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Beth McCarthy-Miller on ‘Adele: Live In New York City’

Beth McCarthy-Miller transformed Radio City Hall from its Christmas Spectacular to Adele: Live in New York City

Beth McCarthy-Miller is in good spirits. She’s currently on set for shooting NBC’s upcoming sitcom Great News and takes some time out to talk about her latest Emmy nomination. “I’m kind of like the Susan Lucci of the Primetime Emmys, but it’s always exciting to be recognized,” McCarthy-Miller said. She’s received a career-total of 10 Emmy nominations, including direction nods for 30 Rock, Saturday Night Live, and The Sound of Music Live! This year, she is nominated for directing Adele: Live in New York City, the NBC special that aired in December. NBC aired the special again in April, adding five new songs.

It was Adele’s triumphant comeback show. Her last performance was at the Oscars in 2013 where she won a Best Original Song Oscar for Skyfall. Good thing McCarthy-Miller is no stranger to music productions. She has worked on Saturday Night Live specials, America: A Tribute to Heroes, and the MTV Music Awards to name a few.

Adele: Live in New York City earned four Emmy nominations this year: Best Variety Special, Best Directing (Beth McCarthy-Miller), Best Lighting Design and Best Technical Direction/Camerawork. I caught up with her to talk Adele, her catalog, and her nomination.

Let’s talk Adele. How did it happen?

I think Adele had an affinity to SNL because Lorne was one of the first people that put her on TV for that first record in the USA. When she was deciding to do this NBC special, I think Lorne was producing it, he called me and asked if I’d be available. My first job was at MTV. I did lots of music and specials, and they’re always so much fun for me. I’m such a huge fan of Adele’s, so I said, “Yes, please.”

Who isn’t?

I know. And who isn’t and can we murder them because they have terrible taste. [Laughs]

She’s about to do eight nights at Staples Center. I think every Brit and then some is going to the show.

It’s amazing that her voice has gotten better after the surgery. I don’t know how her voice could get better, but it did.

So, you were always a fan?

Huge fan, and she did not disappoint.

You’ve done many live specials before. How do you direct something like this?

This show was a little wonky because we were pulling together very quickly, and we were going in after they had rehearsed the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. They were going to start performances the day after, so we had to take things down. We had one day to rehearse and had to change the sets over. The next day we rehearsed, shot the show, and, that night, they tore everything down and put all the Christmas stuff back up. It was a little dicey and dodgy. Es Devlin, who is a fellow Brit like yourself, is really commended for putting the other something that could be done quickly and simply and set around what was already loaded in every wing for the Christmas show and coming up with such a great elegant design idea that really captured Adele in a great way with a lot of limitations.

There were big giant candy canes in the wings that people were hiding. It was a very quick in and out. Also, Adele hadn’t performed years, and she was pretty nervous as well. That did not show through. The crowd was so anticipatory and so excited to see her that… God Bless New York, when they love you, they show it. When they don’t, they show it too. Luckily they love her and I think she felt that as soon as she got on stage. After her first song, the first thing she said was, “Oh, I’m so nervous.”

You captured her so well in this special, how do you prepare for that?

For me, when I direct music, when you’re directing it for TV, you try to give people at home the best seat in the house because they can’t be there live to watch it. You try to give them the experience of what it’s like being in that space. We try to get the set list ahead of time. I take a look at the production design, the way the stage is set up. I look at tapes of the artist so I can figure out where cameras should be to capture the performance. She commands the stage and doesn’t roam too far, so I set cameras up to capture that. With Es’s set design and the projection, we had to put cameras in place to capture those moments as well. I have an AD break down the songs for me. We get to rehearsals and she had a quick off-site rehearsal that I got to go to and see a few songs. The day of, we had everybody on stage rehearsing a bit, we loaded in the audience and shot it. It was crazy.

What did you take away from that whole evening?

I will say, I’ve been a huge fan of hers for a long time, but I had never seen her live before. Just sitting in a rehearsal space with her, I was blown away by how she can command her voice. I did years of MTV Unplugged, there are some artists who are so special and use their voice like an instrument. There are a lot of different artists who are the real deal, the kind who can take their voice and make it work for the song and how it’s intended. They sing like it’s an instrument. Adele clearly has that gift.

