Australians are scooping up the Emmy nominations with Cate Blanchett, Hugh Jackman critics’ picks
Five Australians have dominated the Emmy nominations this year with Cate Blanchett, Hugh Jackman and Toni Collette leading the charge in a historic awards season.
Emmy Awards
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The usual glitz and glamour of the Emmy Awards won’t be the same this year due to the restrictions of the coronavirus lockdown.
It’s unlikely that the red carpet arrivals and step-and-repeat fashion commentary will happen as they normally do but the awards will go ahead in some shape or form, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, on September 20 in Los Angeles.
Amazon hit The Marvelous Mrs Maisel scooped the pool with 20 nominations, followed by drug-running drama Ozark and Succession at 18 nods each.
The Emmy, honouring the best in television, will be handed out in the first major awards show since the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic, which has seen the film and TV industry shuttered.
Star gazers and binge-watchers will still have plenty to marvel over, including performances from some of the world’s greatest actors — among them homegrown Aussie talents Cate Blanchett, Hugh Jackman, Toni Colette, Hannah Gadsby, and Sarah Snook.
The Nominations for the 72nd annual Emmy Awards were unveiled on Tuesday, local time, and not surprisingly, Netflix walked away with a massive 160 noms, a record for any station or streamer.
Hugh Jackman received a nomination for his lead performance in Bad Education.
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Hannah Gadsby has been nominated for her comedy special, Douglas, the follow-up to her global sensation, Nanette.
Sarah Snook has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Succession.
Toni Colette has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for Unbelievable.
But it’s Cate Blanchett who is receiving raves for her portrayal of conservative anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly in Mrs. America.
The Hulu series has garnered Blanchett a nod for Outstanding lead actress in a limited series or TV movie.
Blanchett’s performance in the star-studded show (which also features Aussie Rose Byrne as feminist legend and Ms. Magazine editor Gloria Steinem) examining the struggles of the American second-wave feminist movement was widely praised.
Blanchett attacked the role of Schlafly with nothing less than relish, imbuing a woman who is widely regarded as a female villain if not an enemy of civil rights.
Why did Blanchett take on the role of this nightmarishly anti-feminist, anti-gay, anti-fun character — the undeniable villain in a pantheon of feminist saints including Gloria Steinem, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug, and Betty Friedan?
In an era when America is being torn apart by its inequities and political division — and some say is on the brink of civil war — Blanchett, an activist and human rights advocate, found the positive in trying to see things from a different perspective.
The Oscar-winning actress told Harper’s Bazaar, “It’s interesting that in everything I read about Phyllis that for her supporters, she was a Joan of Arc figure to be admired and revered, but I didn’t come across a lot of people who were very close friends with her.”
But Blanchett digs deep and gets to the heart of the Midwestern housewife whose only mission was to stop the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) in its tracks.
“She was a mother of six, and between her activism and political aspiration and the kind of engagement with her family life, that left precious little time for her to have what’s traditionally called friends,” says Blanchett.
Schlafly lacked the sisterhood of intersectional feminism, says Blanchett, and her crusade — to preserve traditional women’s roles as wife, mother, homemaker — was therefore “quite, quite lonely.”
Critics have applauded Blanchett’s interpretation of one of the villains in America’s culture wars.
Leading film review website Roger Ebert singled Blanchett out for praise from the ensemble cast, noting that the Aussie star captures America’s current Zeitgeist “brought to life by Blanchett’s frozen smiles, flickering eyes, and a voice that shoots out like the gong of a bronze shield: to know something is wrong, do it anyway, and then keep doing it for as long as you can.”
Punters predict Blanchett will walk off with the award — to the tune of 63 per cent, according to Gold Derby, which bets on Hollywood award races.
But Blanchett has some tough competition in her category: Shira Haas, Unorthodox; Regina King, Watchmen; Octavia Spencer, Self Made; and Kerry Washington, Little Fires Everywhere.
To date, Blanchett has won a total of 159 major international awards and been nominated for 341.
