As many of those interested will surely know, the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were handed out to their respective winners last night. Unfortunately, Big Love won neither Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series nor Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for which the show was nominated, nor did any of the cast members attend the award show itself. So a bummer all around.

It’s not all bad news, however, as Big Love stars Chloë Sevigny and Bill Paxton did appear at the Emmys HBO After Party later that evening, a couple of pictures of which have been uploaded to the gallery. Here’s also a video clip from the event with a glimpse of Chloë:

Update Aug 31: More than 50 new medium- and hi-res photo additions from this event have been uploaded to the gallery. Chloë wore a leopard-print Lanvin Pre-Fall 2010 dress paired with black Christian Louboutin booties.

New Photo Albums:

• Appearances in 2010 > 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards HBO After Party on Aug 29

Check out this very interesting and insightful interview from Inquirer.net with Big Love stars Chloë Sevigny, Ginnifer Goodwin, Bill Paxton and Jeanne Tripplehorn, as well as the show’s creator Will Scheffer. The five talk among other things about the future of the show and how e.g. Scheffer pictures the show’s ultimate conclusion, the Season 5 opener, the public reactions they’ve gotten regarding the show, the tabloids and their thoughts on what they sometimes find on the internet. Season 5 has just begun filming, so this is likely to be a relatively quiet summer and fall for us Chloë-fans, news-wise. Full article under the cut.

LOS ANGELES—When we recently interviewed the two wives of a senator, the resulting conversation was amusing and uninhibited. We also talked to the senator and his third wife together—our chat was just as interesting, but nothing can top the banter between two women married to the same guy while he was not around.

These polygamists are Bill Henrickson, Barb Henrickson, Nicki Grant and Margene Heffman, also known as the characters played respectively by Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin on HBO’s Big Love.

Chloë and Ginnifer together were a hoot, as they dished on their polygamous TV family, their what-were-they-thinking paparazzi shots and what overzealous fans of the series tell them. Bill and Jeanne were more circumspect. In both interviews, Will Scheffer, the show’s cocreator, cowriter and coproducer, sat on the side and gave comments.

Below are excerpts of our laughter-punctuated interviews, held a day before they began filming the fifth season:

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Fresh photos! Last Monday, July 12, Chloë Sevigny attended the Big Love Beverly Hills Press Conference with co-stars Bill Paxton, Ginnifer Goodwin and Jeanne Tripplehorn in BH, California. As many of you will know, HBO’s Big Love is currently on hiatus pending a fifth season. Check out the first 11 pictures of Chloë at the conference at our gallery; as always, we’ll keep our eyes peeled for more.

New Photo Albums:

• Appearances in 2010 > ‘Big Love’ Beverly Hills Press Conference on Jul 12

The 2010 Primetime Emmy nominations have been revealed; unfortunately Chloë Sevigny is not among them. Despite having won a Golden Globe for her last year’s portrayal of Nicolette “Nicki” Grant on HBO’s Big Love earlier this year, Chloë was not able to land an Emmy nomination this year either, nor were the other acclaimed regular cast members of the show.

Big Love, the series itself, on the other hand, was able to nab a couple of noms, and is up for an Emmy in the following categories; from Emmys.com:

Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series
• Big Love (HBO)
• Dexter (Showtime)
• Friday Night Lights (DirecTV)
• The Good Wife (CBS)
• Mad Men (AMC)
• True Blood (HBO)

Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series
• Big Love, “The Mighty And The Strong” – Mary Kay Place as Adaleen Grant
• Big Love, “End Of Days” – Sissy Spacek as Marilyn Densham
• The Cleaner, “Does Everybody Have A Drink?” – Shirley Jones as Lola Zellman
• Damages, “Your Secrets Are Safe” – Lily Tomlin as Marilyn Tobin
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, “Bedtime” – Ann-Margret as Rita Wills
• Lost, “The End” – Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet Burke

Congratulations to Mary Kay Place and Sissy Spacek for their well-deserved nominations! Anyone else feel like using the word ’snub’ with emphasis regarding Chloë, though? Again. How very boring.

As you can see, it’s been a quiet week news-wise. Here’s a small related article, however, that may be of interest to Big Love fans.

As many of you will surely remember, a couple of months ago Chloë Sevigny made headlines when she was cited in an online interview with The A.V. Club as having described the most recent season of Big Love as “awful”. As a result of the media frenzy that followed it, she later quickly retracted her comments in a statement/apology to Michael Ausiello @ Entertainment Weekly.

