Lily James: Portrayal of Pamela Anderson was born out of rage at star’s mistreatment
By Naomi Clarke, PA Entertainment Reporter
Lily James says her portrayal of Pamela Anderson in a new television series about the Baywatch star’s infamous sex tape was “born out of rage” at how society treated her.
The role in Pam And Tommy landed the British actress her first Emmy nomination on Tuesday in the category for leading actress in a limited or anthology series or movie.
Speaking to US outlet Deadline following the nod, the 33-year-old said the production team were on Anderson’s side “every second” while creating the Disney series.
James revealed she has not heard from Anderson, adding: “And that’s fair enough and I have to respect that boundary.
“All we wanted to do was shine a light on this story and reveal it,” she said.
“It’s the ugly truth really of how awful what happened to them was, and every second of it, we were on Pamela’s side.
“I hope that’s been received but beyond that I could never know how she’s feeling, but those were our intentions.”
The actress noted that she hopes the show was part of the movement of holding people accountable following #MeToo revelations.
She continued: “I think everyone is more open and prepared to hear these stories and look at it and their own culpability, which is the biggest thing for me, we’re looking at things we’ve been taught as young girls, things we’ve been shown.
“We’ve put up with behaviour for so long and it’s been very, very toxic… so to be part of a show that explored that and kept that momentum going hopefully is just so important to me.”
She added: “This was a continued exploration of that, of what I’ve experienced in my work and in the media, and so I think a lot of this was born out of rage and an attempt to examine this.
“We’re not looking for answers, we weren’t doing a documentary, but we were just trying to get a different perspective on what happened at a very crucial moment in popular culture.”
The show received 10 total nominations, including a nod for Sebastian Stan and his portrayal as Anderson’s rock star lover Tommy Lee, as well as for make-up and hairstyling.
James said she is “so proud” of all the team following the host of nominations as she said they were “really in it together” during the project.
