For the lucky ones, Emmy nomination morning will be crammed with mimosas, oversize bouquets and a nonstop parade of drop-ins, calls and congratulatory texts. However when The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Kathryn Hahn shortly after she was name-checked as excellent lead actress in a restricted collection for her work on Hulu’s Tiny Stunning Issues, her actuality regarded a little bit completely different at that second. “I’m sitting in a purple zone with my hazards on,” says the veteran star with fun, downplaying the hazard of L.A. site visitors. “That is so superior and so bananas.”

It’s additionally a primary. Although the popularity marks the 50-year-old star’s third Emmy nomination, it’s the primary time she has been singled out as a lead performer after two supporting nominations, for work in Clear in 2017 and WandaVision in 2021. And he or she achieved this with a restricted collection that Hahn says has “eternally modified” who she is, thanks largely to the fabric, the solid and her workforce of A-list collaborators. Tiny Stunning Issues, an eight-episode collection, is predicated on the gathering of essays from best-selling author Cheryl Strayed and tailored by creator and government producer Liz Tigelaar. The credit additionally characteristic Hollywood heavyweights and Strayed adaptation alums Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern, who snagged Oscar nominations for enjoying a daughter and her deceased mom, seen in flashbacks, in 2014’s Wild, from filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée. The collection casts Hahn as Clare Pierce, a struggling author who’s tapped to take over as the recommendation columnist Pricey Sugar. Whereas she dishes out sage recommendation to readers, Clare makes an attempt to get ahold of her dwelling life, which is in a shambles along with her marriage teetering on the brink and a roller-coaster relationship along with her daughter.

With hazards nonetheless flashing, Hahn safely recapped her Tiny Stunning Issues journey to THR.

Congratulations in your third Emmy nomination. You’ve been down this highway earlier than, however I might think about it should really feel fairly particular to be acknowledged for Tiny Stunning Issues.

Oh, yeah. It is a significantly poignant one for me. This was a job that requested one thing of all of us — the actors but additionally the writers, administrators and producers — past what we had anticipated or had been requested earlier than, definitely for me, anyway. With the outstanding Cheryl Strayed and her generosity, you simply need to step as much as the plate for her as a result of she’s been so beneficiant along with her life for thus lengthy, in permitting us to really feel much less alone as people, because of Pricey Sugar, Wild, and all her work.

All of us talked about how this present, at a sure level, was going to be type of an act of service as a result of that’s what Sugar finally is, and the way her columns caused empathy, which additionally makes us really feel much less alone. You suppose that you simply’re the one one feeling one thing or that you simply’re the one one experiencing the inconceivable, and he or she is there, in all her nakedness, serving to you notice that you simply’re not alone. I bear in mind studying the pilot — the variation was written by Liz Tigelaar — and being so blown away by it. It’s outstanding, and on the web page, it’s not precisely what you’ll count on after studying these columns. You wouldn’t count on this to be the pure technique to adapt one thing, by utilizing the back-and-forth with the flashbacks. It was exhausting and it was juicy and it was fulfilling and it was enjoyable. It was all of the issues that it’s to be a human being, which is precisely, I feel, what Cheryl and Liz wished from the start; to make it possible for Cheryl felt seen and heard.

What was the most important problem for you in bringing this to life?

A lot of it was what grief does to an individual over an period of time, and the way that impacts you in the event you haven’t absolutely processed it and the way it manifests in your life. I worship Merritt Wever and I actually wished to work along with her. I additionally love [co-stars] Sarah Pidgeon and Owen Painter, and at a sure level it began to really feel like there have been two motion pictures happening in a single, with the previous model and the flashbacks after which there’s me, within the current. To not use horrible language, however it was an actual mind-fuck. Like, my mother has died and, after all, I’m feeling these emotions. I’ll by no means get to play with Merritt [who plays her character Clare’s mother], and it felt like there was this fixed shift between these two distinct tales the place it was my previous, so I felt it and understood it, however I wasn’t experiencing it.

I may see these scenes on the decision sheet and know that my mom’s dying scene was being shot that day, so I might ship it a lot love. They’re all such extraordinary performers — I imply, they’re unreal — however it was this very trippy feeling to be seeing it from a distance, which is precisely how Clare, within the current time, can be experiencing it as a result of all the things was within the rearview for her.

How did you put together?

We had this superb workshop at the start. We didn’t have very a lot time collectively, all of us, to construct these relationships. I used to be capable of finding this chemistry in a short time with Quentin Plair, who performs my husband, and Tanzyn Crawford, who performs my daughter. They’re superb performers, and we felt like a household very quick. We saved speaking about how we have been going to convey our full, messy, messy hearts to this and that it wasn’t going to be the cleanest or cutest model. It definitely wasn’t for Clare, within the current, as a result of she makes some actually horrible selections. The trick was to not overthink it and simply let it circulation.

This was simply troublesome materials. I additionally suppose it’s outstanding materials. Liz and these superb writers wrote one thing that’s utterly singular, very juicy and distinct. It was a tough pleasure to work on this, and I’ll say it once more: I actually am eternally modified. I need to shout out the three superb administrators we had on this — Rachel Lee Goldenberg, Desiree Akhavan and Stacie Passon. They have been unbelievable shepherds by way of this; they have been actually doulas for us, taking us by way of this expertise.

Everyone seems to be a baby of any person. Everybody has a mom, and everybody has suffered some kind of inconceivable loss of their life. We’re all trying to really feel not alone. With these tenets, this pricey group of individuals have been capable of make one thing outstanding and I simply really feel like I’m in service of it. I’m in awe of the work that everyone did on this present.

Provided that issues are more likely to be on maintain because of the strike, what does your schedule appear to be for the summer time and fall?

For the summer time and fall, I’m going to be a mother. That’s my primary most essential factor. We simply got here again from a vacation, and we’d go and see some household again east in Ohio. My daughter is about to enter highschool, so I’m simply planning on being a mother. This has been a busy yr and I obtained to do that superb present, and after we wrapped, I went proper into [Marvel/Disney+’s WandaVision spinoff series] Agatha: Coven of Chaos. It was an superior expertise, however it meant a variety of day trip of city, so I’m simply excited to be dwelling for some time.

Interview edited for size and readability.

This interview was performed earlier than the July 14 launch of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

‘Tiny Stunning Issues’ Star Kathryn Hahn on Her Method to Hulu’s Restricted Collection: “We’re Going to Carry Our Full, Messy Hearts to This”