‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Assassination of Gianni Versace’ Lead Winners on Night 1 of Creative Arts Emmy Awards

By Cynthia Littleton

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and FX’s “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” emerged with momentum after the first night of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

“Game of Thrones” went into the night as the pace-setter, having nabbed 22 Emmy nominations. “Thrones” finished out the night with seven wins. FX’s limited series “Gianni Versace” bagged four wins — including for contemporary costumes, appropriately enough.

The haul for “Thrones” helped HBO maintain a comfortable lead among networks with 13 wins so far, followed by 10 for Netflix and seven for FX. The network race is closely watched this year because Netflix elbowed HBO out of the top spot in total nominations for the first time in 18 years.

Hulu and NBC both claimed four awards during the nearly three-hour ceremony at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles, while Amazon took home three. Another 40-plus awards will be handed out Sunday night, the conclusion of the two-night Creative Arts Awards ceremonies. The remaining Emmys will be handed out Sept. 17 in a ceremony telecast live on NBC.

Among programs, the big winners from Saturday were in line with the shows already expected to fare well in this year’s Emmy derby. Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” FX’s “Atlanta,” Netflix’s “The Crown” and “USS Callister: Black Mirror,” Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and HBO’s “Westworld” all grabbed three wins apiece.

“Westworld” co-creator/exec producer Jonathan Nolan noted the dominance of “Game of Thrones” as he picked up his trophy for interactive media within a scripted program. He expressed his thanks to “Game of Thrones” showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff “for wrapping up so the rest of us can win some f–ing ,” he quipped.

Winners also joked about the high volume of thank-yous directed at Ryan Murphy, the uber-producer of “Gianni Versace” and other series, who was in the audience.

After the FX limited series grabbed three early awards, James Corden deadpanned while accepting his win for short-form comedy or drama series (for the CBS/Snapchat entry “James Corden’s Next James Corden”), “We couldn’t have done it without you, Ryan.” Corden also won for actor in a short-form series for the same program.

Ron Cephas Jones won guest actor in a drama for NBC’s “This Is Us.” Samira Wiley won guest actress in a drama for Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Both were nominated for the same roles last year but didn’t take the trophies until this year. Jones made a special mention of the creator of “This Is Us,” saying “Thank you to the top cat Dan Fogelman for giving me the opportunity.”

Wiley thanked “my higher power” and also singled out her co-star Elisabeth Moss as “the best scene partner a girl could ask for.”

Katt Williams pulled off the win for guest comedy actor for his work in “Atlanta.” Tiffany Haddish picked up her first Emmy for her hosting stint on “Saturday Night Live.” Neither were on hand to accept the awards.

TV veteran Christina Pickles (“St. Elsewhere”) took home her first hardware after six nominations. She was recognized for actress in a short-form series, for her Vimeo series “Break a Hip.” “I’ve tried so many times to win an Emmy, so this is great,” said Pickles.

The “USS Callister” installment of anthology drama “Black Mirror” was a surprise winner for best TV movie. Adult Swim’s “Rick and Morty: Pickle Rick” prevailed for animated program. HBO’s “The Magical Wand Chase: A Sesame Street Special” won for children’s program.

Original interactive program honors went to the joint venture of NASA and JPL, “Cassini’s Grand Finale.” 
“How many projects get to de-orbit their featured performer at the end of shooting?” asked producer Stephanie L. Smith of the 20-year Cassini space mission that ended in 2017.

Carlos Rafael Rivera, winner of the main title theme music award for Netflix’s “Godless,” dedicated his win to film music publicist Beth Krakower, who died Sept. 5 at the age of 46. “Beth Krakower, this is for you,” he said.

The ceremony also featured the Governors Award presentation to “Star Trek” for more than 50 years of boldly blazing trails in television and film. The kudo, presented by Bill Nye, came on the 52nd anniversary of the original series’ premiere on NBC. More than 100 crew members from the six “Star Trek” series to date were in the audience, along with “Star Trek” legends including William Shatner, LeVar Burton, and Walter Koenig and Sonequa Martin-Green, star of the latest entry, “Star Trek: Discovery.”

