Academy Award winner Billy Bob Thornton, who performs chain-smoking disaster supervisor Tommy Norris in Taylor Sheridan’s newest hit “Landman,” looks as if a man who can’t be intimidated. However get him in a room with Allison Janney and the reality comes out.
“I was afraid of you,” he tells her sheepishly on The Envelope’s Emmy Roundtable for drama actors.
“Really?” says Janney, the Oscar-, Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning performer who seems as crafty Vice President Grace Penn on the Netflix political thriller “The Diplomat.”
“The first time I met Allison, it was at another press function thing,” he says to the room. “And just seeing you, as an actor, and parts you play … But also, you have this very dignified quality about you.”
“It’s my height, I think.”
“No,” he continues. “You just have the face of someone who is powerful and really intelligent. So some idiot like me comes in, and I’m like, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t talk to her.’”
That is what occurs whenever you collect seven Emmy contenders whose performances so convincingly form our perceptions of who they’re in actual life. This 12 months’s group additionally included Sterling Ok. Brown, who performs Xavier Collins, a Secret Service agent searching for the reality in Hulu’s “Paradise”; Britt Decrease, who performs each rich heiress Helena Eagan and defiant knowledge refiner Helly R. in Apple TV+’s “Severance”; Jason Isaacs, who performs Timothy Ratliff, an American financier desperately attempting to maintain a secret from his household in HBO’s “The White Lotus”; Noah Wyle, who performs Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, a senior attending doctor at a Pittsburgh trauma middle in Max’s “The Pitt”; and Kaitlin Olson, who performs the underestimated however sensible police marketing consultant Morgan Gillory in ABC’s “High Potential.”
Learn on for excerpts from our dialogue about how they faucet into their layered performances, navigate the enterprise and extra — and watch video of the roundtable under.
The 2025 Emmy Drama Roundtable. Again row from left: Britt Decrease, Jason Isaacs, Noah Wyle and Kaitlin Olson. From row from left: Billy Bob Thornton, Allison Janney and Sterling Ok. Brown.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Instances)
Inform me about an “Oh, my God, did that just happen?” second — good or dangerous — out of your early years on a Hollywood set. Kaitlin, your first credit score was “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” I can’t think about what it’s like making Larry David chuckle.
Olson: Oh, you simply should scream in his face and insult him, after which he thinks that’s actually, actually humorous. However yeah, there have been no marks and there have been no traces. So I didn’t actually have an “Oh, my God” second. You simply speak and shut up when you need to shut up.
Isaacs: On my first day [on 1989’s “The Tall Guy”], I bear in mind I arrived very first thing within the morning. I used to be taking part in Surgeon No. 2 in a dream sequence that Jeff Goldblum was in. The director, who’s hassled and busy, he goes, “OK, we’re going to start with you. We’re coming in on the dolly. But because I’m on a very wide lens, if you could start the eyeline somewhere near the bottom of the jib and then just go to the corner of bottle, then take it to the edge of the matte box when we’re getting close.” And I went, “Right … What the f— did any of those words mean?” Jeff is simply out of body. And he’s in his underpants, and it’s a dream sequence for him. And we’re nearly to go and roll the cameras, and Jeff goes, “Hold on a second.” And he stands up and he begins standing on a chair reciting Byron love poems although he was not within the shot. I’m like, “I don’t understand what the hell is going on here.” Years later, I sat subsequent to him at a marriage and I stated, “Do you remember that night?” He went, “Yeah.”
Jason Isaacs of “The White Lotus.”
Have there been moments the place you fell out of affection with appearing or the place you felt like, “This isn’t working out”?
Janney: My profession didn’t begin until I used to be 38 or one thing, as a result of I’m so tall, and I used to be actually uncastable. I went to the Johnson O’Connor [Research Foundation]. And I did three days of testing to see what else I may probably do.
Issacs: What’s that?
Janney: It’s an inherent ability testing place. They ask you to do all these items, and on the finish of it they are saying, “This is what you should be.” And so they informed me I must be a techniques analyst. I had no thought what that was. And the subsequent day, I obtained solid understudying Religion Prince and Kate Nelligan in “Bad Habits,” a play on the Manhattan Theatre Membership.
Allison Janney of “The Diplomat.”
Brown: I’ve by no means fallen out of affection with it. I used to be an economics main in faculty who wound up switching to drama. Once I obtained out of grad faculty and [was] hopping round by means of regional theater, I wound up reserving a TV present, “Army Wives,” for six years, and some years into the present, I used to be like, “I think I’ve done everything that I want to do with the character.” So once they got here dangling the carrot for individuals to reup after Season 6, I used to be like, “I’m curious to see what else the universe has in store.” I used to be in a position to repay pupil loans. We had our first youngster, I had a house and I used to be like, “Let’s take a gamble on Brown.” I did a pilot for AMC that didn’t get picked up; then had a recurring [role] on “Person of Interest” for six episodes. I used to be like, “Oh, man, I got a wife and a kid and a house. Did I mess up? Should I have stayed on the show or not?”