For her as a performer, she’s so passionate and emotional when she performs that you feel the pain, the happiness, the sadness and everything that is in each lyric. I was blown away by the presence that she commands on stage. Especially in a world where everyone is now doing lots of bells and whistles to get everything across, she can just stand on stage and command that and emote the way she can and capture a giant audience like what she had at Radio City. That was just unbelievable to me.

That’s the thing about her. It’s never a bells and whistle show. It’s just her on stage, and that’s it. You show that.

It’s always a pleasure to speak to female filmmakers, your resume goes on endlessly from SNL to 30 Rock. What’s it like for you as a filmmaker?

I started on a place like MTV that was the little engine that could. I started directing when I was 25. I started under the encouragement of male directors for which I associate directed. They told me, “You’re going to be great at this, and we think you should do this. We don’t think you should produce. We think you should direct.”

At the time at MTV, I was taking whatever job was paying more money so I didn’t have to wait tables anymore. [Laughs] I have always been encouraged to pursue directing because people thought I had a gift and passion for it. My experience, which I know isn’t the experience of many people, has been 89 percent positive. I don’t think of myself as a woman director or a minority. I think of myself as a director for hire. I know that is not the case for lots of people. Yes, have I been in situations where I’ve been treated differently? I handle it with grace and humor instead of having to yell and scream, “Just because I’m a woman you shouldn’t treat me like that!” I handle it in the way I handle things.

I would say, I’ve had more positive than negative experiences in my career. I know and appreciate how lucky I am that that has been the case.

What do you watch in your downtime? Are you able to watch without critiquing shows?

I can enjoy and watch scripted television. Drama is easier than comedy just because I’m a comedy nerd and that’s my business. I can sometimes watch events, awards shows, and music specials without saying, “Why would you go to that shot?” or “I wish I thought of that shot.” [Laughs]

I like TV. I’m a big fan, and I can sit back and watch shows as just a fan. I can appreciate things a little bit more when they’re really well done because I know how hard they are to get them to be like that.
I can watch an episode of Mad Men and appreciate the fact that from every single costume to every single production design detail that everything is perfect in the episode. I can really appreciate it because I know how much work went into it.

I don’t think of myself as a woman director or a minority. I think of myself as a director for hire. I know that is not the case for lots of people. Yes, have I been in situations where I’ve been treated differently? I handle it with grace and humor instead of having to yell and scream, “Just because I’m a woman you shouldn’t treat me like that!” I handle it in the way I handle things.

What advice do you have for people who want to get into directing?

I would say, my whole career, I worked a lot. I sometimes took something that wasn’t always the most high profile thing, but it’s something that interests me, and it led to something else and it gave me more experience. I would always tell people to find out what their passion is and follow it. Don’t think that anything is beneath you, you might be surprised.

I didn’t know I wanted to be a director when I was 21. I think Spielberg knew it at 8. I didn’t, but I found it and thank God I found it because it is truly a passion of mine. It is what I love to do.

You really need to find what that passion is and follow it. Especially in this business because the hours are long. It’s not quite as glamorous as everyone thinks it is. [Laughs] I love when people think I go to parties in Beverly Hills with famous people. It’s not quite like that.

It’s been such a pleasure speaking to you. This has got to be it. Right?

I want to beat Lucci’s record before anything happens. I’m not counting on anything. It’s lovely that I got recognized for the show. It was beautiful. It was an honor to be asked to do it. I’m always thrilled when Lorne calls me and asks me to do something because I have so much respect for him. I just love her, so just to be there and be able to watch it. Never mind just watching it was such a treat.

Thank you for capturing the live experience.

I’m so glad. That’s what I tried to do it. Even if one person felt it, then yay.

