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      For J. Smith-Cameron, ‘Succession’ Was ‘More Than the Sum of Its Parts’

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      The world is her slime puppy now.As Waystar Royco’s corporate counsel, J. Smith-Cameron’s Gerri Kellman spent four seasons as a beacon of competence in the roil of nepo babies and sycophants that was HBO’s “Succession.” The role earned Smith-Cameron an Emmy nomination last year, and on Wednesday she received another. (Eight of her fellow “Succession” cast members have also received nominations in the acting categories.)Reached by phone on Italy’s Amalfi coast, where she had accompanied her husband, the playwright and filmmaker, Kenneth Lonergan, Smith-Cameron swore that this nomination was every bit as exciting as the first. “Because this was our last season,” she said. “And we’re very proud of ‘Succession.’ So it’s just wonderful.”These are edited excerpts from the conversation.How was it playing one of the few capable characters on the show?I think it’s lonely at the top for Gerri because she never gets any credit for it. People begrudgingly take her advice. She knows she’s right. She’s confident. That’s why it stings so much in this last season when Roman fires her and tries to say it’s because she’s not good at her job. She has put up with so much.So many of your “Succession” colleagues have also been nominated. Was there some on-set alchemy that helped everyone do career-best work?I think so. It was more than the sum of its parts. There was something about everyone being at the top of their form and inspiring everyone else to rise to the occasion. But performances can only be as good as what’s written.Still, you wrote Gerri’s most famous line, calling Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) a “little slime puppy.”That’s true, darling. I did. That just came out of my mouth. But “Succession” was an unusually well-written show.What made Gerri tick? And why did she put up with so much nonsense?Well, this is what she’s good at. And she is addicted to it; it’s an adrenaline high. She’s really good at problem solving. I never thought of her as angling to be C.E.O. She liked being the interim C.E.O., but I don’t think she likes to be the one with the target on her back. She likes practicing law because it’s like a logic puzzle. So she was doing what she loved even though it was so stressful.I mean, I’m in a career that seems unnecessarily stressful. People ask me, How can I bear it? I don’t know what the answer is. Except I love to do it, and it’s what I do best. That’s the answer for Gerri.Have Gerri and the fame she has brought changed you in any way? Do you have a real penchant for skirt suits now?This was a really delightful thing to happen for someone my age, in my 60s. For her to be such a popular, fan-favorite character, it feels like a big win for us women in general. Because it doesn’t matter her age — she got to have a sexual profile, she got to be really great with her work, she got to be funny. Most of all, she got to be really human. She wasn’t just a barracuda in stiletto heels. She got to be human person biting her nails and plotting and worrying. That feels like a big win for all of us.What do you imagine happens to Gerri in the future?She could rise to even greater heights. Who knows? Or she could go down in flames. But I think Gerri has done well for herself. More

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      Jessica Williams Celebrates Her Emmy Nomination on the Picket Line

