2011 Emmy Press Room

Mildred Pierce's leading lady Kate Winslet snagged an Emmy for the miniseries tonight, and so did her costar Guy Pearce, who used most of his acceptance speech to gush about his love scenes with her. When he stopped by the press room, he had even more to say about his racy comments, what his wife will think, and wanting to know how he stacks up next to Leonardo DiCaprio.

• On what his wife thinks of his speech: "I'm not sure yet. I haven't asked her. She probably thought it was funny. I'm sure she'll tell me when I get home."
• On why the sex scenes with Winslet weren't awkward: "Look, because it was Kate, yes, we did have a good time. We had a good laugh really. They're nerve-wracking to have to do, but she made it really easy, I have to say."
• On who gave him love scene advice: "I don't know that anyone has given me advice about love scenes. Maybe I need some, I'm not sure."
• On whether Winslet has told him how his kissing skills compare with Leonardo DiCaprio's: "She hasn't. I keep asking her but she refuses to tell me, so there's obviously some bad news in there. She might tell me tonight if I get her drunk enough."

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Boardwalk Empire may not have won any Emmys for its actors, but Martin Scorsese scored a directing nod for his work on the HBO drama. The legendary filmmaker came by the press room to chat, and he talked about the series, why he likes working in television, and his first family-friendly film.

• On winning an Emmy: "I was extremely nervous, and I must say it is something I never really dreamed of. It's a different medium in a way. We approach Boardwalk Empire as a film — a very long film, but a film. It's just as exciting; it's quite extraordinary."
• On why he likes using television to tell stories: "That's the excitement. I've always dreamed of getting involved with a project where characters could develop over time, almost like the way Victorian novels were written: they were serialized. Dickens wrote that way, many did. You can develop character, plot, and storyline, give it the history you need if you want, and get actually more done and said over a longer period of time. It gives you more license, and it gives you much more freedom really."
• On whether he'll come back to direct Boardwalk Empire: "I'm really trying, yes. [But] we're mixing now a film called Hugo, based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick, and that's my first film that's for the entire family. In 3D. Real 3D."
• On why people are fascinated by Nucky's story: "It goes back to a fascination that America has with that story. The idea of the rise but also the fall. You want to see the fall. . . . You're fascinated by the rise, but you want to see them pay for it. You want to see how it could all come apart. In many some cases, some get away, and some keep it together."

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Modern Family snagged their second Emmy for best comedy tonight, and since stars Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen had also received acting awards, the cast was full of glee as they hit the press room. They and their showrunners, including series creator Steve Levitan, chatted about their new streak, how much they all love each other, and their very specific underwear choices.

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Mad Men picked up its fourth consecutive Emmy win for best drama series, and series creator Matthew Weiner joined the cast in the press room to talk about the fact that they didn't expect a win, being a gracious loser to Friday Night Lights in the writing category, and missing cast member January Jones, who didn't come because she recently gave birth to a baby boy.

• Matthew Weiner, on not expecting to win: "I actually heard a lot more 'We loved the show last year but you're not gonna win.' I was disheartened, but we can't go on forever. We keep doing the same work whether we win or not. Lots of people out there are working just as hard and haven't won at all. So I had made peace with the fact that we might lose. Then it turned out we didn't and I'm really happy."
• Weiner, on missing January Jones:: "She's home with her baby, John Slattery says. Her baby had his fingers crossed, she told me that. And she said it was really weird that we were going to be here without her, and we miss her terribly. And I had a horrible superstition that her not coming was bad for us and told her she should come anyway, but she didn't. We miss her tonight and we're super happy for her, all of us are. It's a great addition to our work family; we're very close here."
• Weiner, on tying Hill Street Blues, The West Wing, and LA Law for the most best drama wins: "I have not absorbed that. I'm a huge fan of television and I've watched all those shows. It's hard to comprehend that we're in that company. It really is."
• Weiner, on how winning the award feels after undergoing very public contract negotiations: "You know what, we are always fighting to keep the show the way it is and to keep it good. Everything worked out. The sweetest thing is that we got to go back to work. We get to go back to work tomorrow, and we get to keep making the show for another 39 episodes. And that is really the result of all of it."
• Weiner on losing to the best writing Emmy to Friday Night Lights's Jason Katims: "Jason's a great writer, I'm thrilled that he won the award. No one expects any of this. I'm looking at what I think is the greatest cast in television right now, and we were shut out. But we won this award; things sort of balance out, I guess. We got recognized for the show, which is everybody's work on the show, writing, directing, everything. All of that together, to me this is the prize that says people love what we're doing."

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Kate Winslet took home the outstanding lead actress in a miniseries Emmy tonight for playing the title role in Mildred Pierce, and the actress made sure to drop by the press room to gush about how happy she was to have won. Just like in her acceptance speech, she assured everyone that she really didn't expect to win, and she shared how thrilled she was to hear costar Guy Pearce talk about their sex scenes in his own acceptance speech for the miniseries.

