"It’s not like they’re seeing anything they haven’t seen before," says Tommy Lee [a wonderfully unhinged Sebastian Stan] to a shattered Pamela Anderson [Lily James] during the fourth episode of Hulu’s Pam & Tommy.
Part comedy, part true-crime drama, the show follows the events of the infamous sex tape of rockstar Tommy Lee and actress Pamela Anderson in the '90s, and its journey from bootleg-VHS to global media sensation when it eventually hit the web. Aside from an outrageously entertaining look at the glitz and glamour of the rockstar life in the '90s, the series seeks to tell a human story of a devastating invasion of privacy and the juvenile media coverage around Pamela Anderson.
Actor-director Lake Bell, who helmed the fourth and seventh episodes, spoke to us exclusively about approaching the story with humanity, that Sebastian Stan scene in the second episode, and more. Edited excerpts below:
When you first heard there was a show being made about the Pamela Anderson-Tommy Lee sex tape, even before you came to be a part of it, what was your first reaction?
It’s really interesting because I grew up in the '90s, and I remember that moment when it happened. And I remember it being framed almost as a punchline, not something that happened to real people.
When I heard about the Pam & Tommy series, I remember thinking, "I hope this is something that has a wisdom and generosity to it because it was pretty atrocious the way that it was handled at the time."
And because I knew it was Robert Siegel, who’s a tremendous writer, and Annapurna Pictures, who tell the most beautiful stories, I understood that it would have a sharpness and a perspective that would be thought-provoking, and it did. It allowed for Pamela Anderson to finally be depicted as human.
I find the genre of the show very interesting. It is part comedy, part true-crime story, and part heartbreaking drama about trauma and humiliation. How would you describe its genre, and what do you hope people take away from the show?
I think you’re right, there’s a unique mashup of genres. I think my biggest hope is that, as with all truly great storytelling, we create something entertaining enough that you can hide truly profound messages about culture and society in it, and provoke genuine dialogue, and sometimes even change culture. And in this, I saw an opportunity to reopen our ability to be culpable in the way that we depict women in the media. And this series, you get really sucked in because you think it’s going to be so pulpy and fun, and then around Episode 4, you start to hopefully get activated and really think about what’s being said here.
In terms of the more entertaining half of the show, it has some insane sequences, like that scene in Episode 2 with Tommy having a passionate conversation with certain body parts. I know you did not direct that episode, but what kind of oddly specific conversations go into shooting a scene like that?
All I can say is I think Sebastian is a great sport, and part of the creativity of this series is that you really go on these wild journeys. The series definitely is rich with explicit situations. However, I think, especially as a female filmmaker and a woman, I wanted to make sure people are comfortable.
I’m an actor and I know how I like to be treated, and that the only road to good performance and to feeling like something is real is safety. You just want to feel safe. And not only physically but emotionally, where there's no judgment, and it's okay to screw up or try something different. It's really vulnerable work, especially when someone is naked. And when you feel safe, you can really get into the zone of creativity, knowing that you’re around a group of people who have your back.
Suchin Mehrotra is a film journalist and movie junkie who sincerely believes movies can change the world. You can find him on Twitter at @suchin545.
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