Although the fuss has long since died down, the subject was apparently brought up again in a recent Los Angeles Times interview with Chloë’s Big Love co-star Amanda Seyfried (aka. “Sarah”), who had the following thoughts to share on the incident:

And what does she have to say about her former cast mate Chloë Sevigny, who notoriously called the show’s fourth season “awful” and “very telenovela”?

“Oh, gosh,” she sighed. “We all make mistakes like that and say things that people take out of context. She was probably saying, ‘Oh, that’s awful,’ because she was probably envisioning herself on the show and saying how bad she thought she was. I don’t think she was saying anything bad about the show itself.”

As far as the 24-year-old is aware, Sevigny didn’t burn any bridges by making the remark.

“As long as she ties it up and calls everybody and apologizes for whatever she did, everybody’s cool,” Seyfried said. “She and the writers are all good. It’s not a big deal. I just felt so bad for her because I was like, ‘Ahh, it’s so easy to be in that situation.’ ”

Seyfried, who left the show as a series regular at the end of Season 4, also talks about why she departed from the show and hints at likely upcoming guest appearances.

Looks like that A.V. Club interview is causing quite an unexpected stir in the media!

Yesterday, we posted a link to the A.V.Club interview with Chloë Sevigny that’s been making big headlines in the press lately. The ruckus that followed the publication of the interview has to do with Chloë’s critical view on the colorful fourth season of HBO’s Big Love, the star of which she is alongside Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Ginnifer Goodwin, which she expressed accordingly in the interview.

The relevant interview excerpts from AVClub.com:

The A.V. Club: This past season of Big Love has taken a lot of flak for being so over-the-top.
Chloë Sevigny: It was awful this season, as far as I’m concerned. I’m not allowed to say that! [Gasps.] It was very telenovela. I feel like it kind of got away from itself. The whole political campaign seemed to me very farfetched. I mean, I love the show, I love my character, I love the writing, but I felt like they were really pushing it this last season. And with nine episodes, I think they were just squishing too much in. HBO only gave us nine Sundays, because they have so much other original programming—especially with The Pacific—and they only have a certain amount of Sundays per year, so we only got nine Sundays. I think that they had more story than episodes. I think that’s what happened.

[...] Me and the girls [Jeanne Tripplehorn and Ginnifer Goodwin] definitely were not very happy with where it was going—or more kind of, “We really hope it’s going to work. It seems like they’re really pushing it.” I think next season, they’re going to go back to more just the family. I think that the stuff with Ben and Lois and that stuff was really great in Mexico, but… [Laughs.]

[...] AVC: Like how J.J.’s trying to inject her with an incest baby?
CS: Oh God, I know. Oh, God. It’s too much. It’s too much. But I hope the fans will stick with us and tune in next year. There’s a lot of people who really love this season, surprisingly. God, I’m going to get in so much trouble. [Laughs.]

Since the interview was published a few days ago, a ton(!) of press outlets have picked up and flagged the above comments, causing such an uproar in the media that it has prompted both the HBO and Chloë to react (and retract). First, the HBO issued this official statement via Entertainment Weekly:

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Here’s an interview that’s been making headlines lately!

Chloë Sevigny recently talked about her most recent work, including Barry Munday and Big Love, to The A.V. Club, the interview which is now available on their website. What many press and gossip outlets have found noteworthy about this interview, however, is the honest criticism Chloë directs towards the fourth season of Big Love, which wrapped up a couple of weeks ago. As most of you will know, Chloë recently won a Golden Globe for her role of Nicolette “Nicki” Grant on the show.

Although the full interview a AVClub.com is definitely worth a read as well, here’s the excerpt that’s been making the news these past few days:

AVC: This past season of Big Love has taken a lot of flak for being so over-the-top.
CS: It was awful this season, as far as I’m concerned. I’m not allowed to say that! [Gasps.] It was very telenovela. I feel like it kind of got away from itself. The whole political campaign seemed to me very farfetched. I mean, I love the show, I love my character, I love the writing, but I felt like they were really pushing it this last season. And with nine episodes, I think they were just squishing too much in. HBO only gave us nine Sundays, because they have so much other original programming—especially with The Pacific—and they only have a certain amount of Sundays per year, so we only got nine Sundays. I think that they had more story than episodes. I think that’s what happened.

AVC: It sort of became like Mormon Dynasty.
CS: [Laughs.] I know, I know. I’ve heard a lot of other things like that.

