Matt Mitovich interviews Recount's Bob Balaban on the red carpet at the Emmy Awards 2008. watch
Cheers to John Hurt for reminding us of his talent with a pair of Memorial Day weekend roles. The versatile British actor can be seen as demented professor "Ox" Oxley in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and as buttoned-down ex-Secretary of State Warren Christopher in HBO's Recount (opposite another gifted Englishman, Tom Wilkinson, as Republican counterpart James Baker). Hurt has always moved easily between small and big screens, making his name on TV as Quentin Crisip in The Naked Civil Servant and Caligula in I, Claudius before earning Oscar nominations for Midnight Express and The Elephant Man. If he wins an Emmy for his stellar HBO work, there'll be no need for a recount.• Share your own raves and rants about other shows on the Reader Cheers & Jeers discussion board.• We may feature your Cheer or Jeer on TVGuide.com or in TV Guide magazine!read more
She helped Ellen's alter ego come out on TV, inspired David Lynch and earned an Oscar nod for Rambling Rose. Tonight in Recount (9 pm/ET, HBO), Laura Dern does her civic duty playing Katherine Harris, the former Secretary of State of Florida who many feel helped turn 2000's Gore-vs.-Bush election into a debacle of questionable ethics, butterfly ballots and hanging chads.
TV Guide: So Katherine Harris was sort of a mess, huh?Laura Dern: Oh, she's a mess. When we heard that the woman making the [recount decisions] was — by the way — cochair of the Bush for President campaign, it's amazing America didn't go "Wait a minute!" [Laughs]
TV Guide: How is it playing someone who was known as "the Body"?Dern: [Laughs] It's always interesting playing somebody who can become the coread more
