‘Pam & Tommy’ Trailer: Lily James Stuns in First Footage of Pamela Anderson Transformation

Zack Sharf
·2 min read
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Lily James nearly broke the internet when first-look photos of her as Pamela Anderson in the Hulu limited series “Pam & Tommy” debuted online in May 2021. Directed by “I, Tonya” filmmaker Craig Gillespie and written by “The Wrestler” scribe Rob Siegel, “Pam & Tommy” re-contextualizes the scandal that broke out after Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson’s sex tape was stolen. Sebastian Stan stars Lee, but it’s James’ unrecognizable transformation into Anderson that has everyone talking so far. With the release of the series’ first tailer, don’t expect those conversations to slow down.

“In some ways, it’s very similar to ‘I, Tonya’ with the surprise of it,” Gillespie recently told Collider about the project. “There’s the victimization of the media and what happened with that tape that was such an affront to them, and how it really ultimately severely damaged their personal life and her career. There’s this situation with the public who snicker and go, ‘Oh, yeah, I know that story. They sold it.’ But people just don’t know the story.”

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Starring opposite James and Stan are Seth Rogen, Nick Offerman, Taylor Schilling, Andrew Dice Clay, Pepi Sonuga, Spencer Granese, Mozhan Marnò. Rogen stars as the man who stole Anderson and Lee’s sex tape, and he’s also producing the series with his longtime creative partner Evan Goldberg.

Lee and Anderson are aware of the series, but they aren’t involved creatively with the project. Whether the show will deal with the darker side of their marriage, including Lee’s arrest for spousal abuse in 1998, is unclear. The relationship between Anderson, best known for “Baywatch” and “Home Improvement,” and Lee, Mötley Crüe’s longtime drummer, ruled celebrity tabloids in the 1990s, as did the scandal when their sex tape from their honeymoon was stolen and leaked to the public. The series covers the scandal and the fallout that ensued — Anderson ended up suing the distributor, Internet Entertainment Group, that leaked the sex tape and eventually entered a confidential settlement deal with the company — and will also dramatize the duo’s wild romance, beginning with marrying after only knowing each other for 96 hours in 1995.

Hulu will premiere “Pam & Tommy” on February 2, 2022. Watch the first trailer for the series in the video below.

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