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Lily James says she’s living in character as Pamela Anderson left her “shot in…” and “a wreck”.
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The 33-year-old actress said she was exhausted by her method acting while playing the Baywatch star, 55, on the Hulu series Pam and Tommywhich chronicles Canadian Anderson’s stormy relationship with Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, 59, who was played by 40-year-old actor Sebastian Stan.
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James said she spoke to people, including her mother, in Anderson’s voice and blamed it on being stuck in the character for losing “a lot of jobs” she auditioned for during filming.
“It was such a screwed up process. You just have to be patient with yourself,” The mirror quotes the actress.
“The hours are so long and you feel really burnt out. Your nervous system is just like shot to… I felt like a complete wreck at the end of it.
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British-born James added that she felt she had to stay in character because she was so different from Anderson, saying: “The difference between me and her was too extreme to go back and forth. So, most of the time I had to stay in that middle no man’s land as Lily/Pamela. I would totally get into her voice.
“Even when I went out to dinner and ordered with the waitress or talked to my mom on the phone, I would be American.
“I think I’ve lost a lot of work – because I keep talking like Pamela in every audition.”
Telling how she spent four hours in make-up every day to transform into Anderson, which included fitting a prosthetic suit: “Of course there was a physical transformation. Slowly our amazing team found a balance where I looked like Pamela but also felt like I could act through it.
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“I’ve never done anything where I look very different from myself before. And I would really like to continue in that vein because I felt there was something very freeing and liberating about that. There was a courage that came from that. Courage that came from… disappearing.’
Pam and Tommy centers around the sex tape scandal that engulfed Anderson and Lee, which consisted of footage stolen by Rand Gauthier — played by Seth Rogen, 40, on the show — after Lee apparently refused to pay for the work. which he finished on their house.
Anderson claims the video is not a sex tape, but a compilation of footage of her and Lee on vacation, which also includes sexual acts.