watched all the videos. I think I’ve watched every single thing that had been filmed on her. Everything on YouTube. I watched all of YouTube, yeah, I became obsessed. So I hear it all the time, so it’s just kind of normal now.
Can you talk about working alongside Andrew Garfield, who plays Tammy’s husband Jim Bakker? Well, Andrew Garfield was a big get for us. There was a lot of like phone calls, strategizing, like, ‘How are we going to get him to sign on to this film?’ And yes, it was a huge deal for us when he signed on. I remember that it was maybe a month before we started shooting, he was in a hair and make-up test and he recorded a video and he sent it to me. And in the video he was like in character already, he was talking as Jim Bakker and talking about his hair and doing the whole thing. So I never really saw the gradual slip into character. At that moment I freaked out because I just thought like, he’s the kind of actor who you can’t help but like, you have to just swing for the fences because he’s doing it and you’ve got to keep up. So, for me, him joining made me understand that it was going to light a fire in me, that I needed to push even more than I thought I could.
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So Jessica, tell us how this all started, you saw the documentary maybe ten years ago? Yes, I was on the press tour for ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ and I was jet-lagged somewhere and it was on TV and I was just completely blown away by this woman who was so filled with compassion and love. I was shocked that I didn’t really know anything about her except for the drama and what the media kind of sensationalised. The Steve Pieters interview in the documentary just blew me away. You can go on YouTube and see the whole thing, Steve and Tammy do that interview, and it’s so profoundly beautiful and loving. I just knew I had to be a part of telling her true story, because I felt like a large injustice was done to her. And how wonderful that there’s a new generation that gets to meet her – as she was.
Your transformation is amazing in this. The make-up and hair styling is incredible? Yes Linda [Dowds] and Stephanie [Ingram], we’ve worked together for about a decade, actually, I met them in 2011 and we’ve done so many different things together. I was terrified to jump into this part but with their expertise and guidance I just really felt safe and I think it’s brilliant what they created and it helped me so much.
What is it like to see yourself in the mirror as Tammy Faye? Well, it’s a surreal experience.
Did you have to take a minute when you saw yourself? Well, I took four hours because it was a long process [laughs]. But the wonderful thing about the process is that it was a long runway before take-off each day. So I had plenty of time to work on the character, to think about her voice, to think about where she was coming from in the scenes. It was very helpful.
How was it singing in this? And to hear yourself as Tammy Faye – how does that feel? I mean it’s just the strangest thing but I kind of hear her voice in my head all the time. I really became obsessed with her and I
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In what ways could you relate to Tammy as a person? Well, I believe that everyone is deserving of love. This is going to make me emotional [laughs] and when I saw the connection that she had with Steve, I feel like they saved lives by that interview. Because it was at a time when the conservative evangelical community was turning their backs against the LGBTQ audience that she had. The AIDs epidemic was just destroying lives and killing people. And so for her to go on TV with Steve and say, ‘We as mom and dads need to love through anything and that’s the way with Jesus’ – I’m sure there were so many people at home watching her who had family members that they had disowned before they heard that. And so, for me, I connected to her wanting to reach out and make sure that everyone knows that they’re deserving of love and they are worthy of this beautiful life that we live.
CE L EBRIT Y INTERVI EW J E S S ICA CHAS TAIN
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