Mrs. America is her first Emmy nomination.
THE 2020 EMMY NOMINATIONS
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Anthony Anderson, black-ish
Don Cheadle, Black Monday
Ted Danson, The Good Place
Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method
Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek
Ramy Youssef, Ramy
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Christina Applegate, Dead to Me
Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Linda Cardellini, Dead to Me
Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek
Issa Rae, Insecure
Tracee Ellis Ross, black-ish
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Sterling K. Brown, This is Us
Steve Carell, The Morning Show
Brian Cox, Succession
Billy Porter, Pose
Jeremy Strong, Succession
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show
Olivia Colman, The Crown
Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
Laura Linney, Ozark
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Zendaya, Euphoria
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown
Laura Dern, Big Little Lies
Julia Garner, Ozark
Thandie Newton, Westworld
Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve
Sarah Snook, Succession
Meryl Streep, B ig Little Lies
Samira Wiley, The Handmaid’s Tale
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Nicholas Braun, Succession
Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
Kieran Culkin, Succession
Mark Duplass, The Morning Show
Giancarlo Esposito, Better Call Saul
Matthew Macfadyen, Succession
Bradley Whitford, The Handmaid’s Tale
Jeffery Wright, Westworld
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
D’Arcy Carden, The Good Place
Betty Gilpin, GLOW
Marin Hinkle, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Annie Murphy, Schitt’s Creek
Yvonne Orji, Insecure
Cecily Strong, Saturday Night Live
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Mahershala Ali, Ramy
Alan Arkin, The Kominsky Method
Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Sterling K. Brown, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
William Jackson Harper, The Good Place
Daniel Levy, Schitt’s Creek
Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Jeremy Irons, Watchmen
Hugh Jackman, Bad Education
Paul Mescal, Normal People
Jeremy Pope, Hollywood
Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much is True
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America
Shira Haas, Unorthodox
Regina King, Watchmen
Octavia Spencer, Self Made
Kerry Washington, Little Fires Everywhere
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Uzo Aduba, Mrs. America
Toni Collette, Unbelievable
Margo Martindale, Mrs. America
Jean Smart, Watchmen
Holland Taylor, Hollywood
Tracey Ullman, Mrs. America
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Watchmen
Jovan Adepo, Watchmen
Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Vs. the Reverend
Louis Gossett Jr., Watchmen
Dylan McDermott, Hollywood
Jim Parsons, Hollywood
Guest Actor in a Drama Series
Jason Bateman, The Outsider
Ron Cephas Jones, This is Us
James Cromwell, Succession
Giancarlo Esposito, The Mandalorian
Andrew Scott, Black Mirror
Martin Short, The Morning Show
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Alexis Biedel, The Handmaid’s Tale
Laverne Cox, Orange is the New Black
Cherry Jones, Succession
Phylicia Rashad, This is Us
Cicely Tyson, How to Get Away With Murder
Harriet Walter, Succession
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
Angela Bassett, A Black Lady Sketch Show
Bette Midler, The Politician
Maya Rudolph, The Good Place
Maya Rudolph, Saturday Night Live
Wanda Sykes, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Saturday Night Live
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Adam Driver, Saturday Night Live
Luke Kirby, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Eddie Murphy, Saturday Night Live
Dev Patel, Modern Love
Brad Pitt, Saturday Night Live
Fred Willard, Modern Family
Outstanding Limited Series
Little Fires Everywhere
Mrs. America
Unbelievable
Unorthodox
Watchmen
Outstanding Comedy Series
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dead to me
The Good Place
Insecure
The Kominsky Method
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Schitt’s Creek
What We Do in the Shadows
Outstanding Drama Series
Better Call Saul
The Crown
The Handmaid’s Tale
Killing Eve
The Mandalorian
Ozark
Stranger Things
Succession
Outstanding Variety Talk Series
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Outstanding Variety Sketch Series
A Black Lady Sketch Show
Drunk History
Saturday Night Live