AVC: What was it like when they first laid out what they wanted to accomplish this season? What was your reaction?
CS: They don’t. We only get it episode to episode. We never know what’s going to happen in the next episode until we’re almost finished shooting the one we’re shooting at present. Me and the girls [Jeanne Tripplehorn and Ginnifer Goodwin] definitely were not very happy with where it was going—or more kind of, “We really hope it’s going to work. It seems like they’re really pushing it.” I think next season, they’re going to go back to more just the family. I think that the stuff with Ben and Lois and that stuff was really great in Mexico, but… [Laughs.]

AVC: A part of the show’s initial appeal was how it at least tried to stay grounded in some semblance of reality. Now that it’s gotten away from that, how do you keep things from turning into self-parody?
CS: I guess I just focus on it from scene to scene. Like, “Why is she behaving like this in this scene?” She’s a very particular, peculiar character, when you think of her circumstances. And this season, she was going through an adolescence that she never had, acting out, and vicariously living through her daughter, and realizing stuff she missed out on, and trying to find herself with the different looks. I think it was a very complicated season for her. And you know, the whole relationship with the daughter, and then J.J. [Laughs.] There’s always so much going on.

AVC: Like how J.J.’s trying to inject her with an incest baby?
CS: Oh God, I know. Oh, God. It’s too much. It’s too much. But I hope the fans will stick with us and tune in next year. There’s a lot of people who really love this season, surprisingly. God, I’m going to get in so much trouble. [Laughs.]

AVC: Even before this season, Nicki has seemed like a really difficult character to play, because her behavior is always being influenced by other men, and what she wants tends to fluctuate. How does that affect your motivation?
CS: I mean, there’s not much I can do. It is how it’s written, and I have to work it out and figure out why she’s doing the things she is. The creators are very articulate, and they help us a lot. If we have questions, like “Why? What’s the motivation?” they can like [Snaps her fingers.] in a second tell you, and it makes complete sense. I don’t know if you’ve watched any of their post-show interviews, but they’re really bright men, and they make it all make sense in your head. I just try to think how she would react in a particular circumstance. I think like, going to D.C., she brought the gun because she read about D.C., and she thought it was the most violent town in America—which it is, one of the most violent cities in America. [Laughs.] Her having the gun doesn’t seem that farfetched to me.

Well, I for one loved my weekly dose of Mormon Dynasty this season! So much fun. (Right up until the crazy finale anyway.)

Another interview from last weekend’s SXSW screenings!

Another movie blog that caught up with Chloë Sevigny at the SXSW 2010 Festival last weekend was CinemaBlend, from which the resulting article is now available for reading online. In the interview, Chloë talks in particularly great depth about working on Barry Munday and her character Jennifer Farley, but although some of it is stuff we’ve already read in previous SXSW interviews, there’s a lot of new insight here into the character and how Chloë portrayed her. She also relates working on a film to working on Big Love in an interesting way as well as talks about the downsides to working on a TV series.

Read the article in full at CinemaBlend.com; excerpts follow:

Chloe Sevigny has certainly made her mark on Hollywood, from controversial turns in Boys Don’t Cry and The Brown Bunny to her continuing role as polygamist wife Nicolette on HBO’s Big Love. One thing she hasn’t done much of is straight-up comedy, an oversight she is looking to correct with her role in Barry Munday. Sevigny appears as Jennifer Farley, the overly flirty, golden-child sister to Judy Greer’s Ginger. While she only spent a week or so shooting her part, Sevigny gives it her all, playing under-the-table footsie with Patrick Wilson’s Barry during an awkward family dinner, working a stripper pole as a dancer who may or may not be Jennifer, and selling the affection for Ginger that hides underneath their continuous sniping and name-calling. During the Barry Munday press junket at SXSW, Chloe sat down with us to talk about the challenges of making your mark with a little screen time, the differences between feature and series work, and why Judy Greer should star in every Hollywood movie.

[...] How did you approach the character once you’d decided to take the role?
I mean, she’s a supporting character, a small part in the film, but I just tried to figure out what her relationship with the other people was in the film, with her father and with Judy’s character. You just have fun with it and try to react how you think the character would react to the scenes.

How much freedom did you guys have as far as ad-libbing? Was it pretty straight off the script?
It was pretty straight. I think Patrick and Judy did a lot of that, but for most of us it was pretty straight off the script. Most of it was shot with pretty static wide shots, and it was pretty true.