Mac Quayle Orchestrates the Paranoia of ‘Mr. Robot’

Emmy-nominated composer Mac Quayle embraces the dark side of human nature for Emmy glory

Not every job affords the “bring your child to work” opportunity. Composer Mac Quayle, a 2016 Emmy nominee for his brilliant Mr. Robot score, has to pick and choose those moments. Take a look at his 2015/2016 musical output, and you’ll understand why. Scream Queens. American Horror Story: Hotel. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Mr. Robot. These series contain dark, hard-hitting moments not suitable for young eyes or ears. Critics, audiences, and the Television Academy, however, are an entirely different story.

“My daughter and now my son, they can’t come into the studio when I’m working on it basically,” Mac Quayle laughs. “Some of the images that are on the screen are certainly not appropriate.”

Quayle definitely tends to trend toward the darker aspects of life in his work, but don’t ask him why. He’s not an avid watcher of horror in the vein of American Horror Story. Although, he embraces the challenges presented by Ryan Murphy’s wildly ambitious anthology series. Quayle made the Ryan Murphy introduction through fellow composer Cliff Martinez (Drive) on Murphy’s 2014 HBO film The Normal Heart. The partnership led to Quayle’s first Emmy nomination for last year’s American Horror Story: Freak Show and continues into Hotel where his reinvention of Charlie Clouser and Cesar Davila-Irizarry’s famed opening theme turned heads.

“In the initial discussions with Ryan and his team, the idea for the sound of that season emerged as very electronic,” Quayle said. “There was this main, sort of melodic, sound… some sort of a strange violin that was recorded off of an old LP. The main theme of the season used that sound for the melody, and that was liked so much by Ryan that he wanted to bring that into the opening sequence credits.”

Unfortunately for fans (myself included), the Powers That Be have yet to issue any compilations of the American Horror Story scores, despite Quayle’s persistent pleas. Twitter, use your power for good instead of evil and get this done.

Away from the horror of Hotel and Scream Queens, Quayle does gravitate toward the psychological thriller aspects of shows like USA Network’s Mr. Robot. This gorgeous electronic work, full of driving and persistent paranoia, is available online and garnered Quayle his second Emmy nomination. This score helped provide an entry point into the tortured mind and psyche of Mr. Robot‘s lead character Elliot, played by Rami Malek.

“One of the first pieces I wrote was in the pilot, the first scene when we’re introduced to Elliot when he’s in the coffee shop and about to bring down the owner of the shop who runs an illicit website,” Quayle said. “That piece of music was where I first wrote Elliot’s theme… that’s how the whole journey began.”

The Emmy nomination for Mr. Robot is one of six received by the freshman drama. Given the vast quality of displayed in both above and below-the-line categories, Mac Quayle stands tall among a bevy of heavy-hitting contenders such as A&E’s Bates Motel and Showtime’s Penny Dreadful. His return to the Emmy race is still as exciting an event as last year’s first nomination on American Horror Story: Freak Show.

“Last year, it was completely surreal,” Quayle said. “I just couldn’t imagine that I would ever get nominated for an Emmy. This year, it’s still feels similar. I’m really grateful and honored and just super excited that the music is getting recognized and the people are enjoying it.”

The Doctor is In: ‘Scream Queens’ Season 2 Trailer Drops

Well, great. Now I can’t even go to a hospital without escaping Scream Queens. The Scream Queens Season 2 trailer dropped for Ryan Murphy’s inexplicable comedy/horror spoof/comedy. It starts with John Stamos and Taylor Lautner strutting down a hospital hallway. Jamie Lee Curtis (always welcome) joins them and then re-introduces us to the Chanels who are dressed as nurses in fluorescent couture. They look like a trio of Nurse Ratcheds with a fierce Instagram following.

Can Scream Queens Season 2 surprise us all with some genuine laughs and scares? Will they go for some Halloween II hospital nostalgia with Jamie Lee? I guess we have to watch to find out. Dammit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFULttiHuSU

Scream Queens returns to FOX on Tuesday, September 20th.

