‘Morning Show’ Star Mark Duplass on Voting for Jennifer Aniston or Reese Witherspoon for the 2024 Emmys: It Was a ‘Sophie’s Choice’
Even though Mark Duplass is up for an Emmy on Sunday for his work as Chip on “The Morning Show,” he admits he’s not preparing an acceptance speech ahead of the big night.
“But I do have a tuxedo,” he told me Friday night at the Television Academy’s Performer Nominee Celebration at the Wallis in Beverly Hills. “I’m excited about my tuxedo.”
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Then he cracked, “Have you see ‘Dumb and Dumber?’”
Duplass, who has never been shy about talking about his mental health issues, also revealed his Emmy morning plans to alleviate potential social anxiety he may experience at the awards show.
“I’ll go to the gym and work out and try and get my social anxiety jitters out,” he said. “I’m an elliptical guy. I used to be a runner, but I’m 47 now. Nothing can give you that runners high, but I want to keep my knees. I need my endorphins and the elliptical gives it to me. I like a four-mile, 36-minute ride with intervals. I can get pretty much get everything I need at that point. Then I go and walk and do my phone calls. It gets me to about 15,000 steps.”
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“The Morning Show” is up for 16 nominations, including best actress in a drama series nods for Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. Duplass called deciding which co-star to vote for a “Sophie’s choice.”
“But, yes, I made a choice,” he said, laughing when asked to reveal who he voted for.
Duplass is hoping his second acting Emmy nom — he was also nominated in 2020 for “The Morning Show” — will attract more attention to his independent projects. “It’s cool, but I’ve divorced myself from the need to be nominated,” he said. “I’ve gone to therapy. I’m a good boy. But when you get it, you realize, ‘Oh, there’s still a bit of an ego in there and it feels nice to be stroked.’
“And then the pragmatic side of me is like, ‘Oh, maybe this will open more roles for me. Maybe this means I can cast myself in my own independent projects and they’ll sell for more and more people will see them because of this,’” he continued. “It’s like a whole eco-system for me.”
The Emmys airs on ABC on Sunday starting at 5 p.m. PT.
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