Gwendoline Christie Nominated Herself For The Emmys, Proving You Do Have To Be Your Own Hero
HBO didn't put her name forward, so she did it herself.
Of all of the actors who have done fine, fine work on Game of Thrones (AKA most of them), Gwendoline Christie might be the stand-out.
After all, in the hands of pretty much any other actor, Brienne of Tarth could have been transformed into a one-dimensional cliche; a lumbering, blank-faced stalwart who melts into a lovesick hero. But Christie resisted every single easy choice she could have made over her run on the show, injecting nuance and brevity into each of her stony expressions. Rewatch the scene where Brienne gets knighted and tell me that’s not some of the finest acting you’ve seen on the small screen.
Anyway, none of this is news to you — Christie’s work has been so heralded that she recently scooped up an Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category. But what you might not know is that Christie had to nominate herself in that category; HBO didn’t do it for her.
HBO didn't submit Gwendoline Christie for an Emmy so she submitted herself and got a nomination.
Be your own biggest cheerleader.
— Julie DiCaro (@JulieDiCaro) July 17, 2019
See, to be eligible for the Emmys, you have to be nominated. 90% of the time that nomination work is done by the studio — that way, PR people can decide which categories to put forward which actors for (thus avoiding the kind of category confusion that some people felt hurt Emma Stone’s chances of an Oscar for The Favourite, for example).
But for whatever reason, HBO decided not to nominate Christie, Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy) or Carice van Houten (Melisandre), even though there’s no limit on how many actors a studio can put forward. In turn, that left those performers to plonk down US$225 of their own cold hard cash to meet eligibility for nominations.
And hey, guess what: each of them got nominated.
So there you have it — if ever you needed proof that you really do have to be your own boss, looking after your own business, let Brienne of Tarth herself guide you.
THANK YOU WORLD!!!!!!!!! https://t.co/C7TjzDlhzI
— Gwendoline Christie (@lovegwendoline) July 17, 2019