According to the official rules: Juried category entrants are screened by a panel of professionals in the appropriate peer groups (Animation, Costume Design, Emerging Media Programming,Hairstyling, Makeup and Motion Design) with the possibility of one, more than one or no entry awarded an Emmy. As a result, there are no nominees but instead, a one-step evaluation and voting procedure. Deliberations include open discussions of each entrant’s work with a thorough review of the merits of awarding the Emmy.

There is an additional category for Outstanding Innovation in Emerging Media Programming that the juries decided to not award this year after a close review of entrants.

These below awards will be presented at the 75th Creative Arts Emmys, which will take place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Sat. Jan. 6, and Sun.
Jan. 7, 2024. An edited presentation will air Sat. Jan. 13, at 8pm EST on FXX.

The following juried award will be presented Saturday, Jan. 6:

Outstanding Motion Design
“Ms. Marvel” • Disney+ • Marvel Studios
Ian Spendloff, Director
David Lochhead, Designer
Daniella Marsh, Designer
David Stumpf, Designer
Philip Robinson, 3D Artist
Matthew Thomas, 3D Artist

To be presented Sunday, Jan. 7, are:

Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation

Character Design
“Entergalactic” • Netflix • Netflix / Mad Solar / Khalabo Ink Society /
Edelgang
Meybis Ruiz Cruz, Lead Character Designer

Character Animation
“The Simpsons” • “Lisa the Boy Scout” • FOX • A Gracie Films Production
in association with 20th Television Animation
Nik Ranieri, Character Layout

Color
“More Than I Want to Remember” • Paramount+ • Mugeni Film LLC, MTV
Entertainment Studios
Maya Edelman, Animation Director

Production Design
“Star Wars: Visions” • “Screecher’s Reach” • Disney+ • PunkRobot
Studio, Lucasfilm Ltd.
Almu Redondo, Art Director

Outstanding Costumes for Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Programming
“Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration” • ABC • Done+Dusted in
association with Walt Disney Television Alternative and Electric Somewhere
Marina Toybina, Costume Designer
Grainne O’Sullivan, Costume Supervisor
Gabrielle Letamendi, Costume Supervisor
Courtney Webster, Assistant Costume Designer
Arleen Flores, Assistant Costume Designer
Danae McQueen, Assistant Costume Designer

“We’re Here” • “St. George, Utah” • HBO Max • HBO in association with
House of Opus 20 and IPC
Diego Montoya, Costume Designer
Marco Morante, Costume Designer
Joshua “Domino” Schwartz, Costume Designer
Blake Danford, Assistant Costume Designer
Sharon Malka, Assistant Costume Designer
Ricky Reynoso, Assistant Costume Designer

Outstanding Hairstyling for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program
“We’re Here” • “St. George, Utah” • HBO Max • HBO in association with
House of Opus 20 and IPC
Abdiel “Gloria” Urcullu, Department Head Hairstylist
Tyler Funicelli, Hairstylist

Outstanding Makeup for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program
“Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration” • ABC • Done+Dusted in
association with Walt Disney Television Alternative and Electric Somewhere
Bruce Grayson, Makeup Department Head
James MacKinnon, Key Makeup Artist
Sam Fine, Makeup Artist
Julie Socash, Makeup Artist
Melanie Hughes-Weaver, Makeup Artist
Neicy Small, Makeup Artist
Alexei Dmitriew, Makeup FX Artist
Tyson Fountaine, Makeup FX Artist

Outstanding Innovation in Emerging Media Programming
No Emmys awarded; per juried procedure, the assembled panel of professionals
screened the entrants. Deliberations were open and arguments pro and con the
giving of an Emmy to an entrant were discussed. At the conclusion of the
deliberation, the panel determined that no Emmys would be awarded.

The post ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘We’re Here’ Lead Juried Emmy Winners for 75th Ceremony appeared first on TheWrap.

Lakshmi is nominated for Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Competition Program for “Top Chef” and Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series for “Taste the Nation.” Lakshmi believes her work on “Taste the Nation” helped her earn a nomination for “Top Chef,” which she has hosted for 17 seasons before announcing her exit in June.

“I think that the last two years, I’ve gotten the host nomination because of my work on ‘Taste the Nation,’ even though the category is for ‘Top Chef.’ I think it was because the Academy and its members saw me in another hosting role that it made them look at my work on ‘Top Chef’ again,” she explained.

The two shows are very different — as are Lakshmi’s roles on them. On “Top Chef,” she is a host and judge for some of the finest professionals in the industry; on “Taste the Nation,” she visits immigrant communities across America and explores the food stories of everyday cooks.

“So much of food television, including, my beloved show ‘Top Chef,’ is either analytical, like we do on judge’s table, or it’s demonstrational, like all the stand-and-stir food shows that you see on many networks. Many also have the competition element. But food is so interwoven into every aspect of our lives that it takes on a highly emotional value. Whether you’re a professional in the food world or an accountant or whatever, food is still very central in your life. And so it occupies this very deep emotional and cultural place,” she explained.

“There are a lot of travel food shows out there, mine is not the only one. Most of them are, again, analyzing the food, and are very lifestyle,” she continued. “And I really wanted to go deeper on a cultural human level, because I could sense how people continue to have such a fascination with ‘Top Chef.’ There’s so much to get through because of how many contestants we have and all the challenges and the getting to taste everything that there’s not much room to really explore that emotionality we do with the contestants. There’s so much joy and pathos that comes from that Olympic-level competition. It’s why we watch the Olympics every four years. But I wanted to take the time and slow down and really look at the cultural implications of food and why and how people are so connected to food as a source of their identity.”