Then I auditioned for [“The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story”], and I didn’t hear something for 4 months. I used to be down in New Mexico taking pictures this film, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,” and I used to be having this actually form of morbid second of going by means of my IMDb Professional account and everyone who had booked all the issues that I had auditioned for. I used to be like, “Oh, Bokeem Woodbine booked Season 2 of ‘Fargo.’ Good for him.” And I obtained a name from my supervisor saying, “They want you to screen test with Sarah Paulson for this thing.” I used to be the one individual that they introduced in to audition for it.
Sterling Ok. Brown of “Paradise.”
Your sequence are largely confronting or commenting on real-world anxieties or topics which are altering in our world in actual time. Noah, with Dr. Robbie and what he says about what’s happening within the healthcare system — we’re seeing him deal with the aftermath of COVID-19. We’re seeing tales which are very well timed about vaccinations. Speak about what was necessary to you with this sequence and what you wished to indicate by means of these characters.
Wyle: “ER” was very a lot a patient-centric present in a whole lot of methods. And this was extra of an train to be practitioner- and physician-centric, to actually present the toll that the final 5 years since COVID has taken on that neighborhood. The thesis being that it’s as fragile because the psychological well being of the those that we’ve got in these jobs and the standard’s what we acquired. Although we needed to peer right into a crystal ball and check out to determine a 12 months in the past what can be the topical circumstances of right now, we have been actually extra considering how everyone’s coping mechanisms have allowed them to observe what they’ve been doing for the final 5 years. How they’ve compartmentalized the toll it’s taken on them personally, and discover that in actual time. Mixture rigidity on a shift the place you’re simply embedded with them with out launch. The outset was extra about figuring out the psychological well being of the practitioner than figuring out the ills in society … Can I simply say how effing cool it’s to sit down at this desk with you all and be the uncool one to say that I really feel like my impostor syndrome is off the rails proper now?
Olson: No method.
Noah Wyle of “The Pitt.”
Hopefully you’ll all visitor star on one another’s exhibits by the point that is over.
Janney: I might love that.
Britt, what actually spoke to me about “Severance” was its exploration of grief, however inside that too, there’s the company overreach and the work-life steadiness that I believe all of us can admire. Did it present you something about the way you navigate your work-life steadiness or what you possibly can do higher?
Decrease: The solid talks loads about how the “Severance” process is form of like what we do for a residing. We go to work and placed on a distinct outfit and assume a brand new identification. There have been some moments the place you’re strolling down the corridors on the best way to your job, and there’s form of this meta high quality of being within a present about compartmentalizing and switching into a distinct a part of your self. However I believe it’s so relatable. I believe we try this as people. We present up in a different way in several areas in our lives, whether or not it’s work or dwelling or going dwelling for the vacations, versus your baseball workforce. You simply placed on a distinct individual actually.
Britt Decrease of “Severance.”
Isaacs: If I am going away to do a job on location someplace, I can truly — even at my ripe outdated age; I’m a father and I’m a husband — simply park my life and neglect that. Now I see that metaphor very clearly and it’s irresponsible. I’m a lot extra snug within the fictitious world than I’m in the true world.
Do you’re feeling like there’s a false impression that you simply guys are simply all on the pool?
Isaacs: I’m probably not an actor anymore; I simply do “White Lotus” publicity for a job. And within the billions of interviews, individuals count on you to say, “It was a holiday. We were in this resort.” Nicely, we’re probably not within the resort. So I’ve stated a couple of instances, “You make friends. You lose friends, romances or whatever; things happen between departments and all the backstage drama that we’re all used to.” Nicely, the net world went mad attempting to deconstruct, attempting to work out who knew who and who was [doing what]. Truly, I’m speaking about all of the crew and all of the departments — not that it’s anybody’s enterprise. But it surely’s attempting to deconstruct what all of us consider one another. And what occurred there may be a lot much less fascinating than Mike White’s sensible tales. You shouldn’t be considering who went to dinner with who. I form of want I hadn’t opened my mouth about it, however I don’t need to faux it was a vacation. Not simply the best way that the present blew up but in addition the extent of microscopic curiosity in something any of us stated, tweeted, posted — there aren’t many new experiences for actors who’ve been round a very long time, however this one has been stunning, and I’m fairly glad that it’s abating now. I’d prefer to return to my regular life, however I don’t know the way people who find themselves uber-famous take care of it.
The extent of microscopic curiosity in something any of us stated, tweeted, posted, is a brand new — there aren’t many new experiences for actors who’ve been round a very long time, however this one has been stunning.
— Jason Isaacs, on fan consideration to ‘The White Lotus’
Billy Bob, how did you come to navigate it? You’ve skilled the acute results of that.
Thornton: You imply on the planet of Hollywood and all that?
Isaacs: Do you go to the grocery store, take the subway … Do you do the stuff I do?
Thornton: It will depend on what 12 months it’s. I’ve gone by means of instances the place I couldn’t go wherever. As soon as my life obtained greater, and that basically occurred with … I imply, I used to be a working actor doing OK, however “Sling Blade” is the one which, actually in a single day, it was a loopy factor. From that time on, it’s been fairly regular. What I’ve finished to not become involved in all that’s I don’t actually go wherever. I’m both working or I’m at dwelling with the household or in a recording studio or on the street. You don’t see me within the [tabloid] magazines, on the events and all that form of stuff.
