Emmy Fever hits Out In Hollywood!!!
I'm pretty much working all weekend, including tomorrow night's Emmys so that's why the blog is a little more active than most Saturdays. I hope you don't mind!
Last night I got all dressed up and went to the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood for a party for acting nominees. I find out that I don;t get to go in, just cover the arrivals on the red carpet. Dammit. But they kept all the press out and that is their right.
But after such a wonderful night on the red carpet interviewing some great stars - and being ignored by others - I have no complaints. So I'm providing you with a recap of the night which I wrote for the paper's On The Red Carpet blog which I will be live-blogging from tomorrow during the Emmys from backstage at the Shrine Auditorium. Will post another link tomorrow so you can follow along if ya want.
When you’re nominated for an Emmy these days, life is just one big party. Among the soirees going on around town Friday night was the Television Academy’s tribute to acting nominees at Wolfgang Puck at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood.
It drew nominees Leslie Caron, Lorraine Bracco, Mariska Hargitay, Masi Oka, Neil Patrick Harris, Denis Leary, Sandra Oh, Chandra Wilson, T.R. Knight, Robert Duvall, John Cryer, Anna Panquin. August Schellenerg, Judith Light, Conchata Ferrell, Holland Taylor, Kate Burton and Tim Daly, among others.
Oka (pictured above with Oh) drove up to the valet in old Honda, sputtering with 140,000 miles on it. The “Heroes” star, nominated for outstanding supporting actor in a drama, wonders if it’s finally time for some new wheels now that the NBC hit is heading into season 2.
All of the success is still a bit surreal for the young actor to have landed a key role on such a big show.
“To be a working actor is already a dream and to be on a great show is like winning the lottery. But to be on a phenomenon and to be here \[as an Emmy nominee\], it’s like ‘How lucky are we?’ It’s absolutely surreal.”
I had profiled Hargitay last year for a cover story I wrote for Orange Coast Magazine and of the 50 or so covers I have done for them over the years, no one was more gracious than Mariska.
Since we did a telephone interview then (she was in NYC), this was our first meeting in person.
“I loved that article!” Mariska said as she greeted me. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”
Although she is once again nominated for her role in “Law & Order: SVU,” I wondered if having won last year takes some of the pressure off.
“It is much easier,” she admits. “This is a stress-free year. I came in, had fun playing with \[son\] August. It’s just a cakewalk now \[laughs\].”
She’s also learned that when it comes to picking what to wear, make comfort your first priority: “Only wear things that you are really comfortable in. It changes your whole confidence. Don’t wear really uncomfortable shoes. That will never work for you.”
Bracco, nominated once again for “The Sopranos” hads the opposite tip: “Wear shoes that hurt!”
The actress received her fourth nod for her role as Dr. Jennifer Melfi on the series, but her first since 2001.
“It’s a very nice way to end it really,” she says. “I’m very honored and touched. Like I said, it’s always nice to be asked to the prom instead of having to ask somebody to go dutch.”
What will she do post-“Sopranos”?
“I’ve been so far very lucky. I went on a whole bunch of appointments today with people who wanted to meet me for things so I no idea! What’s hard now is to get a good script, a good role. That’s what it’s all about. I don’t care if it’s film or TV, or cable. Look, I’m 53 and I’m glad the phone’s still ringing.”
What a great week it is when you get to chat up Judith Light TWICE. Since we had already done an extensive interview Sunday night, I wanted to know where she keeps the two Emmys she won for “One Life to Live.”
Light said: “On the mantle in the library.”
She’s similar to “Two and a Half Men” nominee Conchata Ferrell who let me just say right now, I am a huge fan of. She is one of the funniest women in showbiz and told me that if she wins, she’s “gonna put it on a chain and wear it around my neck.”
“I’m gonna take a picture of me holding it and I’m gonna send it to all those people who wouldn’t marry me all those years ago. \[laughs\] Look at me now!”
But getting her third career Emmy nomination was not without a little anxiety when it came to pick out something to wear to the ceremony.
Remmbers Ferrell: “They called and said, ‘You’re nominated’ and I said, ‘Whoopie! What the HELL am I gonna wear? The costume designer on the show found something that’s silver and sparkly and let me tell you something, when a woman my size, when I walk by, you’re gonna see me sparkle!”
Ferrell is competing against her “Men” co-star Holland Taylor who already has one Emmy win for “The Practice.” If one of the other wins, the two women have vowed to mud wrestle for the statuette when they return to the set on Monday.
