There are benefits to be a double Emmy nominee: twice the chance to win and double the recognition. For Julianne Nicholson, Who Earned Two Nominations for Playing Two Very Different Characters in the Same Calendar Year-A Ruthless Billionaire Mastermind in Hulu’s Twisty Sci-Fi Drama “Paradise” (Where Shee, Mom in Supperting Drama Drama Access Drama Act “Hacks” (where she’s up for guest comedy actress) – There’s Another Reason the Achievement Stands Out.
And it’s about Catherine O’Hara.
“It is rare to (nominate) in such different categories,” Nicholson said during a new video interview. Knowing that she is in the legendary company with O’Hara – a colleague double nominated this year for her equally varied performances in Apple TV +’s “The Studio” and HBO’s “The Last of Us” – makes the milestone feel significant.
“(Catherine’s) been a goddess Idol forever, so being in all the conversations that her name is also in is, was still my beating heart,” wondered Nicholson. “I will only live in that moment.”
It is proof of Nicholson’s chameleon -like ability to exceed genres. A former Emmy winner for his soul-cut support work in the 2021 HBO miniseries “Mare of Easttown”, Nicholson admits that she was “shocked” that her depictions in both “paradise” and “hacks” got Emmy stamp. “It is confirmation and validation of many years where I may not have worked or people did not see what I did,” Nicholson said. While both nominations are meaningful for various reasons, she acknowledged that “being recognized in a category that I would not normally think about feels special to me personally.
It is confirmation and validation of many years where I may not have worked or people did not see what I did.
“People think most about me as a dramatic actor. And if people think you’re good at one thing, they think you’re good at just that thing,” she continued. That mentality in the box led her and her team to actively seek opportunities in recent years where she could do something outside the traditional path. “That’s why we made a conscious decision to make the” Weird Al “movie a couple of years ago. It was a small part, but it was fun to be in a comedy.”
And then “hacks” came along.
“Playing a character outside Rails made it so much more fun to be able to flex these muscles and do something completely unexpected and surprise people.”
Just like in “Hacks” Nicholson steals almost every scene in “Paradise.” As Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond, Puppetmaster and technical financier behind the underground utopia, which was built after an apocalyptic event, Nicholson gives Nicholson a complicated villain, whose tragic backstory informs about her unmatched assignment to achieve a mysterious (and doubtful) final game.
Nicholson believes that a flashback scene in the second episode of the series is one of her crown jewels. In it, Sinatra prays his therapist (played by Sarah Shahi) to give her the strength to keep her marriage and family going as she grief over her son six months earlier. Because of the emotional weight of the stage, she made a choice not to repeat much before cameras rolled. “I thought (the scene) did a good job of honoring that experience and talking about that experience (losing a child), which I could never start imagining,” Nicholson said.
Over the past two months, the actress has been deep in Sinatra mode as she approaches the end of the filming for season 2. “I had to sprint a lot yesterday in work shoes,” she said. “My muscles definitely felt that today. I guess it (physically) humanizes a villain.”
When the new season takes up is Sinatra – which was last seen in a hospital bed that recovered from a gunshot injury to the chest – “definitely more vulnerable than she has ever been before,” Nicholson said. “With that comes a little humility. Maybe she often has a little bit, but she still prefers to be the one who calls the shots.” This means that the character will be behind the eight ball more than she is comfortable with. “The blind confidence she had during season 1 has been shaken. And then it feels like she rediscovering her feet and who she is.”
Although “Paradise” creator Dan Fogelman has stated that he has a grand, three -season plan, is Nicholson who in the dark about how Sinatra fits into the total image like everyone else. Given how Vital her character is for the show’s central Lore, Nicholson said it has been an “interesting challenge” with bread crumbs that she has been fed to help inform her performance.
“There are things revealed (about Sinatra) in season 2 that I didn’t know when we filmed season 1,” she said, “but I don’t think it will affect people’s perception of her or would necessarily have changed anything about my performance.”
If the viewers thought that the beginner season of ‘Paradise’ was shocking, Season 2 heads in an even more surprising direction – especially now that there is a whole world outside the bunker to explore. “It’s wide open and it goes there,” Nicholson said. “It’s a fascinating world, and the characters you meet have been able to survive in that world in recent years. They are a fascinating bunch.”
Among them is Shailene Woodley, who joins the role of a travel guide at Elvis Presley’s Graceland Estate. Nicholson was Coy, but she said that Sinatra’s path only recently began to cross with the new characters. “You get to meet all these other relationships within these different characters, and of course it’s all bound.”
This story first ran down to the Wire Drama issue of Thewrap’s Awards Magazine. Read more from the question here.
