Stars react to nominations for the 66th Primetime Emmys, announced Thursday in Los Angeles:
Matt LeBlanc on early-morning news of his nomination for lead actor in a comedy series (“Episodes”): “If the phone rings, I think someone is in trouble, someone is in jail, I’m in trouble, what could possibly be wrong? I immediately go to that dark place. And it’s my publicist saying congratulations.”
Minnie Driver, lead actress (“Return to Zero”): “I was lying in bed with my son and I was thinking I shouldn’t scream and wake him up, but I need to scream and wake him up. So I did and he put the pillow over his head.”
Ricky Gervais, lead actor in a comedy (“Derek”): “I am over the moon. I cannot wait to fly to LA to see Louis CK win.”
Jim Parsons, lead actor in a comedy (“The Big Bang Theory”), supporting actor in a miniseries or movie (“The Normal Heart”): “If I celebrate today, it would be probably by simply going out to dinner, which I know doesn’t sound that thrilling to most people, but for me it really is a lovely day. I love going out to dinner. [Or I could be] lying in bed playing Candy Crush and reading, which also makes me very happy.”
William H. Macy, lead actor as a drunk in a comedy series (“Shameless”): “I’m thrilled and a bit shocked. When I look at the other nominations, I’m humbled. But I’ve always felt that liver failure brought on by acute alcoholism could be really, really funny.”
Kate Mulgrew, supporting actress (“Orange Is the New Black”): “It’s a wonderful acknowledgement, a beautiful recognition, but what they’re really saying is, Jenji Kohan (series creator) is a genius, and Kate Mulgrew fell in love with that character and they all got married!”
Cat Deeley on her plans to celebrate her nomination for reality-competition host (“So You Think You Can Dance?”): “I’ve been texting with (fellow nominee) Jesse Tyler Ferguson already this morning and we’ve been talking about it. We were talking about champagne and he said, ‘It is a protein, right?”’
Billy Crystal on his three nominations (“700 Sundays”): “So happy. This breaks my ‘I can’t believe what happened to Brazil’ funk.”
Billy Bob Thornton, on his first Emmy nom (“Fargo”). “It’ll be a thrill for me to be there for the first time. I don’t get out much. I imagine in August it’ll be about the only place I go outside the house.”
Seth MacFarlane on the 12 nominations earned by “Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey,” which he executive produced: “For once, the Parents’ Television Council sent me a gift basket without a cobra at the bottom.” AP