At the age of 20, Timothy Hutton won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing a troubled teen in Robert Redford’s “Ordinary People.” Now, 34 years later, Hutton has received his first Emmy nomination for “American Crime,” the ABC miniseries in which he and Felicity Huffman play parents whose son is murdered. The wrenching, racially-charged drama received 10 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Limited Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series for Hutton.
How are you going to celebrate?
I don’t know yet. A couple of friends called, and there might be a dinner in the works later on. For the afternoon, I’m probably doing to take my son and his friend fishing. And on a day like this, it doesn’t matter if we get skunked.
Does it change your view of awards to have won the Oscar at the age of 20?
Back when I was 20, I felt like it was a very specific time involving a specific movie. And because I was in the middle of shooting “Taps,” I was quite distracted when the awards stuff was going on. But all these years later, to be on a project that means as much as “Ordinary People” did then, it means a lot to have this happen.
Have you watched the other nominees? Do you have a sense of who your stiffest competition is in the category?
I’m not thinking about it that way right now. I have seen the different people — Richard Jenkins, of course, and David [Oyelowo] in “Nightingale,” and Mark Rylance is amazing in “Wolf Hall,” and Ricky [Gervais]…
This is a dark, challenging role, and your character undergoes a real change that isn’t necessarily for the better.
There were difficult scenes, but it was such a well put together production that the filming of it was actually quite peaceful. The writing was so strong, and everybody was focused and dedicated to what they were doing, and I was so fortunate that Felicity Huffman was playing the role of my wife. It just felt like the right situation, the right circumstances. And we were locked in. I’m very excited that we all get to meet up in a couple of weeks for Season 2 with a lot of the same actors, but different characters. It’s a special, unique experience working on this show.
19 Biggest Emmy Snubs and Surprises: 'Empire,' Tatiana Maslany, and 'The Big Bang Theory' (Photos)
Snub: "Empire," Fox Drama Series "Empire" skyrocketed to become TV's top-rated drama in its freshman year, but apparently that wasn't good enough for the Academy.
Fox
Surprise: Tatiana Maslany, "Orphan Black," Lead Actress - Drama Tatiana Maslany finally got an Emmy nod, and it only took her playing eight characters on one show to get it.
BBC America
Snub: "The Big Bang Theory," CBS Comedy Series "The Big Bang Theory" has become almost an automatic nomination, and while it's nice to see new blood, we didn't necessarily expect it.
CBS
Surprise: Anthony Anderson (pictured left), "Black-ish" Lead Actor - Comedy Fresh off hosting the "BET Awards," Anthony Anderson scored his first Primetime Emmy nomination for the breakout ABC comedy. To be fair, "Hang Time" was on Saturday mornings.
ABC
Snub: Julianna Margulies, "The Good Wife" Lead Actress - Drama It's 2013 all over again for last year's Best Actress winner Juliana Margulies. The Golden Globes didn't forget her -- what's up, TV Academy?
CBS
Snub: Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory" Lead Actor - Comedy Rough one for "BBT" and its resident all-star Jim Parsons and four-time winner. His six-year nomination streak ends exactly right there.
CBS
Snub: Terrence Howard, "Empire" Lead Actor - Drama Voters showed the love for Taraji P. Henson's Cookie, but nothing for Lucious? Terrence Howard had a super-busy year -- he has two TV shows on Fox alone -- but he's still seeking his first Emmy recognition.
Fox
Surprise: Keegan-Michael Key (pictured left), "Key & Peele" Supporting Actor - Comedy The chrome-domed comic gained fame for playing Luther, President Obama's "anger translator," and now he has an Emmy nod to show for it.
Comedy Central
Snub: Maggie Smith, "Downton Abbey" Supporting Actress - Drama The veteran actress won the award for the first two seasons of the historical drama and earned noms for the last two -- but her Dowager Countess was abandoned after season 5.
Masterpiece
Snub: Mandy Patinkin (pictured right), "Homeland" Supporting Actor - Drama Though "Homeland" returned to the Best Drama race, Patinkin was passed over after getting nominations for the last two years.
Showtime
Surprise: Michael Kelly, "House of Cards" Supporting Actor - Drama The character actor scored his first Emmy nomination for playing political fixer Doug Stamper in Netflix's Washington, D.C.-set drama.
Netflix
Snub: "Survivor's Remorse," Starz Drama Series Starz had high hopes for the LeBron James-produced drama about a rookie NBA player -- but fell short of the rim.
Starz
Snub: "Jane The Virgin," The CW Comedy Series The rookie series earned recognition from the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Television Awards, but the Emmys continue to have a bias against CW shows.
The CW
Snub: Judith Light, "Transparent" Supporting Actress - Comedy While "Transparent" stars Jeffrey Tambor and Gaby Hoffman both got noms, the Academy overlooked the former "Ugly Betty" nominee who plays the ex-wife of Tambor's late-in-life transgender woman.
Amazon Instant Video
Surprise: Niecy Nash, "Getting On" Supporting Actress - Comedy The actress is the lone nomination for the critically acclaimed but low-buzz HBO sitcom, which is set in a hospital's geriatric care unit.
HBO
Surprise: Gaby Hoffman, "Transparent" Supporting Actress - Comedy The actress scored two nominations, for her guest role on HBO's "Girls" as the sister of Adam Driver's character as well as her role as the dysfunctional youngest daughter of transgender professor Maura Pfefferman
Amazon Instant Video
Snub: Jesse Tyler Ferguson (pictured right) and Eric Stonestreet (left), "Modern Family" Supporting Actor - Comedy Though "Modern Family" scored its sixth straight nom for Best Comedy, several members of its much-honored cast got the could shoulder, including five-time nominee Jesse Tyler Ferguson and three-time nominee (and two-time winner) Eric Stonestreet.
ABC
Surprise: Emmy's new "Two Percent Rule" leads to eight nominations instead of usual six Supporting Actress - Comedy Under Academy rules, the number of nominees can grow if additional contenders are within 2 percent of the votes of the sixth (and final) nominee. So an already competitive category is bursting with familiar names (Julie Bowen, Mayim Bialik, Allison Janney) as well as newcomers (Niedy Nash, Gaby Hoffman, Kate McKinnon).
Various
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The 67th Emmy Awards nominees are in: Here’s who got screwed in 2015, and the names you never expected to hear today