As a South Asian immigrant herself, Lakshmi realized she wanted to use her platform to educate about immigrant communities in the United States, including Nigerians thriving in Houston, Texas or Cambodians in Lowell, Massachusettes.

“I think as an artist and as a storyteller, it is important to seek out new stories. That’s why I created ‘Taste the Nation.’ I’m very thankful for my whole time, which was significant, on ‘Top Chef,’ but I think I have done whatever I’ve set out to do there. I look forward to watching the show and its new evolution with Kristen [Kish]. But I did want to challenge myself, to push myself and my creativity into new places. And I think that’s important for my audience, as well. I also want to reflect the culture as it is today. And I think that immigration is an issue that’s really important, not only to our country, politically, and food-wise, but also for the environment, and agriculturally.”

Lakshmi is equally proud of her final season on “Top Chef,” a “World All-Stars” edition that was filmed entirely in London and Paris — a series first.

“I was very, very glad we went internationally on ‘Top Chef’ because I think it was important to challenge us as a show, a crew, but also to challenge the notion of what it means to be the best food competition show. Can we really say that it’s world-dominating? Well, it is, but let’s test that within the confines of the competition. It was a huge task for us to undertake. And I am really glad that we pushed ourselves.”

Lakshmi has pushed herself on “Taste the Nation,” which she calls “a much smaller show” compared to “Top Chef.” She’s not only the creator and host/executive producer, she also has her hand in every aspect of production.

“On ‘Taste the Nation,’ I sometimes have to get up at like 5:30 am. I will often get up before my alarm because I’ll be my mind is racing — I’ll want to add another question that I want to ask or see if we can do we can squeeze in another little recipe to demonstrate for the viewers because the culture is so interesting. And I’m always taking notes. I’m giving notes on five different edits of each episode, I attend every color-correcting session and post-production, I attend every sound mixing session. I write my own voiceover. I speak very closely with all of my field producers constantly. And so even when I’m not out in the field shooting, I’m back home in New York, prepping for the next episode, and also wrapping the previous one and giving notes of what happened in the field to my editors.”

Despite the emotional investment put into both shows, Lakshmi couldn’t be more grateful.

“One of my greatest blessings has been the ability to make a living with what I naturally love doing,” she reflected. “Whether that’s being a host on ‘Top Chef’ and getting to meet all these wonderful chefs as both competitors and judges and talk shop all day, to traveling the country and embedding myself for a week in each of these communities, I would never ever get to know the country the way I have if it wasn’t for my television career.”

“Top Chef” is streaming on Peacock and “Taste the Nation” is streaming on Hulu.

The post How Padma Lakshmi’s Dual Emmy Noms Represent a Career High – and a Turning Point appeared first on TheWrap.

When production resumed to capture the fallout from the scandal, Neurauter and her story teams sprung back into action. “Our producers were able to come back on and start searching through footage for more like clues,” Neurauter recalled. “We had all these puzzle pieces. And it felt like they were from different puzzles, and we didn’t know how to put them together. So it was helpful when you know the ending that you’re looking for.”

In an interview with TheWrap, Neurauter details when the “Vanderpump Rules” editors was first clued into the “Scandoval,” the challenges of pulling the additional episodes together, and what’s in store for Season 11.

Congratulations on the Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program and Outstanding Editing Emmy nominations. How does it feel?

Neurauter: This is the show’s first two nominations. And to be honest, docusoaps are recognized so infrequently that it feels like a tremendous honor.

Production had fully wrapped when the “Scandoval“ broke and cameras went back up. How did that impact your timeline?

We had locked through Episode 11 and thought we had three more episodes left for the season. Everything was put together. But there was a little bit of footage that didn’t make sense to us, footage that we were mulling over at the time.

And that footage clued you in that something was amiss?

After the beach day, we had Rachel come into SUR the next day for brunch. She had stayed the night at Tom Sandoval’s house and [Tom] Schwartz was there. And that was why she was late. The three of them had hung out a lot that year so it didn’t seem strange. But the way they all spoke about it is what made it stand out to us. The fact that the guys lied about it. That didn’t make a lot of sense to us until the affair was revealed.

[Editors note: Watch the “SUR” scene play out below]

You watched a significant amount of the footage that came in. Was there anything else from your initial viewings that felt off?

It feels obvious in retrospect, but one thing that I remember vividly not making sense to me is the fact that Tom didn’t want to move forward with fertilizing Ariana’s eggs. Because it was something that he had seemed really keen on in the past. And that the second she started talking about it with him again. He was shutting it down. And that felt strange to me. And it didn’t fit with everything we had known about his desire for children in the past.

And Lala Kent. She sometimes sees things that other people miss. And a lot of times she’ll throw out things that sounds so wild and off the wall, that we have to really wonder if she’s saying it for attention or saying it to be funny? We should never think of her that way because she sees things, especially when she’s just slightly removed from them.

What about Rachel? Were there any flags?

Nothing that jumps out at me.

I think what we recognized in Rachel last season is that, on the heels of her breakup with James Kennedy, she seemed a much more confident version of herself. And so, for most of the season, that is what we saw: a young woman trying new things and diving headfirst into her life and her friendships.

Not only did you have to finish the final episodes of the season that filmed real-time, you also had to prepare for the reunion that had already been on the books.

