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Screen Talk Emmy Edition 2018: Black Mirror, Versace Lead Longform Races (Episode 9)

IndieWire’s Screen Talk podcast brings back its bonus Emmy edition as this year’s race heats up. This week, IndieWire editor-at-large Anne Thompson and executive editor Michael Schneider look at the key limited series and TV movie categories. | 1 August 2018

Which of Ryan Murphy’s Emmy-nominated actors is most likely to win? [POLL]

Since 2012, no one has dominated the limited series/TV movie acting categories at the Emmys like Ryan Murphy — not Murphy himself, but his actors. Thanks to his various anthology series “American Horror Story,” “American Crime Story,” Feud: Bette and Joan” and the HBO film “The Normal Heart,” Murphy has netted 47 nominations for his stars, producing seven victories. This year he has eight actors nominated — his highest tally since 2014, when he got nominations for 11 stars — but who is the most likely of them to win?

Murphy’s actors’ nominations are spread between two shows: “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” and “American Horror Story: Cult,” with the former getting four and the latter scoring two. “Versace” leading man Darren Criss has been sitting atop our predictions since the nomination phase for his chilling turn as serial killer Andrew Cunanan and currently holds an 8/15-odd edge over his next closest rival, “Patrick Melrose” star Benedict Cumberbatch, who won in 2014 for “Sherlock: His Last Vow.” At 31, Criss would have to overcome age bias to become the second youngest winner in the category.

After getting boxed out last year thanks to the “Big Little Lies” and “Feud” ladies, Sarah Paulson is back in the lead actress race for “American Horror Story: Cult.” This is her fifth nomination for an “AHS” season, but the 2016 champ, for “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” will likely have to wait for her first “AHS” win: She’s in fifth place in our predictions, which have Laura Dern (“The Tale”) at No. 1.

Murphy reaped three slots in supporting actor, just one shy of the four he nabbed in 2014 for his stars from “The Normal Heart” and the same amount “O.J.” got in 2016. Sterling K. Brown defeated his “O.J.” co-stars David Schwimmer and John Travolta that year, but our odds are forecasting triple losses for “Versace” players Ricky Martin, Edgar Ramirez and Finn Wittrock to Jeff Daniels(“Godless”), who is also nominated in lead for “The Looming Tower.” Of the three, Ramirez has the advantage of playing the title character, even if the show was ultimately not about the slain fashion designer, and the most screen time. But unlike Brown, who was an undeniable breakout on “O.J.,” the praise for Ramirez — and “Versace” in general — is comparably muted.

Supporting actress is the only category in which both of Murphy’s shows collide; “Versace” stars Penelope Cruz and Judith Light, and “AHS” star Adina Porter are up. Porter, who’s in seventh place in our odds, feels like one of those “happy to be here” bids, while our pundits are split between Cruz and Light. Cruz, who nailed Donatella Versace’s accent, has the benefit of being an Oscar-winning movie star, but Light has the more acclaimed performance, breaking our hearts as the Marilyn Miglin, the widow of one of Cunanan’s victims, Lee Miglin. She’s also more “due” when it comes to the Emmys, having lost her previous three nominations; Cruz is on her first nomination.

Which of Ryan Murphy’s Emmy-nominated actors is most likely to win? [POLL]

LOS ANGELES, CA – JULY 31: Actor Ricky Martin attends SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations screening of ‘The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story’ at SAG-AFTRA Foundation Screening Room on July 31, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Vincent Sandoval/Getty Images)