” ‘Star Trek’ changed the world for the better,” Nye said. “What a gift,” Shatner added.

Here is a complete list of Saturday’s winners:

TV movie: “USS Callister: Black Mirror”

Guest actor in a comedy series: Katt Williams, “Atlanta”

Cinematography for a single-camera series (one hour): Adriano Goldman, “The Crown”

Cinematography for a single-camera series (half-hour): Christian Sprenger, “Atlanta”

Hairstyling for a single-camera series: “Westworld”

Makeup for a single-camera series (non-prosthetic): “Westworld”

Children’s program: “The Magical Wand Chase: A Sesame Street Special”

Contemporary costumes: “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”

Creative achievement in interactive media within a scripted program: “Westworld,” “Chaos Takes Control Interactive Experience.”

Original interactive program: “NASA JPL: Cassini’s Grand Finale”

Single-camera picture editing for a drama series: “The Handmaid’s Tale”

Single-camera picture editing for a limited series or movie: “Black Mirror: USS Callister”

Sound editing for limited series, movie or special: “Black Mirror: USS Callister”

Guest actress in a drama series: Samira Wiley, “The Handmaid’s Tale”

Sound editing for a comedy or drama series (half-hour) and animation: “Atlanta”

Sound mixing for a comedy or drama series (half-hour) and animation: “Barry”

Sound mixing for a comedy or drama series (one hour): “Game of Thrones”

Sound editing for a comedy or drama (one hour): “Stranger Things”

Production design for a narrative program (half-hour or less): “GLOW”

Production design for narrative contemporary program: “The Handmaid’s Tale”

Production design for a narrative for a narrative period or fantasy program: “Game of Thrones”

Fantasy/sci-fi costumes: “Game of Thrones”

Music supervision: Robin Urdang, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dan Palladino, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”

Stunt coordination for a comedy series or variety program: “GLOW”

Stunt coordination for a drama series, limited series or movie: Rowley Irlam, “Game of Thrones”

Guest actor in a drama series: Ron Cephas Jones, “This Is Us”

Music composition for a limited series, movie or special (original dramatic score): Cyril Aufort, “March of the Penguins 2: The Next Step”

Music composition for a series (original dramatic score): Ramin Djawadi, “Game of Thrones”

Main title design: “Counterpart”

Original main title theme music: Carlos, Rafael Rivera, “Godless”

Special visual effects in a supporting role: “The Alienist”

Special visual effects: “Game of Thrones”

Prosthetic makeup for a limited series, movie or special: “Game of Thrones”

Period costumes: “The Crown”

Cinematography for a multi-camera series: Gary Baum, “Will & Grace”

Multi-camera picture editing for a comedy series: “Will & Grace”

Single-camera picture editing for a comedy series: “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”

Guest actress in a comedy series: Tiffany Haddish, “Saturday Night Live”

Actress in a short-form comedy or drama series: Christina Pickles, “Break a Hip.”

Actor in a short-form comedy or drama series: James Corden, “James Corden’s Next James Corden”

Short-form comedy or drama series: “James Corden’s Next James Corden”

Commercial: “The Talk,” P&G, “My Black is Beautiful”

Cinematography for a limited series or movie: Mathias Herndl, “Genius: Picasso”

Hairstyling for a limited series or movie: “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”

Makeup for a limited series or movie, non-prosthetic: “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”

Sound mixing for a limited series or movie: “Genius: Picasso”

Animated program: “Rick and Morty: Pickle Rick”

Short-form animated program: “Robot Chicken”

Voice-over performance: Alex Borstein, “Family Guy”

Casting for a comedy series: “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”

Casting for a limited series: “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”

Casting for a drama series: “The Crown”

(Pictured: James Corden)