How Jessica Chastain turned into Tammy Faye

“I was afraid that people would make fun of me”, recalls the 45-year-old actress about her nerves on the set of the film Tammy Faye’s eyesnow available for Ecuador through the platform StarPlus. “And there’s going to be a lot to make fun of if I fail, because It is something very exaggerated. I’m throwing myself into the void”, he commented for Los Angeles Times.

However, that was the reality that Bakker faced in real life, that He passed away in 2007 after a long battle with cancer., every day. Remembering the ridicule Bakker suffered—and eventually ignored—allowed Chastain to calm his panic: “You have to put your ego aside and want to look cool. that connects you with her”.

In 2012, during the press tour of The darkest nightChastain was changing the television channel in his hotel room when came across a documentary about Bakker. Chastain had already seen the film—directed by Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey in 2000—but tonight he connected with her on a different level. So got the rights to the documentary, which had the same name as the later feature film. He had not yet created his production company, Freckle Films, but found a home for the project at Fox Searchlight, directed by Michael Showalter.

“It had been drilled into me that Tammy was a terrible human being, a clown and a joke. The media taught me that I used people and stole their money. I had that judgment against her, and I realized that it’s fascinating how the media can give everyone a collective memory that may not be the truth. Is not correct. I wanted to do something about it to honor her, ”she said in an interview prior to the premiere of the tape at the toronto festivalin September 2021.

The protagonist makeup was essential for his interpretation, although the production team decided not to stop to comment on the preferences in his style, although it may contrast with the current aesthetic. “Do we have to explain why she wears so much makeup? I do not think so. Is not nobody’s Business. It makes her feel pretty. It’s enoughChastain commented. “This is how he wants to present himself to the world. Why do we have to justify it? (…) Everyone should shut up about the way a woman presents herself to the world”.

The next challenge was allow your performance to stand out above the makeup. “I panic. People think it would be easier, but it’s not. You have to convey through makeup; you can’t let the makeup be the acting. She was very emotional, and I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to get emotional with all these products on me. Will I be able to see people and feel free? I had to get used to (…) Makeup gets heavier as she ages”.

JustinRaleigh, the film’s prosthetic makeup designer, and his team faced a double challenge. First, design prosthetics (artificial skin devices made of gel-filled silicone) that struck the perfect balance between character and actress: “Jessica wanted to lose herself in the role and really embody Tammy without completely erasing Jessica as well,” Raleigh said.

Second, they had to create outfits that would develop at Bakker in his most recognizable eras: “By the 1960s and 1970s, Chastain wore prosthetic cheeks, a chin brace (to cover a dimple), and tape to lift the tip of the nose. In scenes set in the 1980s, added a Body suita full neck prosthesis and an upper lip appliance; for the 90s they added eye bags. Throughout, Raleigh said: “The cheeks were the distinctive element that he had to wear all the time”.

Getting Chastain’s hair to look like Tammy Faye’s required 11 wigs: chestnuts for your youth; big and blonde for her ’80s heyday and redheads for her later years. But they didn’t find them in a store. Some wigs were colored and made to Chastain’s specifications, and others were custom made for her.. A given day on set might also require five to ten more stylists to provide period hair for the rest of the cast.

Becoming Tammy Faye every day could sometimes take five to seven hours.before filming even began, but Chastain said the extended preparation at least gave him additional time to connect with his character. “I was constantly watching videos of her, listening to her voice. He was using it as if preparing a runway.”