In a situation like that, where everything is happening at once, it feels like bells going off everywhere. For me, the only thing that’s ever worked [in those situations] is having a wonderful team and trusting them to do their jobs. Because you can’t do it all yourself. Everyone comes to it from a place of creativity and love for the cast, and also for figuring out the most interesting way to present their truth to the world. So I think that’s the only thing that that saved it.

Now that you’re several months removed from the “Scandoval” frenzy, how does it feel looking back?

It’s definitely a mix of emotions because I’m very proud of the work that everyone did to make things come together. But it’s hard not to think pretty constantly of how much the lives of the cast have been changed forever because of it. And that changes things. You know, it is not a show that you can sit down and like write an episode of and put on TV like “White Lotus” and have no layered feelings about what’s happened.

It’s funny, because it still feels like we’re in it having begun filming Season 11 so soon after. But in general, I just have always felt lucky to work on a show where the cast is so open and vulnerable. And you know, people behind the scenes put such care into how they work on it and tell the stories that I’m happy that all of that is being recognized for what it is.

Season 10 of “Vanderpump Rules” is currently streaming on Peacock.

The post ‘Vanderpump Rules’ EP Reveals When Story Editors Were First Clued Into ‘Scandoval’: Footage ‘Didn’t Make a Lot of Sense to Us’ appeared first on TheWrap.

After the first season of the show won five Emmys, including Outstanding Animated Program, it’s back in the mix this year, once again vying for the Outstanding Animated Program award.

The nominated episode, “Shadow of Fate,” is a breathtaking tale that splits up our heroes — human Spear and dinosaur Fang. Fang falls in love with another dinosaur (Red), but has to make the heartbreaking decision of whether to try and find a new life with this dinosaur or to stick with her human.

TheWrap spoke to Tartakovsky about what it was like shaping the second season of the series, how he came up with “Shadow of Fate” and what the future for both “Primal” and his other animated series from this year, “Unicorn: Warriors Eternal,” will hold.

When you started out doing “Primal,” did you think of it as two seasons, two chapters?
Honestly, it kind of started as a pilot just to see if it’s going to work. And then after the first couple of weeks of getting animation in, I was like, “Yeah, this is going to start working.” So then we went into more episodes, and after the first 10, I don’t think I thought of more, not in a serious way.

Originally I had a very big, sprawling story with an Egyptian overlord, that type of thing, but it just all felt very cliché. But there was always a bigger story that we’re going to in the initial idea.

Then once we started doing the first season, I changed all that and made it all very simple. Going into the second season, I changed it to be something very different, but still making the story bigger. I felt like I was always afraid that if we did 10 more like the first season, it would lose its luster. It would just feel like we’re done with it. It had to escalate.

Did you hit any roadblocks that you weren’t anticipating?
Well, the first roadblocks was just clichés. In this genre, a lot’s been done between “Stargate,” “10,000 BC,” all that stuff. There’s a lot of it out there. You want to do something that feels original or unique at least, or that we can put our spin on it. And so that was the first hurdle. And let’s change the storytelling. Let’s change our style. Let’s be more surprising, that there’s a mystery and nobody can really tell where one episode goes to the next. Then with the fifth episode curveball, throw that in. And so it makes people uncomfortable because you’re never sure what to expect.

“Shadow of Fate” is the episode that’s nominated for the Emmy. When did you hit on this idea of another dinosaur?
We knew we were going to separate them in Episode 11, and so in 12, which is “Shadow of Fate,” we started talking about, “Well, what happens if they’re separated?” And then now that they both suffered loss for such a long time, it felt right to have a love story for Fang.

Meanwhile, Spear meets a more civilized world he enters into. And so that’s it. Then it started to click. It’s like, “Oh, wait, so Fang falls in love and then they meet, but it’s another dinosaur that wants to kill humans.” And then it kind of hit us like, “Oh, right, it’s a love triangle.”

Once we hit that idea, this bizarre love triangle, that was the gold. We always look for something to do with character and emotion. There’s got to be some kind of a personal stake that’s involved. And once we hit that, it’s like, “This is going to be the most incredible one because without dialogue, without anybody verbalizing what’s happening, can we communicate that in feelings and the frustration that Fang has?” She loves this guy, and then she loves her buddy Spear, right? They’re family. And so now what happens and can we stage all that and can we make the audience feel? And then obviously the horrific loss at the end.

The first season was such a huge hit and Emmy winner. Were you surprised by the response?
For sure, because it’s a very specific, unique show. And in the middle of making it, I go, “I don’t even know who this is for.” I love it. And I know 12-year-old me, 16-year-old me, 25-year-old me, 35-year-old me would all watch this show. And so can we get enough audiences to get into it? Then once it came out, dinosaur people love it, fantasy people like it and the audience starts to build.

Something that was very different about this season was Episode 5, which is set in Victorian England. Where did that come from?
It came from two things. We’re breaking the story down and we’re like, “OK, this is starting to feel linear. We know where this is going. We knew what Episode 6 was. We knew that Episode 3 was him discovering the old civilization, having a lot of big thoughts about it that were clear, but there’s a lot of interpretation. So I wanted to do some kind of a grounding episode.

I was also inspired by an old Robert E. Howard short story where there’s these English scientists talking about caveman times, and then it flashes to caveman times and we see their story for real, how it happened. And I loved reading that short story and like, “Oh, cool, we start with these Victorian dudes, and then you go into this Frank Frazetta-styled caveman story.” I liked the feeling of it. I’ve talked about it before, but I do think “Primal” could be an anthology. And so this was kind of a mini-test to see if it can work as a standalone, but it thematically completely ties into what we were doing through the season.