Tracee Ellis Ross Should Star in Everything

I could have talked to black-ish‘s Tracee Ellis Ross all day. The first-time Emmy nominee (Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series) has an infectious laugh that transmits over the phone, and her respect for the work is understood through her expressive speaking voice. When I chatted with her, we talked about her relationship with television husband Anthony Anderson, being back on set for Season 3, and briefly about diversity on television. And, yes, I even asked if she’d be down for a Girlfriends revival.

Congratulations on your first Emmy nomination! Everyone at the site is a big fan of yours, so we were all very excited about your nomination.

Thank you very much! I am beyond thrilled. It’s a very exciting moment in my career and in my life. The added layer of knowing the historical context in being one of five black women nominated in this category—and the first in 30 years—adds a whole other layer to it. It’s excited enough! And it adds this deeper layer of meaning to the whole thing.

When someone told me the statistics of how few black women have been nominated in this category, it’s still staggering. It’s totally insane.

It’s staggering. But it’s not just as a black woman. It’s all different ethnicities and the full spectrum of diversity (age and ethnicity and all of those things) wanting all of these categories to reflect that and wanting the work in television in general and in Hollywood to really represent the fabric of this country and the human experience in general. So it is staggering and fascinating to a certain extent. You sort of go, “Wait, what?”

How does it feel to be part of a cast that’s predominantly black when there’s so much talk about diversity in entertainment?

The truth of my experience in my work on television in my work—both on Girlfriends and black-ish (shows that I’m most known for) featured predominantly black casts. All the characters were black, so that has been my experience. My family life is extremely diverse. My actual ethnicity and ethnic makeup—my father is white and Jewish and my mother is black. My world, not just my immediate family, is completely diverse with ethnicities and all of those different mixes.

Being on a television show in this day and age that is continuing to expand the world’s understanding and narrative and identification of what a family is is really exciting. Other ethnicities, any other, for many, many years had to identify with and see how we were the same with a white family on television. And now people get to look at our family as an American family and see how we’re all the same and different all at the same time. It’s a really interesting time, and it’s been asked of me to ask myself certain questions to know how to articulate how I feel about things.

Your chemistry with Anthony Anderson is so fantastic. Whether Bow and Dre are butting heads or (like in ‘Any Given Saturday’) you’re going crazy together.

(Laughs)

What is your favorite aspect of Bow and Dre as a married couple?

My favorite aspect of Bow and Dre is Anthony and Tracee. We just have so much fun together on and off camera, and we have a real partnership. He’s just a generous, big-hearted human being and we have a lot of respect for each other. Let me think. If I had to pick the favorite dynamic between us, I would have to say that we both have no shame. (Laughs) Let me say that’s number two! Number one is the fact that I trust Anthony comedically and in my work life in a way that I have not trusted any work partner. For example, when we do physical comedy or anything like that I know that Anthony will never let me fall. And I won’t let him fall. Even if I say his line or he says my line, we’ll just seamlessly pick it up. It’s just been there from the beginning. My favorite thing would have to be the trust we have for each other that allows us the freedom to be really stupid.

You guys have chemistry on and off screen. Any time I see you at any awards shows and you both appear together, I think to myself, “I need to make sure I watch black-ish this week.”

I don’t know if you watched when we hosted the BET Awards again this year, but we did this Hamilton thing. Anthony spins me around and we did it in rehearsal and I was a bit nervous. But even then, I know that even if we fall, he’s going to fall underneath me. It’s just a given. Also, Anthony is made out of rubber. Has anyone ever told you that?

I’ve heard rumors…

Anthony sometimes does physical things, and I’m like, “OH MY GOD, ARE YOU OKAY?!” And he’ll be like, “Yeah…why?” He bounces off the floor—it’s amazing. I can do something physical and love it and then I’m literally like, “Oh my God! Where’s the chiropractor!” I must have much more brittle bones than Anthony.

I loved your cameo on Broad City when you were a flight attendant with Tymberlee Hill.

Yes!

You two need to have a spin off where you guys fly around and experience all this crazy stuff. Would you want to do more guest work like that? And what show would you want to be on?

Let’s think of all the shows that I watch. What’s on right now that I love? I would love to some dramatic guest starring roles.

Let’s put you on The Americans. Let’s just go totally crazy.

