out.

Glenn and Todd Kessler and Daniel Zelman—I

The sad thing about film is you get a

But she carries a lot of guilt. She was so

was a fan of Damages and I’d seen some early

character that you love and then it’s over.

young when she had him; she really didn’t

shows in this template, with television with

The beautiful thing about working in this

always do the right thing, in terms of his

no commercials, and I thought people were

medium now is that you establish these

upbringing.

doing really great work in it. It’s really all about

relationships with people you’re working with

being part of telling the story, and there were

and they just get deeper and deeper, and it’s

fracture, that distance between her family,

beautiful and fabulous stories being told this

a whole new world.

but not really knowing what it is, and so

way. I wanted to experience it, and it was a

I think in this season, she’s feeling that

for me, it was about seeing the crack in

scary thing, just jumping in and committing

Bloodline is just your latest success in a

the armor with each one of my children,

to something like that. The hardest thing was

career of celebrated roles. How do you

still trying to parent them, and buoy them

being away from home for so long.

consistently pick projects of this level of

up and say, everything’s going to be okay.

quality?

But there’s something so enormous that

investigation when you’re trying to find a

When I read something, it’s really about how

they’re holding back from Sally. I just think

character. The challenges of this have been

it touches me and how I connect to it, but

there’s times when she looks at them and

that you don’t have the time, because you do

mainly it’s the people involved. Bloodline is

can kind of see through them, knows that

some great scene that was just invigorating

the ensemble, and you’re only as good as

there’s something that’s going on, but she

and then… oh, there’s a new episode. Okay,

the people you’re working with. I’ve been

doesn’t know what it is.

I’ve got, what, ten pages to learn? You don’t

fortunate to work with people that knew far

know where it’s going to go, so you don’t have

more than me from the very beginning—it was

When you were shooting your heavily

an overview of it like you do in a film.

on-the-job training.

emotional shower scene in episode

Actors can be like puppies. It’s like an

five, did your iconic scene in Carrie

But I think at my age, it was just a wonderful and terrifying thing to jump into

The world of the show is also one that’s a

come to mind?

something that’s so different. Film was all

bit unstable—you never quite know where

It’s funny. I’m like, “Well I’ve done the

about planning and nuance. It’s fleshing it

you’re going to end up, in time and place,

second shower scene, but this time I

out, it’s investigating it, and you just turn it

in the next moment.

had my clothes on. Awesome.” It did in

wrong side out, trying to figure everything

Right. Is it a flashback? Is it a flash forward?

retrospect, because we refer to it as “the

out. Bloodline starts and then it just goes, and

Is it present time?

shower scene.” ★

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BILLIONS

MASTERS OF SEX

HOMELAND

PENNY DREADFUL

HOUSE OF LIES

©2016 Showtime Networks Inc. All rights reserved. SHOWTIME is a registered trademark of Showtime Networks Inc., a CBS Company. Emmy is a registered trademark of the Television Academy and NATAS. “Homeland”: ©Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved. “The Affair”, “Penny Dreadful”, “House of Lies”, “Billions”,

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THE AF F AI R

RAY DONOVAN

SHAMELESS

LISTEN TO M E M A R LO N

THE CIRCUS

INSIDE THE GREATEST POLITICAL SHOW ON EARTH

2016

EMMY FYC ®

TELEVISION ACADEMY MEMBERS – WATCH FULL SEASONS AT SHO.COM/FYC “The Circus Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth” & “Ray Donovan”: ©Showtime Networks Inc. All rights reserved. “Masters of Sex”: ©Sony Pictures Television and Showtime Networks Inc. All rights reserved. “Shameless”: ©Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved. “Listen To Me Marlon”: ©2015 Universal Studios. All rights reserved. ©MB FILMS LTD 2014.

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â&#x2DC;&#x2026; | flash mob

THE CONTENDERS EMMYS PRESENTED BY DEADLINE, APRIL 10, LOS ANGELES

RE X /S H U T T E RSTO CK

Top row: Gina Rodriguez of Jane the Virgin; Rick Famuyiwa, Kerry Washington & Susannah Grant for Confirmation; Felicity Huffman & Regina King of American Crime; Anthony Anderson of Black-ish; Tom Hiddleston & Hugh Laurie of The Night Manager. Middle row: Jay Roach, Anthony Mackie & Bryan Cranston for All The Way; Linda Cardellini of Bloodline. Bottom row: Patrick Stewart of Blunt Talk; Daniel Webber & JJ Abrams for 11.22.63; Frank Grillo & Jonathan Tucker for Kingdom; Ilana Glazer & Abbi Jacobson for Broad City; Eva Longoria of Telenovela.

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

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“One “One “One “One “One “One “One “One of of of of of of the of the of the the the the the the best best best best best best best best TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV dramas dramas dramas dramas dramas dramas dramas dramas of of of of of of all of all of all all all all time.” all time.” all time.” time.” time.” time.” time.” time.” ––VARIETY –VARIETY –VARIETY –VARIETY VARIETY ––VARIETY –VARIETY VARIETY

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FOR YOUR EMMY CONSIDERATION - OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES AND ALL OTHER CATEGORIES

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