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      A therapist will often begin a session by asking how a patient feels today. For Jessica Williams, the answer on Wednesday afternoon was multilayered.“I feel like I’m dreaming,” she said in a phone interview. “It’s crazy. It’s really weird. It’s so cool. I’m so lucky.”Williams — an actress, comedian and former “Daily Show” correspondent — received her first Emmy nomination for playing Gaby, an effervescent behavioral therapist in the Apple TV+ show “Shrinking.” Gaby shares a Pasadena, Calif., practice with Harrison Ford’s character, Paul, a therapist facing a Parkinson’s diagnosis; and Jason Segel’s character, Jimmy, a therapist who is grieving the death of his wife. (Gaby and Jimmy also end up in bed together, a move few therapists would sanction.)“It’s a crazy day today,” Williams said, speaking from a rowdy Writers Guild of America picket line outside Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, Calif. “I have to stand in solidarity.” In the interview, Williams spoke of Gaby’s verve, heart and refusal to adhere to stereotypes. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.When I entered “Jessica Williams” and “Shrinking” into the search bar, it auto-populated with “outfits,” “water bottle” and “jumpsuits.” How does it feel to be a style icon?That’s amazing. I love it. That’s the biggest honor. Very affirming of the jumpsuits.Is the nomination something you’ll need to talk about with your therapist?I’ve been off for a few months with her, because I’ve had her for so long. This makes me want to call her and connect. I’m just happy to be in the category with these badass ladies. And I’m so proud of the show. You have to have great writing, a really supportive cast, a really supportive crew, really cool jumpsuits. And they really have to let you fly onscreen. As a Black woman, I feel really lucky because, a lot had to go right.And they found a tall enough love interest for you. That’s nice.Yeah, it’s always like, who’s taller than her? It’s like six people. When you see me in something, and the other person is tall, you should not be surprised if a romantic story line is there.Romantic? I don’t know if it’s a great idea to sleep with a colleague who is still grieving his wife.It’s a really bad idea! But that’s what I like about “Shrinking.” It’s a show that talks about how grief isn’t linear. It’s about the messiness, the boundaries being blurred. That’s what’s fun about it. You don’t know what’s going to happen.You’ve spoken of being aware of the archetype of the Black therapist and wanting Gaby to complicate that.The Black therapist can be a watered-down version of the mammy — the Black nanny or housekeeper that’s around in a “Gone With the Wind” way that people just download emotions onto. One of the reasons I was so excited to do the show is because I had the opportunity to attack Gaby with specificity. Specificity kills tropes and stereotypes. Gaby, she sings Sugar Ray in the car! It’s about not putting Black actors and actresses in a box. It’s trusting us with our characters and allowing us to bloom on camera.Are you someone who can take the win? Can you enjoy the nomination?In general, I usually poke at the win and pick up the win, but I don’t want to do that with this. I just want to sit in it and let it settle. Try to let myself enjoy it.Are you going to do anything to celebrate?Picketing, which feels good. Then later, we’re going to go to my favorite bar that does extra dirty martinis.What would Gaby, the therapist, say to you right now?Holy schnikes! More

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      Alan Ruck on His First Emmy Nomination and Saving Connor Roy

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      As HBO’s media-dynasty drama “Succession” was wrapping up its final season, Alan Ruck, the actor who plays the oblivious and often ignored eldest son, Connor Roy, admitted that he had once felt so unsatisfied with his depth of material that he suggested to the show’s top brass that his character be killed off.He is certainly glad now that he was told no.While driving to the gym on Wednesday morning, Ruck got the news that he had earned his first Emmy nomination. The role, which gained significant bulk in Season 4, with a long-shot presidential campaign and a wedding on a boat that was eventful, to say the least, landed him in the best supporting actor in a drama category.In a phone interview after his nomination was announced, Ruck, who before “Succession” was best known for playing Cameron Frye in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” said he was “buzzing” over the news. The conversation has been edited for clarity.How different was Season 4 for Connor from the early seasons in terms of screen time and material?Way back when I auditioned for [the “Succession” executive producer] Adam McKay to do this thing in 2016, the email from my agency said: “Connor Roy. Only child by the first marriage. Not in line to be C.E.O. of the company. This part will grow over time.” In the first seasons I had a few things to do, and then in the second season I had some inane Connor-isms, some interjections, but I didn’t actually have a one-on-one scene with anybody. Everyone was like, “This is the best show on TV,” and people didn’t even know I was on it. So I asked to be killed off, and they said, “No, no, no, we need you.” Mark Mylod [a “Succession” executive producer and director who was also nominated for an Emmy on Wednesday] wrote something funny about how Jeremy Piven’s character on “Entourage” was not supposed to be much at all and then it grew over time. And Connor did grow over time; it just kind of took until the end of the third season.How did you feel when you saw more substantial scenes for Connor in the Season 4 scripts? For example, there’s one in the karaoke room, where he betrays his siblings in support of his father. (He accuses them of being “needy love sponges” seeking Logan Roy’s approval.)These are the best writers I’ve ever worked with, and when I finally was given these chunks of beautiful stuff, I was just thrilled. I salivated.What was your experience shooting that karaoke room scene?I was just really satisfied as an actor that I got to stand up for myself. Because if someone tells you you’re a moron over and over, even if it’s just make believe, it gets under your skin.What are your predictions for Connor’s future, in terms of his career and his relationship? When the series ends — minor spoilers ahead — Connor is potentially up for the job of U.S. ambassador to Slovenia if Jeryd Mencken, the Republican nominee played by Justin Kirk, succeeds at becoming president.If Mencken is elected president and Connor goes over as ambassador, he will delegate all responsibility. He will show up for the handshaking and the state dinners and the events. He won’t last long in that job. And then since Willa was obviously hoping that he would be away for a stretch of time, I don’t have high hopes for that relationship.What are you looking at in terms of future roles?I’m looking forward to getting hired for roles that pay money. I’m an independent contractor. I think I’ll get a chance at some different things now, but I do want to continue to play people that are damaged. Because it’s pretty satisfying. When you play horrible people, you get to get all of that nasty [expletive] out at work. More

