He reminisced with journalists from South America, Europe, Australia and Canada about how he misses the track suits Jay wore during much of Season 1, and described — much to the delight of two writers from Brazil — how he has become a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu after two decades.
But the veteran actor, who is seeing sitcom success with Modern Family, is dead serious when he says that Jane Lynch didn’t deserve to win a Best Actress Emmy for her role on Fox’s Glee.
“I love Jane, honestly I do,” the Youngstown, Ohio, native said, sitting forward. “I’m dying to star in one of Christopher Guest’s movies alongside her, but I don’t think she should have gotten the Emmy for that part. (Sue Sylvester) is just a one-note character.”
Instead, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the actor who once played “briefly, very briefly” for the Pittsburgh Steelers thinks the trophy should have been awarded to co-star Sofia Vergara. “Sofia is just so, so funny,” O’Neill explained with a twinkle in his eye. “I don’t think people realize how hilarious she is. She’s so sharp with her wit, it’s amazing.”
Also amazing to the stocky actor is the second-time success he’s enjoying with Modern Family. O’Neill wasn’t looking to return to sitcoms after playing Al Bundy for 10 years on Married … With Children, initially turning down Family creators Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd when they approached him with the role.
“Then I read the script, and I said to myself, ‘Oh God, this is so good.’ I put the script down and came back and read it a second time and thought, ‘I have to do this.’” But when his manager tracked down Levitan and Lloyd, they had bad news. Craig T. Nelson was in negotiations for the gig. Luckily for O’Neill, Nelson dropped out and jumped over to Parenthood, leaving the door open for him to snap it up.
We’re glad he did.
Source: tvguide Canada