I’ll put it this manner. Proper now, with “Landman,” we thought it was going to achieve success. We had no concept that it was going to be like this. I imply, we’ve obtained followers in Iceland and stuff. I can’t go to a Walmart in Texas. It’s actually unattainable. I attempted it. I might stroll three ft at a time. Texans, their personalities are additionally very huge, and so they don’t actually come up and go, “Excuse me, mister.” It’s not like that. It’s like, “Hey man, what’s going on? Get in a picture with me.”
I’ve had a popularity — weirdo. Angelina and I have been vampires. We drank one another’s blood. You look on the web, and there’s some form of factor you’re attempting to lookup and, inevitably, it’ll present one thing else. So that you go, “I hate this. I hate the internet, but I got to see it.”
Billy Bob Thornton of “Landman.”
Isaacs: There’s no good model of you. You both look significantly better on the display or significantly better in actual life. I wished to say [looks at Allison], as a result of I used to be an enormous “West Wing” fan, I did some “West Wing,” I couldn’t get away of pondering that Bradley [Whitford] and Janel [Moloney] have been, in truth, Josh and Donna. Did individuals assume you have been that political? Individuals assumed you have been that character?
Janney: I’ve been such a disappointment for individuals who assume that I’m C. J. [Cregg, her character on “The West Wing”], as a result of I couldn’t be much less like her. I’m not that one who’s in a position to verbally lower somebody down within the second that she must. It was so nice to play her, however I bear in mind once they had the Democratic Nationwide [Convention] in California and there have been extra individuals who got here as much as me and requested me, “After this is over, will you come work for us? Will you come to…” I’m like, “You don’t understand. I’m so not like that.” And now on “The Diplomat,” taking part in the president of the US and the neatest individual within the room, it’s a lot enjoyable for me to play these form of ladies as a result of I’m not [like that]. I imply, I’m not an fool, however I do know nothing about being on the planet of politics or being manipulative.
Kaitlin, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” is in its seventeenth season now. You’re on “Hacks.” Once you’re signing on to one thing like “High Potential,” what components do you think about when eager about how lengthy you need to decide to one thing?
Olson: I don’t ever need to play a personality that begins to get outdated to me. “Sunny” doesn’t really feel like that to me as a result of it’s a satire and the world’s all the time offering us with new content material. And we do eight to 10 episodes a season. So it’s 17 seasons, which is insane, but it surely’s not even 20 episodes. It’s a lot enjoyable, which is the explanation I’m not sick of that character but. However I really feel the identical method as you, [Allison], once I’m taking part in characters who’re super-smart, after which I’ve to speak about it, I simply go into panic mode.
How has it been stepping into Morgan’s head?
Olson: I like the opposite characters that I play, however there’s coronary heart to this, and he or she’s a very good mother and he or she may be very insecure however places on a giant present. I like that she’s scrappy and has to determine it out, and he or she trusts that she’s going to and doesn’t depend on anyone else to assist her determine it out. A very powerful factor are her children. I believe she’s simply fascinating to play.
Kaitlin Olson of “High Potential.”
What’s probably the most spectacular talent you picked up on the job? Noah, you already know I’m going to begin with you. You went to medical boot camp. You’ve finished very well with sutures. You may intubate any one among us, I believe.
Wyle: I’ve by no means carried out one.
Isaacs: The evening is younger.
Wyle: I want everyone a possibility to slide into a job that you’ve such nice muscle reminiscence with from one other facet of your life whenever you play a musician or whenever you do circusing or no matter. Once you do one thing you’ve finished for thus lengthy, and then you definitely get to do it once more, it’s simply superb how a lot it’s in your physique and the way you don’t have to fret about that stuff. There was a second earlier the place Sterling choked on the grape within the greenroom. I used to be so able to intubate him, even when it wasn’t mandatory.
Thornton: I went to air-traffic management faculty for “Pushing Tin,” so I can nonetheless say, “Delta 2376, turn left, 20-0-4-0” and “Clear the Alice approach one-four right, call the tower one-eight-three,” since you simply don’t neglect it. That’s not air-traffic management, that’s only a line. With Noah, he learns this talent that he has been doing through the years, and that form of data is invaluable. Anytime you’ve got stuff to do, with out simply appearing, such as you’re doing busy work — you’re, like, right here’s the way you do an appendectomy — and also you be taught and whenever you’re choosing up the best instruments, you’re saying the best stuff, you’re making incisions — that stuff you’ve obtained to be taught.
Isaacs: One of many nice privileges of being an actor that possibly doesn’t present up onscreen is you get to stroll in individuals’s sneakers. I shadowed coronary heart surgeons and plastic surgeons and politicians and criminals and troopers, and it’s simply an incredible privilege to be in individuals’s lives and speak about it. And there could also be some tiny bit you choose up for the display.
