Julie Bowen wants to share the "Modern Family" Emmy love.
Bowen, who won the Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Emmy for her role as Claire Dunphy in 2011 and 2012, wants her co-star, Sofia Vergara to take home the statue on Sunday, Sept. 22 on CBS.
"We're lucky that we're still getting nominated," Bowen told The Huffington Post while promoting Get Schooled in Anaphylaxis, a health initiative to raise awareness of anaphylaxis in school communities. "That's not everybody's life all the time and we can't take that for granted and we definitely don't. Like, wow, we're just so lucky to get nominated and if we win we're just going to fall down on the ground. I would love to see Sofia win. I feel like it's time, people! She's lovely and she's funny and she's smart as hell, and I really, really like her and would to see her have a nice big shiny piece of hardware."
Below, Bowen talks about the future of "Modern Family" and the show's hot topic for Season 5: gay marriage.
Can you give us a Season 5 preview?
Well ... we deal with gay marriage. And that's all I can say. I'm not allowed to say anything too crazy. I can't explain how we deal with gay marriage, but gay marriage is now legal and we have one of the most popular couples, Cam and Mitch, and we deal with it hopefully in a funny and original way. And true to the spirit of our show, which is comedy first and message follows. Hopefully that message is explored in some form of intelligent humor.
So Cam and Mitch are probably getting married this season ...
I ... I ... I have not seen that! [Laughs.] But they to deal with gay marriage.
You've recently talked about how "Modern Family" is a bit behind in the gay storylines when compared to "Glee." Can you expand on that?
I didn't mean that they were behind, I just meant that some shows like "Glee" have made it very much a point of their overall feeling. It's a lot about delivering these messages about gay teens, and Ryan Murphy and everyone there should be very, very proud. I don't think "Modern Family" is behind, I just feel like it's a different approach. It's more of a family comedy that happens to have a gay couple in it than a show that delivers gay messages. We also ... I certainly can't sing and dance. [Laughs.] They're working a lot harder on "Glee." It's apples and oranges. I don't think one show is behind the other, I just think that we approach things from trying to make people laugh. I don't have any problem with people thinking too, but we're definitely trying to get them to laugh.
Any dream guest stars?
We had so many really good people that I find myself feeling just ... I just stand there in the corner with my mouth open. Like Josh Gad came on and he's so hilariously funny and I don't always do my best work when I'm wanting to sit down and get popcorn and watch them. But no, there are just so many hugely talented people. I just watched Justin Timberlake for 16 minutes at the VMAs and I thought, can he just come and do that? He can do anything he wants on our show! I really think I'm just geeking out as a fangirl and not necessarily thinking about the show.
How long do you think the show can last?
Oh boy. I think as long as our writers are there -- every one of our shows starts with the writers. I mean, when there is the occasional improv, it's always with the writers there and actively addressing what they've written. It really is all about the writing. If they're still coming up with great ideas ... We basically still have most of the original writers and creators still there, so we're really lucky. I imagine as years go by, we'll have turnover, but that would be a great thing to keep fresh blood in there. But as long as they can write the script, we've got plenty of energy on set. Our goal is to keep the quality up and keep knocking it out of the park. We do not want to get lazy.
"Modern Family" Season 5 premieres Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