Yes, let’s put me on The Americans. Put me on with Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright! Let’s get me a role on House of Cards. Let’s switch the scripts completely! I would do anything in a heartbeat with Tymberlee. And I would do anything in a heartbeat with (Broad City‘s) Ilana and Abbi. I adore those women. I was so thankful that they were shooting that on a Saturday and Sunday, so I was able to do that during production. Most of the issue is that we do a really long season. We do 22 episodes, and we shoot from the end of July to March. Trying to figure out how to do anything else is difficult during the TV season. But, you know, where there’s a will there’s a way! (laughs)

Of course! I mean, you’re willing to do it, so let’s just offer you up to every streaming show out there. We can put you on EVERYTHING.

Let’s do that in this interview. Why don’t we let that be your mission to find the time to get me some great guest starring roles.

The headline of this interview is going to be “Tracee Ellis Ross is in Everything. You’re welcome.”

That’s perfect! Here’s what you should call it…”ABC: Let’s Make This Happen”

(Laughs)

What do you think?

That’s perfect! That sells itself! To close, I wanted to ask you about something that everyone wanted to bring up. Would you sign on, right now, to do a Girlfriends revival?

This is hilarious. I have said yes every time I’m asked. It’s not up to me. It is more a Paramount/CBS issue. I have always said that I am game. I will be honest with you…I think it’s been too long since the show ended. (Laughs)

No!

Listen…I think we’re pushing it now. (Laughs) But, not going to lie, people are going to be like, “What happened to Joan?” It’s been a LOT of years, but I’ve always said that I’m grateful for Joan and (show creator) Mara Brock Akil and Golden (Brooks), Jill (Marie Jones), and Persia (White). What a time of my life and what an extraordinary experience. I had so much fun playing that role. People still call me Joan. I don’t think I’ll ever be un-Joaned. But, you know, I am totally game. I love that people still want that.

I mean, if Gilmore Girls can do it, Girlfriends can do it.

You’re right! How long ago did Girlfriends finish? 2008? That’s a long time ago! Are you kidding? (Laughs) But, you know what? Isn’t it incredible that all these years later people still connect with Girlfriends? I think it’s a testament to the work that we did and the writing on the show and all of it. I think it really had an impact on people and that’s awesome. I am grateful for that. Well, you heard it from me, I’m happy to do it. But I’m also being honest. (Laughs) It’s been a long time.

It’s another thing I have to work on from this interview.

You’ve got things to handle, buddy!

Trailer Tuesday!

Transparent, Season 3

The Emmy Award and Golden Globe-winning series TRANSPARENT returns for a third season. The Pfefferman family splinters into disparate journeys on their continued path of self-discovery. After a jarring reality check, Maura seeks to become the woman she envisions through gender confirmation surgery. All paths converge on a family cruise to Mexico, affirming that though their family history is murky, each Pfefferman is their truest self when they come together. Stream with Prime 9/23/16.

Luke Cage

In this Marvel live action series, a street-fighting ex-con battles crime on the streets of New York as the Super Hero, Luke Cage. Stream on Netflix 9/30/16.

Jeff Russo On Scoring the Epic ‘Fargo’ Season Two

Jeff Russo’s Fargo Season 2 score is as musically diverse as the composer himself and Emmy took notice

Talking to composer/songwriter/guitarist/vocalist/producer Jeff Russo is akin to attending a master class in music theory. On the surface, Russo’s rock roots in the mid-90s band Tonic seem ill-matched with his recent blossoming success as a prolific composer for television scores. Yet, after talking it through with him, it all makes complete sense. The progression of Russo’s career flows gracefully from one genre to the next. From Tonic to the New York Ballet to FX’s Fargo. This progression appears fueled by Russo’s infectious love of music and a series of fortuitous connections.

“A lot of things just sort of fell into place which is I think the way it always happens for people,” Russo said. “I knew I always wanted to write and perform music… Getting into television was just one of those things where I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

An Emmy nod for an epic score

And the right time is now thanks to Russo’s recent Emmy nomination for scoring Fargo Season 2. After receiving a nomination for the first season, Russo took on the challenge of scoring the increasingly epic, bigger, badder second season with characteristic grace and intelligence. His robust score matches the broader visual palate of the second season, which subverts the claustrophobic intimacy of the first season.