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      Daniel Radcliffe Has an Emmy Nod, But His Accordion Skills Are Fading

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      It was a typical morning for Daniel Radcliffe when he got a not-so-typical call: He’d been nominated for his first Emmy Award, for best lead actor in a limited or anthology series or movie, for his performance as the parodist Weird Al Yankovic in last year’s Roku biopic “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.””It was a genuine surprise,” Radcliffe, 33, said in a call from his New York apartment, where he had just finished bouncing his newborn son, trying to lull him to sleep.The “Harry Potter” star has increasingly pivoted to more experimental roles, chief among them his starring turn in the kinda-sorta-not-actually-true biopic about the life of the music and comedy legend, which debuted on the streaming service in November.“I generally pick things because I know I’ll have a good time making them,” Radcliffe said. “Making this was one of the most special experiences of my career, and when the love you have for something is mirrored in the reaction to it, there are few feelings that are as good as that.”Radcliffe will soon begin performances on Broadway in a much-anticipated revival of Stephen Sondheim’s 1981 musical “Merrily We Roll Along.” In an interview, he discussed his affection for Weird Al, his favorite cameo from the film’s star-studded pool-party scene and why writers are so essential to making good film and TV. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.You were initially hesitant to take this role because you, objectively, look nothing like Weird Al. But was that ultimately part of the appeal?My first reaction was definitely that there were people who were physically a lot closer to his appearance. But when I read the script, by Page 2, I got a sense of the tone of the film and what they were trying to do. I was like, “I can play this version of Weird Al.” I kind of felt foolish for ever having assumed it would be a serious, straight-down-the-line biopic. A parody of biopics is the only thing a Weird Al biopic could ever be.What was the most challenging part?The whole film was shot in 18 days, and there were these big music and dance sequences, these big fight sequences. There was a lot to do and to learn, and it was mostly a question of not going into any day unprepared. There wasn’t room for any of us in either the cast or the crew to do that. The way Eric [Appel, the director] managed to make this film in such a short time was insane. I’m sure he was having to make compromises or cut or change things, but it never seemed like it.What was your favorite celebrity cameo from the pool-party scene?The teenage boy in me was freaking out that I was getting to do a scene with Jack Black. But I think the best celebrity impersonation in there is Jorma [Taccone] playing Pee-wee Herman. He can make me laugh like few other people can.What is the best song you can play on the accordion?It will remain the opening of “My Bologna.” Actually, I can probably play a little bit more of “I Love Rocky Road” — I can get all the way up to the solo. Well, I should say I could get that far; I haven’t been practicing as much in recent months, because I have a small child in the house now who we are trying to get to sleep rather than wake up to the sound of an accordion.What is your favorite Weird Al song?Probably “Bob,” the Bob Dylan parody, which is entirely made up of palindromes. It scratches at the super wordy nerd part of my brain.Are there any other nominees you’ll be rooting for from this season?Quinta Brunson from “Abbott Elementary,” who I got to work with a bunch of times. She’s the best. I will be cheering her on whatever she does. And — if there is an Emmys ceremony to go to — it’s nice that I will at least know her.Do you have any thoughts on the writers’ strike, or the possible actors’ strike?Nobody wants a strike to happen, but it is seeming more and more like it needs to. It’s important that we show solidarity with the writers, because no actors are as good at improvising as we think we are. I would be literally nowhere in my career were it not for writers. And with all the A.I. stuff, it seems like it potentially could be a really important moment. We might be one of the first industries to have a say on how this stuff works and affects us going forward.You’re in “Merrily” on Broadway for the foreseeable future, but what about after that? Do you want to do more TV? Film? Direct?Yes to all of that. Obviously “Merrily” will keep me busy for a while, but I’ll go wherever good scripts are. When I was growing up, there was much more of a perceived gap between film and TV, and that just doesn’t exist anymore, which is fantastic. You can go wherever good work is being made. More

