The 65th annual Primetime Emmy Awards took place on Sept. 22, 2013, at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles. Here is what this Emmy winner said backstage in the Emmy Awards press room.
JAMES CROMWELL
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie
("American Horror Story: Asylum")
Can you talking about working with "American Horror Story" executive producer Ryan Murphy? And will you be in "American Horror Story: Coven"?
You won't be seeing me, because I think it's all women, except for Evan [Peters]. They keep some of the cast, but if they can't fit you into the storyline, you move on to something else. I've moved on to a show on ABC called "Betrayal."
Working with Ryan was only tangentially because I never actually saw him, once we had the first reading. But obviously, his taste and his talent and his genius informed what we did, because it was a bloody good show and a lot of fun to work on. You don't get a chance to acknowledge the people, but we don't work in a vacuum. Without people like Michael Goi and Mark Worthington and that cast and everybody else, you don't stand up here.
How did you get your role on "American Horror Story: Asylum"?
I think I got the role because I was doing a play downtown [in Los Angeles] called waiting for "Waiting for Godot" at the Mark Taper [Forum]. And I [as my "Waiting for Godot" character] was loud and blustery and angry and a fascist. I think they thought, "Yeah, he looks really mean!"
I have done other mean roles, as they say, "bad guy" roles, but it's always nice to play off. I always thought with "L.A. Confidential," [director] Curtis Hanson cast me in that role because everybody expected that Babe's dad could not be the bad guy.
So when I turned around and shot Kevin [Spacey's character], I think they wanted that, you know. "He can't possibly be as bad as they're making him out to be." But I was.
