Julia Garner’s dual nominations and Levinson clan kudos promise a pretty Jewish Emmys
2022 promises some Jewish wins, from previous winners and new hopefuls. Photo by Getty/Robyn Beck/Contributor
By PJ Grisar July 12, 2022
The 74th Emmy Awards are poised to honor programing about vampires, criminals and woman comedians. Also Larry David and two very different soccer teams in “Ted Lasso” and “Yellowjackets.”
Leading the pack of nominations was “Succession,” whose strong ensemble — including Adrien Brody, playing one of the series’ only explicit Jews — cleaned up in acting nominations across categories. Other dramas nominated include “Better Call Saul,” which, this season, finally broached the Jewish-sounding alias of its antihero; “Severance,” directed and produced by Ben Stiller; and “Euphoria,” based on an Israeli series and adapted by Sam Levinson.
And about those Levinsons! Are they the new Levys? “Dopesick,” directed and produced by Sam Levinson’s father, Barry, is nominated for best limited series with several acting nominations, including one for Michael Stuhlbarg as Jewish pharma executive Richard Sackler. The elder Levinson is also in the running for the television movie category for his Holocaust biopic, “The Survivor.” (The TV show “Barry,” of no relation, was nominated for six awards, including supporting actor for Henry Winkler.)
Julia Garner was once again nominated for playing Ruth Langmore (she won twice already) in the valedictory season of “Ozark,” and is also up for lead actress in a limited series for playing con artist Anna Delvey in “Inventing Anna,” one of many shows this season featuring actors trying on weird voices as accomplished grifters. (Amanda Seyfried was nominated for playing Elizabeth Holmes — rightly so; Jared Leto got nothing for playing Israeli WeWork founder Adam Neumann — also the right call.)
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” was nominated for best comedy and received a guest actor nod for Bill Hader — apologies to guest star Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman, who will just have to settle for his many military accolades. Also Jewish and a contender in the comedy category is “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” which take home another haul, nominated for actress in a comedy for Rachel Brosnahan, supporting actress for Alex Borstein and supporting actor for Tony Shalhoub.
Shalhoub and Brosnahan round out a genre of “kinda Jewish” that includes nominations for Martin Short and Nathan Lane (for “Only Murders in the Building”) and Oscar Isaac, who clinched a nomination for lead actor in a limited series for his turn as a former Orthodox Jew in an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s “Scenes From a Marriage.”
But all’s fair in love and casting. Jewish actor Andrew Garfield is nominated in the same category as Isaac for playing a disillusioned Mormon detective in “Under the Banner of Heaven.”
Other Jewish standouts include Patricia Arquette for her role in “Severance,” Brett Goldstein for “Ted Lasso” and Forward 15 honoree Hannah Einbinder for “Hacks.” Seth Rogen — who for some reason appeared as a Viking in both last season’s “Curb” and in the Emmy-nominated “Chip ’n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers” film — was nominated for his appearance on “Pam & Tommy” as the guy who found Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s sex tape.
While many online are now debating whether Taika Waititi’s moment has passed, “What We Do in the Shadows,” produced by Waititi and based on his vampire mockumentary of the same name, was nominated for comedy series. (Waititi’s new show, “Our Flag Means Death,” received no nominations — so the jury is out.)
Finally, newly-minted Mark Twain Prize honoree Jon Stewart was nominated for hosted nonfiction special or series for his Apple TV+ show. But he’ll have to beat out the Disney+ show “The World According to Jeff Goldblum” first. Good luck to him. After all, it’s Goldblum’s world — we’re all just living in it.
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