What’s funny about the outrage over Ellen Burstyn’s Emmy nomination for her portrayal of “Ex-Lover #3” in the HBO movie Mrs. Harris? Not the outrage itself - it is indeed abominable that Burstyn was nominated for 14 seconds of screen time in a role that had obviously been (mostly) consigned to the cutting room floor.
The funny part is that it took the press a few weeks after the Emmy nominations came out to even figure this out. Seems that no one really bothered to look at Mrs. Harris in the first place - not the pundits and certainly not the Emmy voters. The film, a black comic account of the “Scarsdale Diet Doctor” murder starring Annette Bening and Ben Kingsley, had been produced by HBO as a possible theatrical release through its Picturehouse distribution arm. But after a disastrous premiere at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival, the movie premiered on HBO will little fanfare and was quickly forgotten.
Until, of course, the predictable, pedestrian Emmy voters saw that Burstyn and Bening were eligible for an HBO movie, at which point they voted the esteemed actresses in, sight (presumably) unseen. I agree with the Hollywood Reporter columnist - if Burstyn had any class, she’d renounce the nomination and expose the Emmys for the sham they consistently prove to be.
Burstyn’s Emmy nom no vote of confidence [Hollywood Reporter]
What in the hell is she wearing? It looks like she walked through a hurricane down the mean streets of Boca in search of the thrift store frequented by the ladies of the local nursing home.