“We really did want to nod to how the show was expanding in terms of the broadness of the characters. Season 1 had fewer characters and fewer moving parts. With Season 2, the themes and the music became broader in that it need to cover a lot more ground to cover for the characters that were being introduced,” Russo said. “I wanted to make a conscious effort to broaden the scope of the music and go with the more epic feel of the story being told on a more grand scale versus the smaller scale of season 1.”

What’s next for the Emmy nominee?

As great television exponentially grows across platforms, so do the classic scores that accompany them. Even if Emmy goes in a different direction, Russo’s upcoming slate of work will undoubtedly continue to provide awards bounty. He’s currently scoring CBS’s American Gothic and provided the intimate score for HBO’s The Night Of. Next up is Fargo Season 3, FX’s Legion, and ABC’s buzzy fall series Time After Time. It’s a body of work that ranks Jeff Russo among the great composers of television and film.

Be sure to catch AwardsDaily TV’s full interview with Fargo composer Jeff Russo below or by subscribing to the Water Cooler Podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcast provider.

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Catching Up with ‘Mr. Robot’ S2 and Emmy’s 2016 Directors

Episode 89: The Olympics, Mr. Robot S2 and Emmy’s Directing races highlight this week’s Water Cooler Podcast.

On this week’s Water Cooler Podcast, we’ve got a hodgepodge of TV and Emmy goodness. First off, we’re covering a little recent news in the TV world including upcoming dates for Amazon’s fall release schedule, a quick look at Friday’s Olympics Opening ceremony, and the 2016 winners in the Television Critics Association, the last major critics group to weigh in before Emmy voting on August 15. Then, we’re taking a look at Mr. Robot S2 at the halfway point. How does the freshman Emmy nominee hold up in its second season? Is this a one-shot wonder?

Next, our exploration of the Emmy categories continues with Comedy, Drama, Limited series direction. Who’s ahead in one of the classier Emmy races? Finally, we close with the Flash Forward of what television most excites us in the upcoming week. Thanks for listening!

03:38 – TV News
19:21 – Mr. Robot S2 (***Spoilers***)
39:38 – 2016 Emmy Directors
52:46 – Flash Forward

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2016 TCA Awards Winners: A ‘Simpson’ Emmy Preview?

The 2016 TCA Awards winners are in and People v. O.J. Simpson holds court

In a potential preview of September’s Primetime Emmy Awards, the 2016 TCA Awards announced their winners tonight with FX’s The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story taking home three major awards. That may seem underwhelming, but keep in mind that the Television Critics Association awards don’t have as many categories as your standard awards show. For example, they combine the performance categories into Drama and Comedy, allowing both genders to compete against each other.

Ryan Murphy’s critically acclaimed limited series won Program of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials, and Individual Achievement in Drama for Sarah Paulson. Paulson’s Marcia Clark reinvention stands as the biggest story of the limited series, and the actress is a heavy front-runner to take home Emmy gold in September after several nominations. Paulson beat out such heavyweights as Bryan Cranston (All the Way), Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul), and Rami Malek (Mr. Robot).

In an overall celebration of women, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend‘s Rachel Bloom and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee matched Paulson’s win with wins of their own. Both wins are well-deserved but somewhat bittersweet as they missed Emmy nominations.

“This was truly a landmark season — not just for television, but for women in television,” said Amber Dowling, TCA President. “We had an unprecedented amount of female winners this year, which is a testament to both the talented actresses who were honored tonight, as well as to the growing number of high-quality roles being created for and by women. It’s extremely encouraging to see this growing trend being embraced, accepted, and expanded upon, and I look forward to seeing even more of it in the future.”

ABC’s black-ish and FX’s The Americans received wins in the Comedy and Drama categories, respectively. Both series will compete at the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards in September.

Here is a complete list of tonight’s 2016 TCA Awards winners.

