TORONTO – The final ceremony for the 2017 Primetime Emmy Awards is only five days away, but last weekend the Creative Emmy Awards were handed out over consecutive nights. While most of the non-televised ceremonies were dedicated to categories such as Make-Up, Cinematography and the interactive fields a number of major winners were revealed including Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. That insanely competitive field saw “The Handmaid’s Tale’s” Alexis Bledel triumph over impressive work from Cicely Tyson (“How To Get Away With Murder”), Alison Wright (“The Americans”) and the incredible Ann Dowd (“The Leftovers”).
On Monday, I spoke with Blendel’s co-star Elisabeth Moss who was in Toronto to support her Palm d’Or winning film “The Square” which is a major contender for a Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination in January. Needless to say she was still over the moon following Blendel’s win. Beaming she exclaimed, “Oh my God. I freaked out! I freaked the fuck out.”
“I never do this. I’ve been to a few Emmy thingies and I was refreshing the Twitter for two hours because we had these horses in the game, and these people feel like my children,” Moss says. “I’ve never felt so kind of … what’s the word? Just sort of proud of them. I was just over the moon. I freaked out, I texted her immediately and was texting [executive producer] Warren [Littlefield] and [show creator] Bruce [Miller], ‘Alexis won!'”
Hulu’s breakout drama program also won Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary or Fantasy Series as well as Cinematography for a Single Camera Series (One Hour).
Moss earned her eighth and ninth Emmy nomination this year for the critical acclaimed series in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category and as a producer in the Outstanding Drama Series bloodbath. She’s the presumed front runner in Lead Actress over “Westworld’s” Evan Rachel Wood and “The Crown’s” Claire Foy. In the Drama Series category “The Handmaid’s Tale” is in a tight race opposite Netflix sister series “Stranger Things” and “The Crown” as well as potential upset player “This Is Us.” I asked Moss if she was more nervous this time around than her previous seven nominations, but she seemed to have quite a relaxed attitude toward it all.
“I always get nervous, so it’s not necessarily more nervous, I just always get nervous,” Moss says. “Yeah, so I’m very used to not winning, so for me that’s not an issue anymore.”
We’re predicting Moss cracks that Emmy ceiling Sunday night one way or another.
Look for complete coverage of the Primetime Emmy Awards on The Playlist Sunday night. The ceremony will be broadcast on CBS beginning at 8 PM ET/ 5 PM PT and will be host by Stephen Colbert.
