Lily James completely transformed herself to star as Pamela Anderson in the Hulu series “Pam & Tommy” (finale now s
The “Cinderella” actress required four hours each day in the makeup chair for everything from a prosthetic chest to a prosthetic forehead with Anderson’s famously thin eyebrows attached to complete the look.
While her final appearance was stunning, James’ actual look under all the makeup was not, the star admitted Wednesday night at the Los Angeles “Pam & Tommy” finale premiere.
“I had this prosthetic forehead, so to make it work I had bleached my eyebrows underneath,” said James. “So I walked around with what looked like no eyebrows during the whole job, looking like a complete lunatic.”
Seth Rogen, who plays Rand Gauthier, the jilted worker who said he unwittingly stole the couple’s sex tape in a safe theft – setting off events that rapidly went out of control – concurred that James’ in-between look was slightly disturbing.
A prosthetic chest, hours of tattoos: How ‘Pam & Tommy’ transformed Lily James, Sebastian Stan
Lily James as Pamela Anderson in “Pam & Tommy.”
“Sometimes (when) I saw Lily mid-transformation I felt like I was seeing something that I shouldn’t be seeing,” he said. “She’d be like, ‘Hi!’ and I would be like, ‘We shouldn’t talk now.’ ”
James said the four-hour daily make-up process required a 3:30 a.m. wakeup call for her day on set. But she used the time to get into the mindset of the ’90s icon in telling the story of Lee and Anderson’s infamously stolen sex tape.
“It was amazing; I was listening to music of the 1990s or watching interviews with Pamela,” said James, discussing the downtime. “It was like a meditation going into the day. Portraying this was such a huge challenge. I needed those four hours to really prep.”
Sebastian Stan also required extensive time in the makeup chair to transform to Mötley Crüe drummer Lee, including the placement of extensive tattoos (Lee has more than 30).
Fact-checking ‘Pam & Tommy’: Pamela Anderson, Tommy Lee and the stolen sex tape
Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) in his Malibu home in “Pam & Tommy.”
“Every three days they had to be reapplied,” said Stan, who enjoyed rocking the look off-set. “It’s interesting walking through East L.A. with tattoos.”
Stan and James agreed that the makeup process and the dead-on “Pam & Tommy” costumes were crucial in helping them find the characters they were trying to portray onscreen. Once they fully looked the part, they felt ready to step into the roles of the real-life icons.
“I think it was our first camera test, when we actually had all the tattoos, the wig and the costumes,” said Stan. “Lily and I kind of looked at each other and were like, ‘Maybe we’re going to be OK.”
James says it’s important to tell the story of the sex-tape theft, and its eventual viral release, to provide insight into the true events – and the true victims of the crime and worldwide scandal.
“What was so fascinating about this was learning the whole untold story, Reading these scripts was such a punch in the gut,” said James. “It’s so disheartening yet so important to look at it, and explore and realize our own culpability here.”
Seth Rogen as Rand Gauthier during his safe heist in “Pam & Tommy.”
Rogen said he viewed Gauthier “as someone who put no thought into his actions. I tried to portray someone who was not thinking very much and who looks like he was not thinking about what he was doing. If there was like a mantra in my head that I was repeating it was, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ In my head that’s all the character was thinking… He’s not a smart man.”
