After being cast in Hulu’s new series Pam & Tommy, which premieres on Wednesday, February 2, Lily James, who plays Pamela Anderson, and Sebastian Stan, who plays Tommy Lee, took their roles very seriously.
So much so, they “never really saw each other outside of character” while filming the series, which focuses on the former flames’ sex tape leaking in the ’90s.
“It’s true,” the 39-year-old hunk stated. “I texted Lily early on, I said, ‘Listen, I’m scared s**tless, and I’m gonna need to hold your hand, and if you want to hold mine, we’re here, we’re in this together.‘ And then I didn’t see her outside of Pamela until the end of the shoot.”
“I think we were both just terrified to play these characters,” the actor continued. “They’re real-life people. I don’t have tattoos on my body. I think we both would just, on repeat, listen to their voices and their interviews. And — I know we both did this — we would actually scream into pillows in between the scenes because I was trying to get my voice raspy to sound like him, and you were doing that too. So I was like, ‘You’re screaming into a pillow as well?!’ ”
“I think everyone thought we were literally losing our minds in our trailers!” the Mamma Mia alum quipped.
For her part, the actress said this was her toughest role to date.
“I’ve never worked so hard,” James told NET-A-PORTER. “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.”
Additionally, James had to get her hair and makeup done — which took about four hours — in order to look the part. “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,” she admitted.