Was there anything in the film or your performance that you thought worked better than you had anticipated?
Oh, I thought everything was terrible. I thought I was terrible. [laughs] I feel like I could have been bigger, I could have been broader. I tend to, in film, kind of play things smaller.

I thought that worked, though. Even when you were playing the broader moments, you still had the more subtle stuff going on as well.
I was really nervous, and I wish I had been more confident. When I watch my performance I can see I’m holding back. I wish I had been more at ease. I’ve been shooting Big Love for so long, this is the first film I’ve done in a while, so I was getting out of that comfort zone and I feel like I was a little shook up.

[...] Do you think you’ll want to do more series work after Big Love wraps up?
No, it’s too grueling. If we shot in New York I wouldn’t be opposed to it, but we shoot in Los Angeles, and I live in New York. It’s really hard to be uprooted for six months, and I miss home a lot. I’d prefer to go back to film.

How is it different preparing for a series role that’s day in, day out, as opposed to something like this where you have so little time involved?
I think it’s just a lot more pressure to make the scenes work when you’re doing a film, because when you’re doing a series you feel like, I have so many scenes, so many episodes, so if I don’t get it exactly right this time, I have another scene later. You feel less pressure. And of course I’ve been playing the character for so long, I feel very comfortable. There’s so much to feed on and so much backstory and so much true-life experience to draw upon from other people’s eyes. There’s just so much information about the character and the people who live these lifestyles, so much to draw on. I find it much more difficult to play a supporting part like in this film. It’s much more of a challenge to portray and to feel like you’re bringing something.

We’ve found another interesting article today from last Saturday’s Barry Munday World Premiere from the ongoing SXSW 2010 festival in Austin, Texas.

HollywoodNews.com has an interesting piece on the film up on their website, with some new comments from the festival screening of the film from Chloë Sevigny and director Chris D’Arienzo regarding Chloë’s supporting role in the comedy as Jennifer Farley. According to the website, the film is currently seeking distribution.

Read the article in full at HollywoodNews.com; extract follows:

“I still don’t think I’m that comedic in this film,” Chloe Sevigny said with a laugh.

That’s not exactly what you want to hear from the star of a comedy. But Sevigny, in all honesty, might be the sixth or seventh funniest person in the all-star Barry Munday ensemble, which includes Judy Greer, Cybill Shepherd, Patrick Wilson, Malcolm McDowell, Missi Pyle, Colin Hanks, Christopher MacDonald, Kyle Gass, Jean Smart and Lando Calrissian himself, Mr. Billy Dee Williams.

And she’d be the first to admit that. “It was very challenging and very intimidating, especially because (co-stars Wilson and Greer) were so funny,” said Sevigny, an Oscar nominee and recent Golden Globe winner for her role on HBO’s Big Love. “I’ve been playing this character, Nicolette, (on Big Love) for so long that I’m so comfortable there. I hadn’t been doing a lot of films because of the schedule with HBO that then when I work on a film like Barry Munday, I am just terrified to be out of my comfort zone. I’m just, like, so scared!”

She overcame her fear to play Jennifer, the beautiful and flirtatious sister of Greer’s homely character, Ginger, in Chris D’Arienzo’s comedy. “For me, Ginger’s sister, Jennifer, needed to be the coolest person. And I was like, ‘Well, who is the coolest person?’ It’s Chloe,” said D’Arienzo.

But Sevigny was hesitant, even though she adored D’Arienzo’s screenplay about a woefully injured man (Wilson) who can’t remember impregnating a geeky woman (Greer). “I have never been in a kind of straight up comedy before,” Sevigny said. “But it’s something that I have been attracted to and have wanted to do for a long time, but haven’t had that many opportunities presented to me. When this one came around, I just jumped at the opportunity.”

I love the way Chloë always talks about her role on Big Love in this sort of introductory way, as if thinking no one’s ever heard of it… So cute and unassuming!

“When I thought I couldn’t have children, I thought Heavenly Father had forsaken me. Because of some things that had happened. Things I’d done.”
- Nicolette “Nicki” Grant

Our final recap of the season! Hopefully, y’all were able to tune in last Sunday to the exciting Season 4 finale of Big Love, the critically acclaimed HBO polygamist drama series starring Chloë Sevigny opposite Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Ginnifer Goodwin. Here’s our recap of episode 4.09 “End of Days”, concluding the series’ fourth season; more under the cut (and please mouseover to read). As most of you will know, Big Love has been renewed for a fifth season. The recap:

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