The crowd at the Emmy Awards is filled with many of the same faces every year — the result of popular television series getting renewed over and over. But there are always a few people on the red carpet who make you say… who? Leading up to Sunday’s Emmy telecast, we’ll be talking to first-timers and other nominated actors who might not be as familiar to viewers as the Alec Baldwins, Sally Fields and William Shatners of the world.
Cherry Jones is a familiar face to theatergoers. A multiple Tony winner, she is perhaps best known for originating the role of the imperious Sister Aloysius in John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt” in 2004.
But since becoming President Allison Taylor on “24” last year, Ms. Jones has been exposed to a vast new audience. In March, for example, a group of college students asked to take a picture with her at the Clinton presidential library in Little Rock, Ark., “I asked where they were from and they said, ‘Rwanda,’” she said, her easy drawl a remnant of her upbringing in Paris, Tenn., where she still spends plenty of time. “Their children’s children will know of Jack Bauer.”
In July, the role netted Ms. Jones her first Emmy nomination. She called recently from Los Angeles where she is shooting the next season of “24,” which begins on Fox in January.
Congratulations on the nomination.
It was the most unlikely thing in the world. I didn’t know they were coming up, the nominations. I thought when I was getting calls from my hometown that it was people who’d heard that I was coming home for this big fish dinner we were having. [Laughs]
How was the fish dinner?
It was fantastic!
So what was your reaction when you discovered they were calling because you’d been nominated for an Emmy?
Well, I really truly just giggled a lot. My world is theater and I’ve been nominated a handful of times for Tonys and that’s always been kind of wonderful and surprising. But it’s sort of what I do for a living. The Emmys to me — even though I’ve been on the show for two seasons, I still feel like a bit of impostor who just snuck into town and is pretending to be a television actor.
What was the biggest adjustment you’ve had to make to acting on television after years on the stage?
Honestly, the biggest adjustment was just that I could start over. ‘That was a take. Do it again.’ [Laughs] The first few months I would sort of push through something when I would see other people around me stop and begin again. I just could not bring myself to do that, just because I’m like a farm animal, you know? I’ve been trained to keep going.
You’ve said you never watched “24” before you joined the series. Do you consider yourself a fan of the show now?
Completely I’m such fan! I never, ever thought I would do anything that was violent; I just hated violent things. And when I got the call to come meet [“24” creator] Joel Surnow and the gang out there I thought, ‘Well this just isn’t going to work.’ And then I rented the first season and watched the first couple of episodes and I was riveted. I loved it! And I thought, ‘Well it would be hypocritical of me to turn down something I love.’
Of course, some of the violence I just loathe. They made certain choices, certainly last season, that I wish they hadn’t made in terms of violence that I thought tipped over into really gratuitous, grotesque violence. At least my president was firmly against torture.
You’ve said that your Allison Taylor character is a combination of Eleanor Roosevelt, Golda Meir and John Wayne—
It’s half a joke but there’s a little bit of truth to it.
How do those influences figure into your performance?
I throw John Wayne in to add a little testosterone to the mix of Golda and Eleanor, although you could argue that with Golda, you don’t need any testosterone thrown in — she was so tough. The compassion and the brilliance of Eleanor Roosevelt. I’m a huge Eleanor Roosevelt fan so I always have to throw a little Eleanor into anything I do.
You’re actually playing her in an upcoming film…
I’m playing her for two seconds in the Mira Nair film about Amelia Earhart [“Amelia”]. I have a little Eleanor cameo. In fact, I had a great thrill one day: I worked all day long on a Monday on “24” playing the president. Then I got on a red eye to Toronto and arrived early in the morning and went right to the set and I shot Eleanor Roosevelt all day. So within 24 hours I played both the president and the first lady! [Laughs]
Who has been your favorite fictional president of the United States?
Well, I mean I did love President Bartlet [from “West Wing”]. I mean c’mon, Martin Sheen? It was like having a Kennedy in the White House again.
In fact, I’ve been staying at [“West Wing” star] Allison Janney’s house in California while she’s been in New York doing “9 to 5.” I joked the other day that I probably got this Emmy nomination because I’m surrounded by so many Emmys here at Allison’s. I mean, they’re growing on the trees here! She’s got them discreetly tucked away but I found them. [Laughs]
Dennis Haysbert portrayed a popular African-American president in the early seasons of “24” and now, a few years later, we have Barack Obama. Do you ever think that you may be laying a foundation for the nation’s first female president?
You know, I think that’s happened. I think this last election year, but for a man named Barack Obama, I do believe that Hillary Clinton would be our president right now.
Are you going to the Emmy Awards?
Source Link: NYTimes.com
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