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      Janelle James Reacts to Her Second Emmy Nomination for ‘Abbott Elementary’

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      To many television viewers, Janelle James has become synonymous with Ava Coleman, her bumbling but brashly confident elementary school principal in the hit ABC workplace comedy “Abbott Elementary.”The real-life James, a veteran comedian who for years slugged it out on stand-up stages around the country, isn’t so bumbling. But on Wednesday she had cause to be just as confident, after receiving her second Emmy nomination for playing Ava, her breakout role. She is familiar now with the choreography of the awards show: the campaigning, the events, the dressing up … the media interviews. “After the last Emmys, you kind of start getting ready for the next Emmys,” she said, joking. “But it’s still a huge deal.”Having recently woken up to several calls informing her of the nomination — once again for best supporting actress in a comedy — James discussed by phone the sitcom’s success, expanding her comedic persona and the personal growth of the delightfully self-aggrandizing comedic foil that is Ava. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.I’m going to ask you the question that I’m supposed to ask as a journalist: How did it feel to hear you were nominated? But if it’s not too early for some improv, would you mind answering as Ava, not as Janelle?This is expected. You know when I started the show at the school, I knew in my heart that this would be the outcome. Sure, it’s for the children, but I’m the glue that holds it all together. So for people to focus on me, you know, it’s all the better because then I can shift the focus, down the line, to the kids who really … deserve it.Thank you for humoring me. So — back as Janelle — tell me about your experience at last year’s Emmys.That was a wild experience for me. I had never been to the Emmys before and really did not understand what the whole process was. It was a totally new experience, and my best friend, Hadiyah Robinson, who I started in this business with, was next to me and we were truly just geeking out about seeing all of these famous people.Do you ever find yourself channeling Ava into your own life?Before this role, I remember being younger and more fabulous, pre-comedy, pre-standup and really making a conscious decision to downgrade in looks and fabulousness in order to maintain my sanity in a male-driven industry. I was doing the whole “comedian in a black T-shirt and jeans” thing. This role — the whole getting gussied up — has reminded me that I do like those things, and that is a part of me. I’m trying to bring that back.This show went quickly from being the new comedy on the block to being well entrenched in pop culture. How did that happen so fast?That’s great — that means we’re already part of the zeitgeist and the lexicon. People feel like they know us, and I feel like that’s the sign of a true sitcom: something that you watch with your family and something that feels like it’s been part of your life the whole time.What are your hopes for Ava in future seasons?Maybe more Ava outside of the school, what she does when she’s not working. We set up the fact that she’s interested in learning and maybe teaching down the line. I hope we continue down that path — Ava’s education reawakening. And more of the same. More high jinks, more lines, more laughter. More

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      Tony Gilroy Kept the Faith for ‘Andor.’ Its 8 Emmy Nods Are Affirmation.

