It was a weekend filled with celebration, glamour and unforgettable Hollywood moments as Mariska Hargitay collected two Emmy Awards in Los Angeles while Robert Pattinson and Suki Waterhouse brought their own dose of star power to the Venice Film Festival.
Los Angeles knows how to celebrate television, but Saturday night at the Peacock Theater felt especially personal for Mariska Hargitay.
The actress, director and producer arrived at the first night of the 78th Emmy Awards with husband Peter Hermann by her side. By the end of the evening, she was holding not one but two Emmy statuettes for one of the most intimate projects of her career.
Hargitay won Outstanding Directing for a Documentary or Nonfiction Program and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special for My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay, her deeply personal documentary about her mother, Hollywood icon Jayne Mansfield.
The victory created one of the evening’s most emotional images.
Dressed in a striking red gown, Hargitay posed with her two Emmys while Hermann stood proudly beside her. The couple smiled for photographers at the Peacock Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, turning an awards show arrival into something that felt much more intimate than the usual red carpet moment.
For Hargitay, the wins carried significance well beyond another pair of trophies.
My Mom Jayne explores the life and legacy of Mansfield through the perspective of her daughter. The documentary allowed Hargitay to step behind the camera and examine a story that has followed her throughout her life, separating the famous Hollywood image from the woman she knew as her mother.
That intensely personal approach resonated with Emmy voters.
The documentary received three nominations this year and won two of them. Its third nomination came in cinematography, where Ocean With David Attenborough ultimately received the award.
The night also marked another milestone in Hargitay’s extraordinary television career.
Her latest victories came 20 years after she won an Emmy for her portrayal of Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2006. The role transformed Hargitay into one of television’s most recognizable performers, but Saturday’s celebration showed just how much her creative career has expanded beyond acting.
And Los Angeles has not seen the last of her at the Emmys this year.
Hargitay is set to return to the same Peacock Theater on September 14, this time as host of the 78th Emmy Awards telecast. The ceremony will air live on NBC and stream on Peacock, placing her at the center of television’s biggest night only days after collecting two awards of her own.
It is difficult to imagine a better lead up.
One weekend she is standing backstage holding two Emmys for telling her own family’s story. Days later, she will walk onto the stage entrusted with celebrating the stories of an entire industry.
Robert Pattinson and Suki Waterhouse Bring the Romance to Venice
Thousands of miles away from Los Angeles, another Hollywood couple was creating a memorable red carpet moment of their own.
Robert Pattinson and Suki Waterhouse stepped out together at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival for the premiere of Pattinson’s new film Primetime on September 5.
Pattinson arrived in a light pinstripe suit and striped tie, while Waterhouse chose a sheer lace look for the glamorous festival appearance. The two smiled, laughed and stayed close as photographers captured one of their increasingly rare public appearances together.
The evening belonged largely to Pattinson.
Primetime received an enthusiastic response in Venice, with Pattinson earning warm applause for the film as Waterhouse supported him from the audience. The project places the actor at the center of another unconventional role, continuing a career that has repeatedly moved between major studio productions and more experimental filmmaking.
Their Venice appearance also represented the first time the couple had attended the famous film festival together. Pattinson and Waterhouse have been together since 2018 and welcomed their daughter in 2024, yet they have maintained a relatively private relationship despite both living firmly inside the celebrity spotlight.
That privacy may be part of what makes their red carpet appearances attract so much attention.
There are couples who seem designed for the cameras. Pattinson and Waterhouse often appear to be simply enjoying each other while the cameras happen to be there.
From Los Angeles to Venice, Hollywood Is Back in Awards Season Mode
The weekend was filled with familiar faces far beyond its two headline couples.
In Los Angeles, Seth Rogen appeared at the Emmy festivities at the Peacock Theater, while Julie Chen Moonves posed on the carpet during Saturday’s ceremony.
Across the Atlantic, the Venice Film Festival continued to attract an extraordinary collection of actors and filmmakers. Susan Sarandon and Alicia Vikander promoted The Echo Chamber, while Ricky Martin and Gael García Bernal appeared for Hombre Al Agua. Kiefer Sutherland attended the screening of Father Joe, and Faye Dunaway brought classic Hollywood elegance to the festival carpet.
The result was one of those weekends when the entertainment world seemed to be everywhere at once.
There were movie premieres in Venice, television honors in Downtown Los Angeles and stars moving between festivals, screenings and celebrations around the world.
But among all the fashion and cameras, Hargitay’s Los Angeles moment stood apart.
Her two Emmy wins were not simply recognition for another television project. They celebrated an artist telling one of the most personal stories she could possibly tell.
And standing beside her was the person with whom she could celebrate it away from the cameras.
For one night in Los Angeles, amid one of television’s biggest celebrations, the glamour was undeniable.
But the emotion was what made the moment memorable.