“That is our plan,” Taylor said. “We are mud-wrestling to the death.”
Taylor’s nominated episode had her character getting an overdose of collagen resulting in giant lips “beyond Goldie Hawn in ‘First Wives Club.’ I went insane with the pumped-up lips. It’s was like I had fish attatched to my face.”
Kate Burton, whose first screen role was an uncredited bit in the 1969 movie “Anne of the Thousand Days” which starred her father, Richard Burton, was nominated for guest actress for the second year for her role as Ellis Grey on “Grey’s Anatomy.”
The three-time Tony nominee may have lost out this year, but she’s got an Emmy back at home which she won in 1996 for the daytime special “Notes for My Daughter.”
“I lost out to Leslie Caron and she’s a legend so how bad can it be?”
Even though her character as Meredith’s mother died last season, Burton will return to the show via-flashback. Her character, a brilliant surgeon, had early onset of Alzheimer’s but recovered her memory for a few episodes.
“I wouldn’t be standing here now if it weren’t for that episode. That was why I was nominated. I know it’s like the oldest cliche in the world but it really is such an extraordinary honor to be nominated, particularly for an Emmy because there are so many choices - hundreds and hundreds. You really just feel like you’re part of an extraordinary community and it’s an amazing group of people.”
Big-screen icon Leslie Caron made a rare television appearance last season in an episode of “Law & Order SVU” and it won her an Emmy Award for outstanding guest actress in a drama series.
“It was a good part, a very good part - a meaty part,” she explained. “I’ve had good comedy parts and great partners, great directors. But a really meaty dramatic part, that’s quite rare.”
She didn’t know that she would win but Caron decided to make the trip from Paris anyway to attend last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys where the guest acting Emmys are presented.
“I’ve learned to say yes to all good things,” she says. “I think it’s good to be adventurous and just to say yes to life in general.”
What does the star of such classics as “Gigi,” “An American in Paris,” and “the L-Shaped Room” account for her longevity that has stretched from her first Oscar nomination in 1954 (“Lili”) to last weekend’s Emmy win.
“I’ve done an done awful lot of things and I love doing whatever work is proposed. But again, it really is about saying yes to things.”
I had to know, who was her favorite leading men?
Caron: “Oh, that’s a difficult one. There were at least five.”
Me: “OK, I’ll take five.”
Caron: “Fred Astaire (“Daddy Long Legs”) and Gene Kelly (“American in Paris”) and Cary Grant (“Father Goose”) oh, and let’s not forget Warren \[Beatty\]“ her co-star in “Promise Her Anything.”
Chatting up Leslie Caron. What. A. Thrill.
While the legendary Caron patiently did interviews with each reporter, Denis Leary could not be bothered with print press once he finished with some television interviews. He ignored requests for a word with about a dozen reporters, not bothering to even turn his head to acknowledge us.
I’m a big fan of “Rescue Me” and of “The Ref” but this kind of behavior left me cold. Oh and Wilson of “Grey’s Anatomy” also declined to speak but both apologized saying they were late getting into to the party.
Neil Patrick Harris avoided appearing rude by self-parking and avoiding the red carpet altogether. He was spotted checking in behind the glassed doors by a few eagle-eyed cameramen but by the time word of his presence got around, he was riding up the escalator to the party.
He must’ve been hungry.
Earlier this week, I was having dinner at Spanish Kitchen in West Hopllywood with an industry source and we were gabbing about everyrthing from the presidential race to, well, "Dante's Cove." He said he thought of it as soft-core porn and I found myself just sorta saying, "Well, I like it. I like all the supernatural stuff." 
OK, a few words about Reichen, who has a steamy quickie with Fleming's character in episode one that is kinda hot, he does a really good job! I was surprised in a way. But he was natural and believable and kinda charming as Trevor and I think is going to have some kind of professional partnership with Scoggins' Grace. He's a nice addition to the show and, as you can see from this photo, has a killer bod.
It looks like Whoopi Goldberg is as big a ratings draw for "The View" as the controversial Rosie O'Donnell was - at least in her first week. The Oscar winner's debut week as moderator nearly tied Rosie's debut week a year ago. An average of 3.5 million viewers tuned in each day, just 2 percent less than fall 2006 premiere week. 
Greg Hernandez has covered the entertainment industry for the Daily
News since 2001. He's considered a bit odd by some for his obsession
with box office numbers, has been known to camp out near the kitchen
at premieres for first crack at the hors d'oeurves, and Greg's never
seen a red carpet he didn't want to stroll down.