Program of the Year: The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (FX)
Individual Achievement in Drama: Sarah Paulson (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, FX)
Individual Achievement in Comedy: Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The CW)
Outstanding Achievement in News and Information: Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS)
Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming: Making a Murderer (Netflix)
Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming: Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood (PBS)
Outstanding New Program: Mr. Robot (USA)
Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials: The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (FX)
Outstanding Achievement in Drama: The Americans (FX)
Outstanding Achievement in Comedy: black-ish (ABC)
Career Achievement Award: Lily Tomlin
Heritage Award: The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS)

Emmy nom Michael Kelly Talks ‘House of Cards,’ Loyalty, and Politics

House of Cards co-star Michael Kelly talks about his 2-time Emmy nominated role as Doug Stamper

Doug Stamper, played by 2016 Emmy nominee Michael Kelly, has been through it all on Netflix’s House of Cards. He’s a killer. He’s had brain surgery. He suffers from addiction. In Season 4, Frank Underwood’s loyal aide was prepared to give up his own liver after the President had been shot but arranged for a transplant as only Doug Stamper could, an act that haunted him the entire season.

Michael Kelly received a second Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role this year. Breathe a sign of relief – Kelly is nothing like Stamper. He’s a family man whose young children celebrated with him the morning he was nominated. AwardsDaily TV caught up with Michael Kelly to talk about Doug and how he switches from family man to Underwood’s dark and twisted right hand man.

Where were you when you heard you’d been nominated?

A really good friend of mine has a cool house on Long Beach Island on the Jersey Coast. He goes to California every year with his family, and he gives us his house so we were there. I knew the announcements were coming up, but that morning, I had forgotten about it because I was going to DC that evening, funny enough for House of Cards with our music composer at the Kennedy Center. It just slipped my mind, and I was out watering the garden and my wife told me to come in and eat. I went in and I saw my phone that had a text message saying, “Good luck today, I’ll be thinking of you.” I realized it was nomination day, and my wife joked, “You know you’re not getting nominated this year because we’re together.” I’m not joking when I say this, but I never get good news when we’re together. I’m always away working, and we’re just never together. As I opened the computer and my phone started going crazy. It was so funny. She was so happy, my kids were jumping up and down and had no idea why they were jumping up and down, but they were happy too.

I didn’t think it was going to happen this year. It’s a crazy category and there are so many great people and so many incredible actors who didn’t get nominated. I was so fortunate.

Doug Stamper, every season. There’s such a great team who surprises you each year with where they’re going to go with him. He’s a killer, and this year he almost gave up his liver for Frank. He is in a way the core of the show. How does that make you feel when you hear that?

It’s funny because Doug is not Doug without Francis being Francis. People can say whatever, but it’s everything. The writers are so great, and we all care so much about it. I made a point last year when I was nominated to have the crew pull together at the end of the day, and I thanked them because none of it was possible without any of them. David Fincher set that role model when we started. Everyone comes and gives 100% and pays attention to the most minute detail and it shows. I think different people have different characters that they love, but it’s funny because none of those characters work without the others.

Why is he still loyal to Frank? I mean Frank is the devil incarnate. [Laughs]

There’s no doubt that Doug trusts Frank with everything and anything. I think it’s vice versa, especially when we saw what Claire did to Frank this past season. The two of them trust each other with everything. There’s a love there between them and the utmost respect. A lot of it has to do with Doug’s addiction issues. He is addicted to that job and to doing the best he can do. Yes, he loves Frank, and there’s no one he would rather work for, but a lot of it is addiction to his job and doing it the best he can do.

You said you have a wonderful family and you’re so far removed from Doug. How do you switch on to him when you get to work?

[laughs] A lot of it I do on my drive to and from work. I live with the family in New York, and I keep an apartment in Baltimore. It’s about a 3-hour drive. I very rarely put on the radio. I either drive in silence, or I will listen to my dialogue. I record all my dialogue and listen to it, and I fall back into that guy. I’m not method. I have fun. Kevin and I have a lot of fun together on set. It’s always a fun day when the two of us are working together. It just allows me to fall back into that place.