“Primal” was announced as returning for Season 3. Will it still be in the primeval world or will it have a new setting?
I don’t want to say anything.

You also had “Unicorn: Warriors Eternal” debut this year. Is there any news on Season 2?
I think we’re waiting to hear, still no word yet. And we’ve started Season 3 of “Primal,” and so I don’t know.

The studio is still finding its feet, so I’m not pushing it. “Primal 3″ I was pushing because I was raring to go and I had an idea and the whole thing. “Unicorn,” I’m waiting for the dust to settle a little more, and it’d be nice for the studio to go like, “Oh, Genndy, we want more episodes. It was really successful.” I think ideally, to be honest, I’m waiting for that moment to happen.

But you want it to continue?
Yeah. “Unicorn” is designed as a big sprawling epic, four-tiered series, 40 episodes or whatever. It’s a gigantic story.

All episodes of “Primal” are streaming now on Max.

The post ‘Primal’ Creator Genndy Tartakovsky Says He Views Season 2 as ‘a Love Triangle’ Between 2 Dinosaurs and a Caveman appeared first on TheWrap.

The winner, native Hawaiian Sasha Colby, became the first Polynesian queen to be crowned America’s Next Drag Superstar over Anetra, a queen of mixed Filipino heritage. It marked the first time since Season 3 that the two finalists were of AAPI descent.

Colby was joined by Season 15 contestant Aura Mayari and executive producer Mandy Salangsang in a conversation with TheWrap about representation on the franchise — which is nominated for Outstanding Reality Competition and eight additional Emmy awards this year — and the unique challenges and rewards they faced as AAPI drag queens.

“I was a performer when I was a kid,” recalled Mayari, who immigrated to the United States from the Philippines. “As a viewer, I never saw anybody that looked like me. So that discouraged me. And even auditioning for musicals, even though you could have done better than the other person, [they got the part] because they’re Caucasian.”

But Mayari found drag to be an art that showcased her culture and her skills. “Drag really filled that emptiness that I had with my creative outlets.” Mayari’s drag name was even inspired by her heritage. “It’s gay lingo,” she explained. “I kept hearing this thing called ‘awra.’ It’s always a video of somebody strutting in the streets or being ridiculous. Over the top. I was like, ‘OK, that’s funny.'”

Colby grew up in a conservative Jehovah’s Witness family. “I was always discouraged from being creative and doing anything secular. You only did it for Jehovah.”

It wasn’t until she graduated and went to drag shows and met the queer “aunties and uncles” that she realized how prevalent the trans culture was, even before the term entered more Western/American lexicon.

“There’s so many trans people, trans men and trans women in Polynesian culture. In Hawaii, someone in your family’s trans; someone you know or that you are close with or even grew up with is trans. So that’s always kind of been there,” Colby recalled. “It’s very cool that I get to show the ease of that in drag.”

Colby paid homage to heritage throughout the season, beginning with her tattooed warrior goddess entrance look. “In Hawaiian culture, where you put your tattoos is very sacred… People get big tattoos to mark a big thing in their life: death, marriage, birth. So when we put them in certain places, it’s actually marking point of transition. What was perfect for me was a trans person who is in transition… having a tattoo I was saying yes, we are all in transition in life.”

She also stressed the importance of aloha or respect and love: “Anything I do — especially for work — I was always taught you remember where you came from, be nice to everyone and treat everyone with respect. You’ll get that back.”

Longtime executive producer Salangsang said the contestants’ background stories are the heart and soul of the show.

“There are 50 to 100 various Asian cultures,” she explained. “To promote an understanding and to combat myths, misperceptions and prejudice, [we] really tried to foster a real appreciation for these rich cultures that are full of pageantry and tradition and storytelling.”

Click the video above to watch the entire conversation, including how Colby and Mayari are giving back to their communities.

Season 15 of “Drag Race” is currently streaming on Paramount+.

The post ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Queens Sasha Colby, Aura Mayari Talk Showcasing AAPI Excellence in Season 15 (Video) appeared first on TheWrap.

For its efforts, “Prey” and the people involved with its creation nabbed six Emmy nominations, including mentions for picture editing, music composition, sound editing, writing and directing of a limited or anthology series or movie, as well as a nomination for Outstanding Television Movie.

Dan Trachtenberg, who scored nominations for both directing and writing, spoke with TheWrap recently about how the film started taking shape decades ago in his mind, the process of getting the finished product to the screen and how the film’s Comanche language dub came to be.

Where did the concept for “Prey” begin?
I was thinking about making a period sci-fi film, something that we don’t really get too often, and also wanting to make a story that was primarily told through reaction, with as little dialogue as possible, if any. But then, not wanting it just to be a visceral experience, but really wanting it to be an emotional one, as well.

So we [with screenwriter Patrick Aison] thought, well, maybe if we take the engine of a sports movie, an underdog story, and infuse it with a genre setting, then it was like, what’s a protagonist that we never see? And that lead to Native Americans and, more specifically, Comanche, who have so often been relegated to playing the sidekick or the villain and never the hero.

Thinking about “Who’s the antagonist,” that’s where it was like, “Oh my gosh, the Predator, thematically, is always looking for the alpha.” If our main character is trying to prove themselves and saying, “I am worthy,” and everyone around her saying, “We don’t think you’re worthy,” then the conflict is there before the sci-fi even shows up. And then the Predator comes.

Were you into the original “Predator” when it came out?
I was not allowed to see “Predator” when it first came out because it was R-rated. I was in third grade, I think, and I was in the back of a carpool on the way to a karate tournament and all the sixth graders had seen “Predator” and described the entire movie to me on the way to the tournament. I distinctly remember them saying, “There’s an awesome scene where Billy, the Native American tracker, stops on a bridge over a waterfall and cuts himself and fights the Predator.”

That scene is not in the movie. You see Billy cut himself and then he screams off-camera and that’s it, but my kid brain envisioned how it must have been. So that was the first seed planted of what eventually became “Prey.”

So much of this story is rooted in the Comanche community. How did you go about making sure that you got that representation right?
Aside from doing our own research, right from the jump, a woman named Juanita Pahdopony, who unfortunately passed away before we went into production of the movie, was with us as we were writing the first draft of the script. Her nephew, Dustin Tahmahkera, was also helping us. They gave us several books to read.

A lot of the documentation, there’s the tiniest chapter that’s pre-1800s and then you get into more written records, but our movie is set prior to that and a lot of that information is not written from the Comanche perspective. So I realized very early on that there’s no amount of research that’s going to form this and it was essential to have their hope and their instincts early on.

Then getting our producer Jhane Myers, who is Comanche herself, really take us through the entire process, the forging of the movie and finishing the film, the whole way. Having those instincts, not only because there’s not a lot of written record, but with her own historical research that she’s done and all of her close relationships as a culture bearer of the tribe and with other members. Even just her inherent feelings about genre moments so that can all feel like the fabric of the film.

Can you talk a little bit about the decision to do the Comanche dub for the film?
Initially the script was written to be entirely spoken in Comanche and then it was decided that we couldn’t do the whole movie that way. Then it was pitched that maybe it could start out Comanche and then transition into English, but that proved very challenging because of the naturalism of the movie. I found it hard to do a “Hunt for Red October”-style gimmick where we shift midway through, because the movie has a very specific way of dealing with language when the fur trappers entered the picture. It all got very confusing.

We decided maybe we just root the audience with them [the Comanche] and have them speaking the common language and then the foreigners [the French-speaking fur trappers] are the ones that are confusing to us all.

But the sad thing was no longer being able to provide the immersion and respect for the language and, almost, a cultural preservation document of a language that has to be kept alive or it won’t be remembered.

There have been other Native American language dubs before, like, I believe there was a Navajo dub of “Star Wars” but it had never happened before that a movie, upon release, you can have it in that language. So Jhane and some other folks tackled dubbing the entire movie, bringing back the original cast to do it themselves. It’s kind of remarkable what they were able to accomplish.

How was it having Amber Midthunder in that central role as Naru?
Amber was tremendous. She was tremendous when we first found her and that carried through the final film. When we auditioned her, she did the scene three ways: in English, in Comanche and then non-verbally. So much of the film is nonverbal and it was incredibly moving to see her perform a dialogue scene with no words. There was a whole physical portion of a screen test that we did with her and her fully embracing storytelling through physical movement, involving character instincts, that was exactly what we needed in a movie like this. It was a blessing that we were able to link up with her.

In other interviews you’ve mentioned your mixed emotions about continuous takes (also known as “one-shots” or “oners”).
We’ve had long takes throughout cinema history and they suddenly became in-fashion or trendy, probably because of the commentary on them, so that instinctually makes me want to think otherwise. At the same time, the oners I’m most attracted to are like what Steven Spielberg movies use, that had long gone unnoticed because they’re very invisible. It’s not like “Look, this entire scene is a oner,” it’s more like, “The scene holds. This is the best shot for this moment. So let’s do it.”

There’s a few of those in the movie, but one in particular that we wrestled with was the fight between Amber and the fur trappers. I’m such a fan of action film and filmmaking and was raised on Hong Kong action cinema and have been dying to one day be able to apply all the things that have been stewing inside of me for so long. This movie didn’t require all of that, but this one scene in particular, where there’s more of a melee battle, felt like I could finally do what I think is the right way to articulate action, which is clarity. Clarity of geography and understanding your heroes intentions throughout a scene, which a oner can sometimes do, but sometimes betray. So I really had to go into the choreography.

We had constructed more traditional coverage. The hook of the sequence is that she has no weapons and is trying to get to her own weapon and these guys are attacking her, so she’s constantly using their weapons against them. It’s all very reactive. She grabs a knife out of someone and sticks it back into them and then grabs that same one, you want to feel like she’s creatively figuring out how to get out of this jam physically.

Then we were behind schedule and the studio was like, you know, at the pace you’re going, it’s gonna take three days to shoot this sequence and you really only have a day to do it. I had already been thinking there is certainly a logic to a scene like this being one-shot. You want to feel like it’s all one breath, so that did make sense. I just didn’t want it to feel showboat-y. But we found a way to cover it which feels quite grounded and not slick. Like you’re barely missing it, but barely getting it, so that it feels more improvised and improvisational, with the cameras moving the way that she’s moving through the scene. So we ended up spending a day doing a little over 20 takes as opposed to three days getting all the various coverages one would need for all the stunts.

I would be remiss if I didn’t ask about everyone’s favorite scene-stealer, Naru’s dog Sarii.
Part of the inspiration for the character, when we first thought the movie might have no dialogue at all was like, she needs a Wilson [the volleyball in “Castaway”]. And I’ve always loved the imagery from “Road Warrior,” with Mad Max and his dog, the silhouette of that, and felt like, “Oh, how cool to see her and her little buddy.” It would bring a warmth to the film and I loved there being as much heart as possible, so that was the inspiration for having that character.

But trying to be a stickler for authenticity, there’s only so many breeds of dogs that could exist that would be appropriate for that time period. That led us to this very specific breed of dog, which meant that we had to find this dog and train it, as opposed to it being an already trained dog in the stable of our awesome animal trainers. So they found this dog about two months before shooting and very quickly trained her, Coco. On the one hand, she was a hot mess. On the other hand, she was adorable. There was a lot of not doing what the scene needed, as one would imagine, but then there was the moments that are included in the movie, every frame of them, where she did pull it off. It’s kind of remarkable and our trainers deserve all the credit for making it happen. She was a challenging actor to work with but we made it happen and we love Coco.

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“There was a great episode with Charlize Theron in Texas [Season 9],” Lakshmi told TheWrap. “We gave the contestants this wonderful challenge, which was to pick a fairy tale and illustrate it in all its wonder, horror, beauty, joy and, of course, deliciousness on the plate. And it was really wonderful because it unleashed such a sense of imagination and creativity and all of our chefs and that’s really what you want to see.”

“I remember that Grayson gave us a black chicken and left the chicken foot on there and it looked so sinister. And it was delicious,” she recalled. “Paul Qui had a bloody handprint in the middle of his dish made of beet juice and all these delicate vegetables and flowers around. He showed that murder can also be something that’s subtle and sophisticated; it doesn’t have to be this big bloody mess. That was a wonderful episode because it just showed you how creative you can be with food and how it stands up to any other creative art form.”

As a former fashion model-turned-TV host, Lakshmi shared her favorite looks from the series as well.

“My very first season we did a breakfast challenge outdoors on the beach in Malibu, and I wore this very ridiculous outfit consisting of a bikini, fur vest, UGG boots and a scarf. And as silly as my outfit seemed, it was really thought out to keep me warm but beach appropriate and kept my hair from flying all over the place. I don’t know that I could wear that outfit today. But it’s such a cute outfit. I was much younger then [laughs].”

“There is a Chinese New Year dinner that we did in Macau [Season 16] where I wear this Paco Rabanne, gold chain metal dress that I love as well,” she added. “I still have one version of it. The other version I actually donated to Housing Works because they have a charity auction every year, much to the chagrin of my longtime wardrobe stylist on ‘Top Chef’ Albert Mendonca. He is a genius and managed to dress me impeccably in spite of my weight going up and down three dress sizes in the course of one season!”

Lakshmi admitted that she disagreed with fellow judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons “all the time,” but that’s why there’s a panel and not just one judge.

“You can see on camera the very heated conversation we had in Hawaii, my first season, about Ilan Hall and Sam Talbott,” she recalled. “Food is subjective. I mean, there are empirically correct and incorrect ways to cook certain proteins or clean an artichoke or scale of fish. But beyond that, it is very subjective. And so all three of us and other guest judges are bringing our own perspectives to that judge’s table and trying to do the best we can.”

“If you’re coming from a chef’s perspective, you’re like, ‘Well, yeah, that was more delicious but that was so easy to do.’ If you’re Gail and coming at it from a publishing or food magazine point of view, you might say, ‘We’ve seen such and such dish a million times. I get that it’s a classic, but it’s not on trend.’ If you’re asking me, the host and judge, I am the audience’s representative. And I’m a food writer. And I love to research about food and the etymology of recipes. I don’t care how easy or hard it is to make anything. I don’t care if this dish is as old as time. I just care about what the best execution of said dish is. None of those three perspectives are the same. And none of those three perspectives are inherently wrong or right. It’s why there’s more than one judge on the judge’s table.”

Lakshmi, who announced she was moving on from “Top Chef” in June, has fond memories from every city the show has visited — and one regret.

“I’m sorry that under my tenure at ‘Top Chef’ we were unable to do a season in Atlanta. I think that would have been really interesting. And who knows? Maybe they’ll pull it off in the future.”

Along with the memories, Lakshmi has picked up four Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Emmy nods, including Season 20, her last. The show itself has been nominated for Outstanding Reality Competition every year since she joined back in 2006.

“I didn’t want to break the streak,” she said, laughing. “So I was really relieved about that. I was very grateful for the host nomination. We’ll have to wait till January to find out!”

All seasons of “Top Chef,” including the Emmy-nominated “World All-Stars” Season 20, are streaming on Peacock.

The post Padma Lakshmi Shares Her Favorite ‘Top Chef’ Moments appeared first on TheWrap.

Fishback stars as Dre, a single-minded devotee of a Beyoncé-like pop star. Dre becomes a brutal serial killer hunting down people who speak ill of her idol, with the series serving as a searing indictment of toxic fandom with greater systemic roots. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Swarm lives and dies on the strength of Fishback’s performance.

“Just the response in general was a blessing, because we’ve never had a Black, female serial killer, so we didn’t know if it was going to land,” Fishback said in an interview conducted the morning nominations were announced, before the SAG-AFTRA strike.

“And I was doing things that I’ve never done before physically, in my body, my face. I’m very used to doing drama, that’s a sweet spot for me, where the nuances and the actions and physicalities are smaller. (With Dre,) I just went full force in the direction that my body was going and didn’t try to fight it. There were moments were I was like, ‘Damn, I don’t know. Is that gonna work? Is it gonna land?’ But I had to have faith in the fact that I was honoring Dre the best I knew how and if it was meant to be, it would be.”

