Lily James and Sebastian Stan took audiences by storm earlier this year with their unbelievable transformations in Hulu's hit miniseries Pam & Tommy. The duo was tasked with bringing to life the larger-than-life personalities of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee during their tumultuous relationship in the 1990s, with a storyline that was torn straight from the headlines. Collider is excited to share an exclusive look behind the scenes of the series, with a new featurette showing how the creative team crafted the Pam and Tommy transformations for the actors.
Based on the true story of how Rand (Seth Rogen), a disgruntled contractor, decided to get revenge on Mötley Crüe's drummer Tommy Lee by stealing an intimate VHS tape of the couple, Pam & Tommy zeroes in on the spectacle of their relationship, painting its audience as the villain for its voyeuristic celebrity obsession and how Pamela Anderson was treated in the wake of the tape being shared without her consent. Anderson had aspirations beyond her status as a sex symbol, but the sexism and misogyny that stemmed from the invasion of privacy limited her career. The series does a great job shining a spotlight on the situation, with the respect Anderson deserves after all of these years. There is a lot of Emmy buzz for the miniseries, both for its stars and for the awe-inspiring production that fully immersed itself in the grungy and lavish aesthetics of the 90s. If this behind-the-scenes is any indication, the creative team committed themselves to do their best to bring this highly publicized story to the screen.
In the featurette, Lily James praises the hair, makeup, and costume departments for their commitment to replicating the 1990s, and reveals that she typically spent between three and four hours in the makeup chair to achieve the Pamela Anderson look. David Williams, the Makeup Department Head, also details the prosthetics that James wore to change the look of her breasts, forehead, and even teeth. Stan also spent a lot of time in the makeup chair, with Williams revealing they had to apply over thirty-five tattoos to his body daily to match Lee's iconic body art.
Rogen's mullet-headed transformation is also featured in the video, with Costume Designer Kameron Lennox revealing that they intentionally wanted him to look like someone who just buys clothes and wears them without much thought behind his decisions. Rogen also admits that he hasn't worn many wigs over the course of his career, but he admits that this particular wig was a "great one."
Writer, co-showrunner, and executive producer D.C. DeVincentis makes an appearance in the featurette to discuss the project. The eight-episode miniseries was written and created by Robert Siegel. The series also stars Nick Offerman Taylor Schilling, Andrew Dice Clay, Pepi Sonuga, Spencer Granese, Mozhan Marnò, and Jason Mantzoukas as the voice of, uh, "Little Tommy."
Watch the exclusive behind-the-scenes featurette below and be prepared to get blown away by the transformation: