Q&A: Jeff Hiller of ‘Somebody Somewhere' on his surprise Emmy nomination: ‘I was truly shocked'
The Peabody Award-winning series, which concluded this year with its third season, followed a group of outsiders - gay and straight - as they navigated friendship, faith and questions of self in a small, rural Kansas town. Like Hiller, Joel is gay and grew up heavily involved in the Christian church.
When the Television Academy announced its list of nominees Tuesday morning, Hiller was anything but ready to hear his name called alongside Harrison Ford ("Shrinking"), Ebon Moss-Bachrach ("The Bear") and Colman Domingo ("The Four Seasons.") He spoke to The Times, in an interview edited for clarity and length, shortly after learning he was nominated.
Q: Were you poised and waiting for the announcements this morning, or were you just like, yeah, it's not going to happen?
A: I must tell you, without any sort of posturing or false humility, this is a surprise.
I mean, it's Season 3. I said to my husband, "The Emmy noms are coming out so I guess at some point someone's going to be like, 'Somebody Somewhere' was snubbed." I had moved on. Then I was on the phone with my sister and I was like, "My agent keeps calling me. What is he calling me for? Did I get that recurring role on that Fox pilot?" It was so shocking. I kind of had forgotten that it was happening. I know that this sounds so fake, but I truly was shocked.
Q: And to be noticed for such a wonderfully singular show and role. There's nothing else like "Somebody Somewhere," or a character like Joel, on television.
A: I know and he was a lot like me. I took this dumb acting class on how to get to be a series regular on a TV show, and this is like 15 years into my acting career. In this class they were like, they were like, "You won't get a series regular role unless you're a lot like the character." And I was like, "Oh crap! Nobody writes characters like me."
Let me just say that I'm fully aware of how lucky I was that this role came to me and I'm so grateful to Bridget and co-creators Hannah [Bos] and Paul [Thureen] because you're right. There's nothing like [the show or him] out there and to get to do a fully realized character and be gay but also be in the church - it's complicated. It takes a lot of work and exposition to get across a character this nuanced. I'm so grateful that they wrote that and then I got to play it, and that they didn't cast, you know, Michael Urie. I would have cast him.
Q: Do you miss Joel?
A: Oh yeah, I do. It's over a year ago that we shot Season 3, so I miss the crew and the gift of being able to play him. I know that all this sounds so cheesy and hack and stuff, [like other Emmy quotes] I read in articles, but I guess it was all true when they were saying it.
Q: And where are you right now?
A: I am at Gate 95 at LaGuardia Airport. I have this credit card that I pay an extremely high fee on so that I can get into the lounge, but the line is too long so I'm just waiting at the gate until 3:40 because the flight got delayed.
Q: You were just nominated for an Emmy! Don't they know who you are?
A: They have made it very clear they do not know who I am.
Q: So what's next?
A: I'm very excited just to be able to go to the [Emmy] party. I've never gotten to go to a party like this. I'm going to wear something really gay. It's going to be great.
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