I have a very minimalist apartment in Baltimore and that helps a lot. After this many years too, and my understanding of Doug has grown too. That’s a big help and makes it somewhat easier. In the beginning, I thought it was nuts. [Laughs] Beau Willimon, our showrunner and writer, did a lot to help me create that character. He gave me some early notes before we had even met. He asked if I had any questions, and I had a million of them. He said, “At least this season (one), I don’t want you to emote. Just don’t emote.” I said, “OK.” He said he wanted everyone at the end of Season 1 to ask, “What is up with this guy? What’s his deal?” I went along with that, and from that came so much of Doug. His voice and the way he holds himself. That all helped shape the character for me.

What goes through your head when you’re reading the script? As a viewer, I want more. I want to know what comes next, so I’ll watch the next episode.

What goes through my head? Am I still alive at the end of the episode? [Laughs] Most of the time, I’ll be reading it thinking I can’t wait to do this scene. It really is. I feel the same when I’m reading it. I read the script the first time for pure entertainment because I love reading them. Then I go back and start my homework on them. When the show comes out, my wife and I watch the show together. We are big fans of the show. It’s been so long since I did it, and I only do my scenes, so I don’t get to see the other scenes. There’s so many compelling characters, so you read it, you forget about it, and then you see it.

This past season, we saw the introduction of Lady Stamper. How is doing scenes with Neve?

She’s so great. She’s something else. Neve and I have become really good friends since starting the show. The first day we started working together, I said, “Look at you, Lady Stamper.” It caught on. The writers caught on, and it’s such an interesting dynamic between the two. She’s such an interesting force. The two of them. The two of us makes for such an interesting dynamic. I can’t wait to see what they’re going to do with that.

You are brilliant together on screen. I have to just say that. This show is incredible, and they just keep delivering great episode after episode. But let’s talk about how the writers seem to have predicted political events before they happened. Did you notice that?

Every year I notice it. Beau and the other writers do it before we see it. The fact that every year something happens or coincides with our show. Every year, I think it’s crazy or insane. The contested conventions almost happened with both parties this year in real laugh. That to me is nuts. Now, in the last year, I’m reading the script and wonder what’s going to happen. [Laughs]

I look back and then I say, “This happened on House of Cards.”

Donald Trump and the KKK. That was one thing we joked about saying it would never happen, and then it did.

Thank God we both support Hillary. So, were you a political person before you took on the role?

I was political before. I was pursuing a degree in political science when I fell into acting and took an elective one year. I have a decent understanding, and during this show I became more interested. I became involved and lobbied on the hill for seniors in our country.

I went and met with congressmen and women. The President signed it, and it passed. I am political, and I’ve been on Hillary’s side from the get go. She’s someone who has dedicated her entire life to public service, and how can you question that? How can you question her experience. Sanders was inspirational and had some great ideas, but I felt like we are so divided with the Senate and House being controlled by the Republicans, not that they’re going to be great and open. I felt like she has a better chance. I felt she could carry on the torch.

What scenes were a highlight for you this season?

I loved doing that scene with Robin in the hospital, and we go head to head. I forgot what we said, but Doug says, “I’m staying here with the man I care about,” and she’s leaving. To go with Robin in the scene and look at each other’s eyes and we said very few words, it was really fulfilling.

The challenging scene was with Derek Cecil where I put the cup over his mouth. We disagreed going into it. We talked over it with Beau, then the two of us. We worked it a few times, and we got there. On the day, the challenge was going from zero to 60. I was threatening him and his wife. It was physically challenging. It goes back to the team where everybody is there for you 100 percent. You also have a show where we truly like each other and we work on stuff outside of work is such a big bonus.

House of Cards Seasons 1-4 are currently streaming on Netflix.

‘AHS6’ Poster Reveals…. Literally Nothing

I still have literally no idea what this season is all about, but this is a spectacularly creepy poster. Murphy seems to be going in for the “Less is More” approach as far as the ad campaign goes. Maybe that’s a good thing. Hope the season follows suit.