• On people not believing that she didn't think she'd win: "I was extremely unprepared and I didn't think I was going to win at all. I'm so thrilled to have won this, and it just comes out the way it comes out."
• On her reaction to Guy Pearce's sexy comments about her "I'm thrilled. I had a crush on Guy Pearce since I was 11 years old, so just to stand in the same room as him was really thrilling to me. To hear him say all of that tonight was more of a thrill."
• On what she learned from playing Mildred Pierce: "It's more a question of what didn't I learn. I learned a great deal from Todd Haynes, who is an extraordinary director and a real partner for me. When you have the opportunity to play a woman of such magnitude and vulnerability, you have to tread very carefully and hope you're covering all the bases. Todd was certainly very much there for me and holding my hand, so I'm really grateful to him."
• On whether she had any idea she would have such a long and successful career: "Absolutely none whatsoever. None. I come from a long line of actors who spend most of their lives largely out of work. So I knew when I wanted to pursue this great dream I had, I knew I probably wouldn't work very often and I ought to think about part time jobs along the way. I've been extremely blessed that this has been my only job since I was a teenager, and winning an award like this tonight, It's so wonderful. I can't even describe it."

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Peter Dinklage celebrated his Emmy win for best supporting actor as Tyrion on Game of Thrones, and the actor stopped by the press room to chat. Dinklage shared some insider info about the direction of the series, how he was resistant to working in TV until Game of Thrones, and why he'll probably get in trouble for thanking his pet sitter in his acceptance speech.

• On being perceived as cool: "It's from being terrified on the inside. It's all a fake show. I feel very uncool all the time. So I guess, thank you."
• On which characters we should expect to be killed off: "Everyone. If you've read the books you wouldn't be as surprised. That's the great thing about this show. The villains live and the heroes die. It's unexpected."
• On how closely the show will follow the books: "We have to change some things for television. You can't do a lot of what's in the books because we don't have the budget, or the time. But we'll keep faithful to the original story and what happens, and which characters live and die."
• On his reaction to seeing a YouTube clip of his character slapping Joffrey: "It's terrible. It's awful."
• On thanking his pet sitter in his acceptance speech: "She's an important person in my life. I mentioned her but not my manager or anyone really responsible for getting me this job. So, you know, it might be funny and witty . . . or not. It comes at a price, I think. My mom won't be really happy about that."
• On what he's learned from being on Game of Thrones: "I've learned to really love being on a TV show. I fought it for a long time. I get so excited to go to work and I get so excited to read the new scripts. I don't just skip to see my part."

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Margo Martindale was glowing after she accepted her best supporting actress Emmy for Justified, and she stopped by the press room to say how honored she was to have won. She couldn't resist joking about her character's unfortunate end, though, or keeping it real by saying that she was lying when she said that being nominated was enough.

• Margo Martindale, on winning after being killed off of Justified: "I'm thrilled, I'm on cloud nine. I'm out of my body. It's just been a joyous year, it's a joyous, joyous ride. I loved the work, loved working with these actors, I loved it. It was a perfect fit for me. I'm just grateful to have had that job. Unfortunately, it's in the past. They killed me off. Maybe they'll regret it."
• On accepting her Emmy: "I couldn't believe it, and I couldn't believe how enormous that audience is. I wanted to take it in, I actually wanted to be there in that moment. I took my breath before I started to speak. Overwhelming."
• On winning at 60: "I am deeply grateful to be recognized. It's an honor."
• On being submitted for a nomination by Justified's producers: "That right there was enough. Not really, but you know what I mean. I mean, that's a lie."
• On her character's death: "I thought it was only going to be four episodes and then by the time we had finished the first or second episode, they told me I was going to get 10 episodes. They seemed so happy with what I was doing, I thought I would live! Silly me. It was a perfect and poetic ending for that character, however."

The Emmys kicked off with a pair of supporting actor and actress wins for Modern Family's Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen, who play married couple Phil and Claire Dunphy. It's the first win for both Burrell and Bowen, and they hit the press room together to talk about their victories, especially since they were up against a few of their costars.

• Ty Burrell, on being nominated against his costars:"Everyone's been incredibly supportive of each other."
• Burrell, on costar Ed O'Neill's advice to him just before the winner was announced: "Ed said, 'Just remember whoever wins deserves it.'"
• Julie Bowen, on whether she expected to win: "I kind of thought it was a lock on Betty White. I think if I didn't have a dog in this fight — and I had two [herself and Sofia Vergara] — I would have voted for Betty White. Claire is not necessarily fall-down funny all the time."
• Burrell, on Bowen's win: "I have to step in and say that I think it's an even greater credit to what Julie does that the straight person wins an Emmy, because I don't think that that happens very often. The fact that she won is due to her resourcefulness as an actor."
• Burrell, on having support on and off screen: "I have the benefit of having a fake wife and a real wife. I get my nerves soothed by both of them. We basically get together and lean on each other and figure it out. My actual wife —" (Bowen interrupted him to call her "my sister wife") — "is a saint who comes from a long, long line of saints."
• Burrell, on being part of a show that portrays gay characters in a positive light: "It feels very very good to be on a show that seems like it's slowly changing a lot of minds. Eric and Jesse obviously deserve all of the credit for that, along with our amazing showrunners. It's a great thing to just peripherally go to events or talk to family and have them start to talk about those characters like the same way they talk about the rest of the characters. It's pretty cool."
• Bowen, joking about the same subject: "As a straight woman and part of a straight couple on the show, I feel marginalized. I'm happy that where it is an issue, we are helping to change minds."

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