Jackie Hoffman will walk the red carpet Sunday as a first-time Emmy nominee, but the Feud: Bette and Joan actress has been having fun with the Emmy process.
The New York actress, who currently stars as Mrs. Teavee in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, tweeted about her preparations prior to leaving for Los Angeles.
“Just tried on $150k worth of jewels for Emmys and Now eating salad @SUBWAY to remind me of my real station in life #Imthemaid,” is among many of Hoffman’s Emmy-related tweets.
When I spoke with Hoffman early in the week, she told me the preparations—including finding the perfect jewelry—terrifies her. But, she said, she is ready.
“I don’t know if I have it down, but I won’t be naked,” Hoffman told me this week when I asked if she has her red carpet look down for the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, airing at 8/7c Sept. 17 on CBS.
Remembering her 2010 spoof video as Old Lady Gaga, I asked if she was going to do something outrageous like the singer might.
“Uh, no, no,” she said, adding, “I eat a lot of meat, though.”
Terrified or not, Hoffman seems if not relaxed, at least handling the whole experience with wit and humor. The veteran character actress who has made a career of stealing scenes is nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for playing Mamacita, Joan Crawford’s stoic housekeeper/assistant in Ryan Murphy’s FX drama.
Hoffman said she is flabbergasted that she is nominated against Judy Davis, Laura Dern, Regina King, Michelle Pfeiffer and Shailene Woodley.
In August, Hoffman appeared in another video, this time spoofing a brash Crawford moment that was recreated in “Feud.”
Crawford, angry that her co-star Bette Davis was Oscar nominated for “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” and she wasn’t, became hell-bent on upstaging Davis at the 1963 Oscars. She personally offered to accept the award on behalf of Davis’s competition, should Davis not win. (Anne Bancroft won, and Crawford accepted her award.)
In the spoof, Hoffman phones her fellow nominees and offers to accept the Emmy for them.
“I thought, ‘This sounds like my level of complete desperation and tragedy.’ This is so natural and, especially since everybody else who is nominated is so fricking huge,” Hoffman said. “It’s just hilarious, the idea of me calling them.”
As of our interview, Hoffman hadn’t heard about any reaction from her fellow nominees.
“No! They’re not going to talk to me. Who knows? They could be reacting in their own palatial homes. But I’m certainly not going to know about it, if they even watched it,” she said. “I’d like to think that they saw it.”
I suggested they might run up and talk to her on the red carpet.
“Yeah, they’ll come running over me,” she said.
Read more of my chat with Jackie Hoffman at the Chicago Sun-Times. Watch the spoof videos below.
Jackie Hoffman calls her fellow nominees
Jackie Hoffman as ‘Old Lady Gaga’