Ellen Burstyn Looks To Break The 14-Second Performance Emmy Nomination Barrier
Ellen Burstyn has finally commented on the bizarre turn of events that saw her receive an Emmy nomination for a 14-second performance in the HBO movie Mrs. Harris (she lost, to co-star Cloris Leachman). Refusing to downplay the controversial nod, Burstyn only hopes, as any top-of-their-game athlete would, to shave a few seconds off her best personal time at next year's meet. The AP reports:
In an interview with AP Radio, the 73-year-old Academy Award winner spoke publicly for the first time about her Emmy nod: "When they told me I was nominated for that I went, 'What, are you kidding?'" [...]
"I thought it was fabulous," she said. "My next ambition is to get nominated for seven seconds, and, ultimately, I want to be nominated for a picture in which I don't even appear."
"The brouhaha around it, you know, they tried to reach me for a statement," she recalled. "I said, 'This doesn't have anything to do with me. I don't even want to know about this. You people work it out yourself.'"
Should the Television Academy make no great effort to curtail their lazy, "She's the one from The Exorcist, right? Let's give her an award, too!" voting practices, Burstyn may actually find herself achieving her goal, when screener-viewing apathy and a confusingly formatted ballot results in the venerated acting legend's name being announced as recipient of next year's Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, a stunning upset that will surprise no one more than fellow nominee Steve Carell, the crushing memory preserved forever in a sweat-drenched and frozen-smiled, televised reaction shot.