Though the role was far outside her comfort zone, the actress found that it allowed her to fulfill a long-standing dream even before scoring an Emmy nomination. “When I was in college, I used to say that I wanted to perfect my craft, so that even if somebody doesn’t like a project that I do, they at least think, ‘That girl can act.’ So when ‘Swarm’ came out, all I kept seeing on Twitter and Instagram was, ‘That girl acting her ass off,’” Fishback said, laughing. “It was literally like I had spoken a thing and it was coming to me in such a beautiful way.”

Throughout much of her experience with “Swarm,” Fishback has found a kind of cosmic balance—in the universe, yes, but perhaps more importantly within herself. While pleased with the attention and accolades, she ultimately sees them as cherries on her existential sundae.

“I try to live my life not based on external validation and for me, this nomination means that the impossible is possible,” she said. “To come from the neighborhoods that I come from, the situations that I’ve found myself in that I’ve gotten out of by the grace of God, I felt like it was a manifestation and actualization of God’s promise. It meant that everything that I put into it, all the ‘nos’ I’ve had in my life, all the times that I may have felt overlooked or underappreciated, where it felt like this is my time and then for some reason it just wasn’t—it all felt like an amalgamation of divine timing.”

The post Dominique Fishback Says ‘Swarm’ Had Her Doing Things ‘That I’ve Never Done Before’ appeared first on TheWrap.

The lead character in “Ms. Marvel” is Kamala Khan, a 16-year-old Pakistani-American girl from New Jersey who happens to be a huge fan of the Avengers and who develops special powers and becomes a superhero herself. Obviously, that gave composer Laura Karpman a lot to think about when she wrote her Emmy-nominated score (and theme music) for the series, which stars Iman Vellani as the title character.

“We wanted it to have a young, hip sound at times,” said Karpman, a Juilliard-trained composer whose other work includes the movies “Paris Can Wait” and “Resort to Love” and the TV series “Lovecraft Country” and “Why We Hate,” for which she won an Emmy in 2020. “We wanted it to have a recognizable kind of Marvel sound. And I also wanted to do collaborations with South Asian musicians, because a lot of the episodes are about her heritage and background, so it was key that we bring the authenticity of those rich musical traditions.”

But how do you fit all of that into one score? It started with “‘Ms. Marvel’ Suite,” a 4.5 minute composition that served, she said, as “proof of concept” for her approach to the music.

“It starts out very traditional, almost like ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ by Aaron Copland,” she said. “And then it immediately changes and hip-hop beats start coming that I had programmed by a fantastic DJ, DJ Dummy. And then Raaginder, who is an incredible Pakistani musician, starts playing on the violin.

“So you hear the first two bars, then you go into something else right away, then you break out of that and go into something more mysterious, then you do something more actiony,” she continued. “Because her energy is so fast-paced, there’s a stylistic change every two to four bars. And honestly, that’s one reason I was brought in, because I’m stylistically aerobic. I know how to do stuff like that. It’s not easy, but I can do it.”

Karpman had worked with South Asian musicians in the past, and found that musical landscape to be vast. “It’s such a rich tradition that talking about South Asian music is like talking about Western music,” she said. “It’s such a massive musical tradition that I have only scraped the surface of what people spend lifetimes studying. It’s deep, it’s big and it can do anything you want it to do. You just have to have the right collaborators, which I did, to lead the way with authenticity.”

At the same time, though, she had strong ideas about why the music should remain at least partly grounded in the sound of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “When you bring these fantastic different voices into the MCU, you want to think about how much you bring them into the MCU and how much the MCU goes to meet them,” she said. “There’s something about a superhero theme that’s very embracing and very inviting and that is understood as a trope of cinematic music. So I personally feel that it’s important to not other somebody by having a different kind of theme.

“I think it’s good to bring them into the MCU and make them a part of the Avengers, a part of the world of Captain Marvel or the Guardians of the Galaxy. Bring them in and embrace them, and then work with how you create the differences and the individuation.”

Asked whether it was key to have a female composer write the music for a female superhero, Karpman paused. “It’s a complicated question,” she said. “Because then you have to ask yourself the question, Does it need to be a South Asian woman? It goes deep. Does ‘Lovecraft Country’ (on which she collaborated with Raphael Saadiq) need to be a Black composer? I don’t think anything has to be anything, but I think different people bring different perspectives to different projects. And having a diversity of perspectives on any project is hugely important. That’s the beauty of collaboration.

“I think as a queer woman working in Hollywood, I understand what it is to be an outsider. I understand what it is to be othered. I understand what it is to not have opportunities. So this was an incredible opportunity for 50 reasons.”

She laughed. “That’s the beginning of a really long and important conversation that we need to keep having about who should be telling whose stories and why.”

Read more from the Down to the Wire: Drama and Limited Series issue here.

The post Why ‘Ms. Marvel’ Composer Laura Karpman Spearheaded South Asian Music’s Entrée Into the MCU appeared first on TheWrap.

All four main cast members of a limited series about the rise and fall of a male strip club mogul were nominated for Emmys, making “Welcome to Chippendales” one of the big shocks of this year’s noms. Kumail Nanjiani and Annaleigh Ashford tell us how they did it.

Kumail Nanjiani

Kumail Nanjiani’s lead actor Emmy nomination for Hulu’s “Welcome to Chippendales” took him completely by surprise, much as his first nomination did in 2019 when he was recognized for an episode of Jordan Peele’s “The Twilight Zone” reboot. “That was the first time I played a character who was dark in any kind of way,” Nanjiani said. “And it was so thrilling that I was like, ‘Oh, I want to play more of these characters that have darkness in them and weird, different layers.’ Doing ‘Twilight Zone’ directly led to me wanting to do something like ‘Welcome to Chippendales,’ which was the second time that I felt that same sort of charge, of going really dark. In my head, those two jobs have always been connected, so it’s cool to get nominated for them.”

