Lily James 'hoped' Pamela Anderson would be involved in making of 'Pam & Tommy'
Hulu and Disney+ are coming up with a new series 'Pam & Tommy' starring Lily James. James will be essaying the role of Pamela Anderson in the series. In a recent interview with a magazine, Lily James opened up about reaching out to the star and playing the character.
Talking about Anderson's involvement in the series, James said, "I was really hopeful that she would be involved. I wish it had been different. My sole intention was to take care of the story and to play Pamela authentically." When asked if she reached out to Anderson independently, James told the PORTER magazine, "Yes. And I was very hopeful that we would be in touch right up until we started filming.”
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James continued, "When you recreate any character, you’re taking on another person’s life without necessarily having all the information, so I really have to put huge trust in the director. But I want to provoke a conversation, and I want to be part of these attempts at change. I realize a lot of it’s incredibly sensitive and difficult. And so, as an actor, to a certain extent, what you do is make yourself very open to talk to all of that."
James is one of those artists who like to explore the character in detail. Trying to find similarities in herself and Pamela Anderson, James said, "I love that about acting; you fit into a character, and you realize you’re not as different as you might have thought. You lean in to things in yourself, and discard parts of you that aren’t useful. We were exploring a particular moment in Pamela and Tommy’s life in the ’90s, this absolute lust for love. This open-hearted, falling into something"
Talking about the shooting and how she went into character, James said, "It takes a while to let a character like that leave you. In the past, I maybe felt too modest to believe that I might inhabit a role so greatly that it would impact on me, but it really does. My therapist said that when her husband watches a rugby match, by the end he’s exhausted – your nervous system doesn’t really know the difference, whether it’s him winning a goal or watching it happen. And I think the same happens when you live through someone.”
More on the same, she said, "I’ve never worked so hard. I read the books [Anderson] has written, I read her poetry, I can parrot along to all her interviews. And then, of course, there was the physical transformation. Slowly, our incredible team found a balance where I resembled Pamela but also felt like I could act through it. I’ve never done anything where I look very different from myself before. And I’d really like to continue in this vein, because I felt there was something very freeing and liberating in it. There was a bravery that came from that. A courage that came from… disappearing." When she had to get back to being herself, she 'hated' it.