If any actor on a freshman drama seemed a lock for an Emmy nomination, it was Keri Russell for her work as Soviet agent Elizabeth on FX’s ’80s-set “The Americans.”
Sexy, tough, and committed to the cause, Elizabeth started the series as a true believer, while her fellow agent and husband, Philip, was more ambivalent. But as the season progressed and Elizabeth suffered betrayals both big and small that first pushed her closer to Philip and then tore them apart, Russell’s work became electric and heartbreaking.
When the Emmy nominations were announced, Russell’s name was left out.
So it is surprising when she brings them up while discussing her new romantic comedy “Austenland.” More surprising is that she brings it up in reference to the lack of a nom for her co-star, Matthew Rhys.
“He’s so crazy good in it,” she says, still shocked. “I can’t believe he didn’t get nominated!”
Emboldened by her introduction of the topic, we submit that she did some pretty crazy good work herself. She looks at us as if we’re just crazy.
“Seriously, I have, like, long hair and some eyeliner,” she says. “But it’s crazy what he does.”
When Rhys is informed of this over the phone later, he verbally rolls his eyes. “She does everything in her utmost power to deflect attention away from herself,” he says from England. “She is genuinely modest and humble. But you get to the point where someone that talented, you want to go, ‘Shut up.’ ” More seriously, Rhys calls her “everything you’d want in a leading lady” and adds, “I’ve never heard her complain, the entire six months, even when she was beaten black and blue. She leads from the very top. She sets the pace, the standards, and the on-set decorum. But she does have great moments of irreverence, and she enjoys a glass of wine—sometimes at the wrong time of the day, so you know she’s human.” Continue reading Keri Russell Dons a Corset for New Movie ‘Austenland’
