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“The Old Man” pits two screen icons — Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow — against each other. Alia Shawkat manages the near impossible and holds her own against those two titans of acting in this FX drama series. Bridges is Dan Chase, a retired CIA agent living off-grid, who is forced to go on the run after killing an intruder who breaks into his home. Chase is hunted down by Lithgow’s FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence, Harold Harper while Shawkat plays Harper’s protégé, FBI agent Angela Adams.
It’s a cliche to write “as you’ve never seen them before” but, here, it applies. Shawkat loses her trademark wit and knowing humor and instead plays Adams with straight-laced sincerity and an unwavering, serious commitment to the task at hand. Shawkat is all business here and it’s a treat to watch her try her hand (and succeed!) at something else entirely, as critics have picked up on.
Wenlei Ma (News.com.au) observed: “Alia Shawkat is really strong as Harold’s protégé Angela, especially when more of her motivations are revealed in subsequent episodes. It’s a more restrained performance from the young actor whose best-known roles (‘Arrested Development,’ ‘Search Party’) have called on her to make bigger choices than the ones here.”
Amanda Whiting (The Independent) explained that Shawkat was one of the most “compelling” things about this show, writing that Shawkat subverts audiences’ expectations with her serious performance: “…compelling in his role, as are Alia Shawkat as Harold’s stone-faced protegee and EJ Bonilla as an agent who threatens to unearth Harold’s secrets.”
And James White (Empire) claimed that Shawkat was able to more than hold her own against the likes of superstar veterans like Lithgow and Bridges. He wrote: “Harper’s protégé Angela Adams (Alia Shawkat), who’s all spiky wit and sarcasm. Bridges is handed the chewiest material (and all the action), but Lithgow and Shawkat are right there with him.”
However, despite the enthusiastic reception towards Shawkat’s performance, she remains outside of our predicted eight nominees for Best Drama Supporting Actress: Carol Burnett (“Better Call Saul”), Meghann Fahy (“The White Lotus”), Christina Ricci (“Yellowjackets”), J. Smith-Cameron (“Succession”), Aubrey Plaza (“The White Lotus”), Elizabeth Debicki (“The Crown”), Rhea Seehorn (“Yellowjackets”), and Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus”). However, Shawkat could still crack this list.
Shawkat could be caught up in a sweep if the show proves popular enough with voters, which we think it may well do. Currently, we predict that “The Old Man” will be nominated for Best Drama Actor for Bridges and Best Drama Supporting Actor for Lithgow while it is also on the precipice of a Best Drama Series nomination and a Best Drama Guest Actor bid for Joel Grey. Shawkat could get swept along for the ride, which has happened many times before. Several “Succession” players benefitted from this phenomenon last year — Smith-Cameron was nominated alongside Sarah Snook in this category, while Harriet Walter, Sanaa Lathan, and Hope Davis were all also nominated for Drama Guest Actress. And Lee Yoo-mi won Best Drama Guest Actress in 2022 after being taken along with the uber-successful “Squid Game.” Shawkat could be a beneficiary of this trend here.
What will be more impressive to voters, however, is Shawkat’s performance itself. Usually, Shawkat is known for her witty, more humorous roles. But here, she dials that down and plays it more straight-laced. This proves her versatility — and voters respect that. Previously, Emmy voters have nominated several performers for playing against type. Jennifer Aniston was nominated for her dramatic role in “The Morning Show” in 2020 (losing to Zendaya for “Euphoria”) after previously being best known for more comedic turns. Walter earned a Best Comedy Guest Actress bid last year for “Ted Lasso” (losing to Laurie Metcalf for “Hacks”) after being known as a more dramatic actress. And the same goes for Fiona Shaw, who was nominated in the same category in 2019 for “Fleabag” (losing to Jane Lynch for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”). Again, Shawkat could be the latest star to receive some Emmys love for subverting expectations and playing against type.
If she did, she would earn her first-ever nomination Emmy. Voters have a record of handing out first nominations to stars, particularly in this category. Last year, Sydney Sweeney received her first Emy bid in this category for “Euphoria” (she was also nominated for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actress for “The White Lotus,” but in the same year), Smith-Cameron picked up her first-ever bid (for “Succession”), Seehorn was nominated for “Better Call Saul” (she was also nominated in the same year for Best Short Form Comedy/Drama Actress for “Cooper’s Bar”), and HoYeon Jung was nominated for “Squid Game.” That’s four out of eight nominations that went to first-time nominees. This often happens in this category, so if it happens again this year, Shawkat could reap those rewards. Let’s see.
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