Kyle Chandler's Cinderella Emmy Story
Friday Night Lights, Kyle Chandler
"How 'bout that?" says an overjoyed lead actor in a drama nominee Kyle Chandler, calling from Texas, where he's filming Friday Night Lights. "When I found out this morning, my daughter Katherine said, 'You got nominated!' I was trying to sleep so I didn't know what she was doing. But when it dawned on me, the first thing I said was, 'Did Connie [Britton] get nominated?' When she said yes, that was the icing on the cake that made it all real."
Like Britton, it has been emotional for Chandler to shoot the fifth and final season's last episodes. Just two hours remain to be shot. "I'm directing episode 12, so I was director and actor yesterday. It's been a great experience and they haven't fired me yet. This nomination feels like a Friday Night Lights moment. It couldn't have been written better. Today Zach Gilford, Adrianne Palicki and Grandma Saracen will all be there. Yesterday we had Taylor Kitsch. I can't wait to walk on the set today and say, 'Congratulations.'"
With this Emmy love, is it possible the show could live to see a sixth season? Chandler just laughs. "This show has been reincarnated so many times, there's no telling if it could have one more gasp of air. But I think this is the end, and there's no better way to exit the stage. It's a true Cinderella story." Like his character, Chandler too is doing some soul searching about where his life will go. "You always do that at the end of every project. You sit back, take a deep breath and then get to recreate yourself as someone new."
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