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      Wednesday was a big day for the Galactic Empire. “Andor,” the Disney+ “Star Wars” prequel series that made its debut last fall, picked up eight Emmy nominations, including one in the best drama category.Over 12 episodes in its first season, the show follows Cassian Andor, the Rebel spy played by Diego Luna, who will eventually carry out the desperate act of espionage depicted in the 2016 film “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” “Andor” has drawn acclaim for its focus on the interior lives of its characters and for homing in on the struggles of ordinary citizens. A second season of the show is forthcoming.The Emmy accolades offer a degree of vindication for the “Star Wars” executives at Disney who made a big and expensive bet on the series, and for the creator of “Andor,” Tony Gilroy, who helped write and oversee “Rogue One.”In an interview on Wednesday, Gilroy discussed the Emmy nods and how “Star Wars” has expanded on TV. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.We know that delving into the “Star Wars” universe comes with pressure. So how does it feel to rack up eight Emmy nominations today?Affirming. The past 10 months have just been such a pleasure. It’s such a huge show, but we made it so privately and quietly. When you make a “Star Wars” show or film, you can’t go out and do a lot of focus groups and a lot of testing. We really never had an audience, and the pressure to finish the show comes right down to the deadline. So really, the audience was our focus group. We really did not know what to expect as we came forward. And to end up here now with eight nominations, it’s just a gas.It’s also the payout on a really huge gamble that Disney took and that Lucasfilm took. This is not for the faint of heart, shows of this scale. And so good on them. I hope they’re happy with this result as well.“Obi-Wan Kenobi” also did well today. And “The Mandalorian” has been a success. What, if anything, does this tell you about transferring “Star Wars” stories from the big screen to TV?It’s economically challenging and its certainly emotionally and chronologically challenging to the creative team. But if you have a story that wants a larger canvas, that opportunity is now available. And there are a lot of stories that don’t want to fit into 120 pages or an hour and a half. It’s a very exciting time to be a storyteller if you can crack the formula of how to make it economically feasible.Some of the praise the show has drawn is for sort of giving us a look at ordinary people in an oppressive world. There is maybe a little less classic “Star Wars” and a little more focus on day-to-day life on distant planets. Was that intentional? Why go that direction?Those are the things that have always interested me. When Disney and Kathy Kennedy [the Lucasfilm president] came and proposed it, it was with that as a sort of genetic mandate for: Let’s go into the kitchen and get out of the dining room; let’s go to the back of the house. There are billions and billions of people that live in the galaxy. Why concentrate on the royal family and a dominant story that’s taken up all the oxygen so far? Why not see if we can’t take a deep dive into what it’s like to be at the ground level as a revolution is sweeping through?Did you have faith that “Star Wars” fans would be interested in that?I’ve been on this — in August it’ll be four years. My ability to believe and have confidence is not a constant. There have been times all the way through where I wondered if I’d made a terrible mess of my life or made the wrong commitment. It’s not like a film where you can sort of bandage yourself up and get through the experience if it’s not going well. This is a long-term commitment and the responsibility is enormous on every level.So I wish I could say that I had faith all the way through, but that would not be true. More

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      Emmys: It’s Jeremy Allen White vs. Jason Sudeikis in the Comedy Actors Race