In the Hulu limited series based on real events, Nanjiani stars as Somen “Steve” Banerjee, the Indian immigrant who founded the first male strip club, pled guilty to having his ex-business partner Nick De Noia (Murray Bartlett) murdered and committed suicide in prison while awaiting sentencing. Nanjiani, who is best known for his more comedic work (including HBO’s “Silicon Valley” and the 2017 film “The Big Sick,” for which he was nominated for a best original screenplay Oscar) was drawn to the role because it explored a more sinister side of the American Dream “as it’s sold to Americans, but also as it’s sold to people outside of America. It was going to be a challenging role, a lot messier and deeper and more complicated than any of the other work I’ve gotten a chance to do. It took me a lot of long walks and conversations with [my wife] Emily [V. Gordon] to figure him out.” 

A key piece of the Banerjee puzzle was physical: Nanjiani plays the man as ramrod stiff, as if his every last muscle were in a perpetual state of clenching. It’s particularly jarring when he shares scenes with costars Bartlett, Annaleigh Ashford and Juliette Lewis, who play confident characters who move through the world easily. (All three actors were nominated, as was costume designer Peggy Schnitzer.)

“They’re so fluid and so graceful. I wanted him to be the opposite of that — someone who doesn’t fit in with these people at all,” Nanjiani said. “And I always felt he had a lot of emotions inside him — a lot of sadness and fear and anger — and that every molecule in his body is working to keep that contained in his belly.”

Playing someone so hermetically bottled up had its drawbacks. Nanjiani got backaches and had trouble shedding the Banerjee gloom at the end of the shooting day. But the thrills of the job far outweighed the challenges. “Murray and Annaleigh are two of the best actors I’ve ever worked with,” he said. “So for me, it was just about seeing how they do it and learning from them.”

The breakup scene between Steve and his wife Irene (played by Ashford), was one creative high point. In another, Bartlett’s character gets Steve to sign away the company’s touring rights on a napkin. “I really liked that scene because everybody’s saying the opposite of what they feel,” Nanjiani said. “We’re both smiling, but underneath it, we really, really hate each other.” 

Nanjiani recently wrapped the “Ghostbusters” sequel and will soon start production on the next “Insidious” movie. He’s also eyeing some other projects that continue his exploration of the heavier aspects of human life, which feels right to him at the moment. “Comedy still comes a little bit easier to me—not that it’s easy, I just feel a lot more comfortable,” he said. “It’s partly because I can feel when something’s funny. With drama, they yell ‘Cut!’ and people aren’t, like, crying, so you have to develop that internal gauge for yourself. Right now, I find drama a little bit more gratifying. I still have so much more to explore and learn.” 

Annaleigh Ashford

Except the power outage that drove “You Can’t Take It With You” Tony winner and “Welcome to Chippendales” star Annaleigh Ashford to a NYC sidewalk to conduct her interview with TheWrap, she is having a year that would prompt anyone to say — as she does nightly in her current role as the lascivious Mrs. Lovett opposite Josh Groban in “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” on Broadway — “God, that’s good!”

Ashford followed a Tony nomination for that role with an Emmy nomination for her performance as shrewd bookkeeper and audience surrogate Irene Banerjee in Hulu’s miniseries about the rise and grisly fall of Chippendales founder Steve Banerjee (Nanjiani). And, in an achievement few predictors saw coming, every principal cast member was nominated.

“It felt like such a communal event while we were making it,” said a beatific Ashford, whose big news dropped on a Wednesday, which for Broadway folk typically means matinee and evening performances. “I was finishing my warm-up for my two-show day, doing scales and stretching and putting my backpack on to walk out the door when I got the call. I immediately wanted to know who else from the show had been nominated, and when I heard the news that all four of us had been recognized, and our costume designer Peggy Schnitzer, I was just totally thrilled. It’s such a sweet, lovely surprise.”

Ashford has become something of a go-to for ripped-from-the-headlines period
miniseries: She also recently played sexual-harassment whistleblower Paula Jones in “American Crime Story: Impeachment” and had a small role in the previous “Crime” installment about Gianni Versace. She relishes all those period clothes, with a fondness for the ’70s boots she wears early in “Chippendales.”

Even though she’s “very bad at math,” Ashford embraced her role as an accountant (her second such part in recent years, after Betty in “Masters of Sex”) and found that the entire ensemble knew how to find just the right tone in the material.

“For all four of us, I feel like there was such a delicate nod to the levity of the piece,” she said. “It’s a drama, but we all have a background that is broader than that. And life is more interesting with levity because that’s what happens in life. You know how Chekhov would remind us at the beginning of his plays that they were comedies? From the first moment I opened up the script, I felt like [creator Robert Siegel] was creating a world where the tone was open to that. And I think we all really enjoyed that.”

Ashford has reunited with many of her “Chippendales” cast and crew that have come to see her on Broadway, including Andrew Rannells, director Nisha Ganatra and costar Bartlett. (Ashford’s eyes flutter in delight at the mention of his name.) She has no plans to stop mixing in theater with her busy TV career.

“It’s been an honor to have these beautiful theater pieces come to me, especially the Sondheim projects,” she said. “They’re such a part of our creative fabric, our creative spirit, and to get to work on them is one of the dreams of a lifetime.”

Read more from the Down to the Wire: Drama and Limited Series issue here.

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