Andrew Garfield has been nominated for an Emmy for his performance as a fictional Mormon in a miniseries about real Utah murders.
Garfield — perhaps best known for his portrayal of Spider-Man — starred in FX on Hulu’s “Under the Banner of Heaven,” a seven-part series about the brutal 1984 murders of Brenda Lafferty and her 15-month-old daughter, Erica. His character, detective Jeb Pyre, was a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when the narrative began, but he lost his faith during the course of the investigation into the killings and the killers, Dan and Ron Lafferty.
“I think that’s a really beautiful, sensitive portrayal of this … kind of everyman, modern Mormon family,” Garfield said at an event in Salt Lake City just before the miniseries began streaming. “And I can’t imagine anyone being upset by that aspect of the show, personally.”
“Oh, get ready,” interjected creator/writer/executive producer/director Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”). And, indeed, “Under the Banner of Heaven” was criticized by many Latter-day Saints.
Voters in the Television Academy made Garfield one of six nominees as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. He’ll compete with Colin Firth (“The Staircase,” HBO); Oscar Isaac (“Scenes from a Marriage,” HBO); Michael Keaton (“Dopesick,” Hulu); Himesh Patel (“Station Eleven,” HBO); and Sebastian Stan (“Pam & Tommy,” Hulu).
It’s Garfield’s first Emmy nomination. He has been nominated for two Oscars — for his performances in “Hacksaw Ridge” in 2016, and for his performance in “tick, tick … BOOM!” in 2021.
Garfield’s nomination was the only one for “Under the Banner of Heaven.” A few shows dominated: HBO’s “Succession” has 25 nominations, the most of any series; “Ted Lasso” (Apple TV+) and “The White Lotus” (HBO) each received 20 nominations; “Hacks” (HBO) and “Only Murders In the Building” (Hulu) each received 17 nominations.
A couple of other Utahns were also nominated for Emmys:
This image released by Etsy shows Tan France during a portrait session on Aug. 24, 2020 in Los Angeles for his Etsy collection, launching Monday, Sept. 14. ( Jack Strutz /Etsy via AP)
• Tan France is up for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program, along with his “Queer Eye” co-stars Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Antoni Prowski and Jonathan Van Ness. They were nominated in the same category in 2020 and 2021.
This year’s other nominees in the category are Nicole Byer of “Nailed It!” (Netflix); Padma Lakshmi of “Top Chef” (Bravo); Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman of “Making It” (NBC); RuPaul of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (VH1); and Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Lorie Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John and Kevin O’Leary of “Shark Tank” (ABC).
Netflix’s “Queer Eye,” by the way, is nominated for Outstanding Structured Reality Program. The show won in that category in each of the past four years, tying a record set by “Shark Tank,” which won the previous four years.
(Photo courtesy of Craig Sjodin/ABC) Utah native Derek Hough will be a judge on the upcoming season of “Dancing with the Stars.”
• Utah native Derek Hough is nominated for Outstanding Choreography for Variety or Reality Programming for the ABC special “Step Into … The Movies with Derek and Julianne Hough.”
The other nominees choreographed “Annie Live,” “Dancing with the Stars,” “Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 3″ and the Oscars.
Hough already has three best-choreography Emmys — he won for his work on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2013, 2015 and 2021. His latest nomination is his 12th, tying him with Debbie Allen for the most choreography nominations in Emmy history.
The 74th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be telecast Sept. 12 on NBC. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards — which include France’s and Hough’s categories — will be presented on Sept. 3-4. An edited presentation will air Sept. 10 on FXX.