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      On the one hand, Jason Sudeikis is on a roll. He’s won the best actor in a comedy award two consecutive years for playing the title role in “Ted Lasso.” But can one ambitious and anxious chef topple him?Jeremy Allen White, the star of “The Bear,” will seek to snap Sudeikis’s winning streak at the Emmys along with a group of others. He was nominated on Wednesday along with Bill Hader, Sudeikis’s former castmate at “Saturday Night Live” and a previous winner in the category, for the final season of “Barry.” Martin Short also received a nomination for the second consecutive year for “Only Murders in the Building.”With “Hacks” and Jean Smart out of the competition this year for best actress in a comedy, award prognosticators believe that Quinta Brunson could be on a glide path to winning for “Abbott Elementary.” Brunson took writing honors at the Emmys last year for her good-natured ABC workplace comedy, and would be the first Black woman to win best actress in a comedy since Isabel Sanford won in 1981 for “The Jeffersons.”In the comedy races, it’ll be a showdown between the two-time winner “Ted Lasso” and “The Bear” and “Abbott Elementary.” It has been nine years since a network show won best comedy at the Emmys. The old network tradition of having a chokehold on the category has since given way to cable (“Veep,” “Schitt’s Creek”) and to streaming series (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Fleabag” and “Ted Lasso”). More

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      Natasha Lyonne on Her Emmy Nomination for ‘Poker Face’

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      In the Peacock murder-of-the-week procedural “Poker Face,” Natasha Lyonne plays Charlie Cale, a former cocktail waitress and poker hustler with a difference: Charlie is a human lie detector in a trucker hat, able to spot a falsehood from across the casino floor.Also among Charlie’s powers? She helped earn Lyonne an Emmy nomination on Wednesday, Lyonne’s third as a performer, for best lead actress in a comedy series.Charlie’s unusual ability in the series — a reverse whodunit, or “howcatchem,” created by Rian Johnson — is a wonky blessing that sends her out on the lam after she upsets a Nevada casino boss. As she shambles across the country, Charlie, the sole constant in every episode, stumbles on diverse crimes and then intuits how they were committed.But Lyonne’s job requires more than intuition. For each episode, she memorizes a 60-page script and helps guide the guest actors through the particular rhythm of Johnson’s style.“It’s really moving when the work is actually acknowledged,” she said by phone just after the Emmy nominations were announced. “Because I do put in quite a good deal of work to make it seem so loose.”Lyonne — who has a mess of red-gold hair and a voice that sounds like she’s perpetually just waking up, and isn’t especially happy about it — hadn’t watched the nominations. But she had already reached out to Johnson to ask if she could bring his wife, the podcaster and critic Karina Longworth, as her date for the ceremony.In a brief interview, Lyonne discussed Charlie’s multilayered spirit as desert rat, idealist and puzzle maven. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.Congratulations. I like to see this nomination as a win for raspy-voiced women everywhere. What’s the fun of playing Charlie? And how does the nomination feel?Rian really built this bespoke character on our shared love of Peter Falk and of Elliott Gould in “The Long Goodbye.” But with this added twist of the Dude from “Big Lebowski” or like a lazy, late-in-life Gene Hackman. Well, not really late in life, but more “Night Moves” than “French Connection.” Just a back-foot character who’s sort of a desert rat who’s got the sun on their face. And with the hairdo, I sometimes feel like I’ve archetyped a Mae West character for myself.But I’m building the character from the inside out. A thread in my work is this John Lennon quote: “Just give me some truth.” There’s a lineage of people who’ve had that desire to communicate truth through their work. The deep need to communicate the human experience is what I’m after. Sometimes I worry that because of my surrealist bent, that kind of gets lost in the shuffle.How hard-boiled is Charlie? What motivates her?I don’t know. How hard-boiled a musician is Bob Dylan? Charlie’s somebody who just really has a need to right a wrong, or when she sees an injustice, to name it and call it out. She’s not like, “I can’t wait to put cuffs on you.” Because she’s not a cop. It’s a need instead to look out for the little guy and make sure that nobody’s being taken advantage of, which is obviously something I resonate with.Rian and I have this shared love of crossword puzzles. So in many ways, we built Charlie as less hard-boiled and more as someone who wants to crack the case, to get to the end of the puzzle. If she sniffs out something rotten in the state of Denmark, she has to get to the bottom of it, without realizing that as she gets there, she’s looking into the barrel of a gun. More