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Lily James says she was a 'real wreck' after playing Pamela Anderson

Lily James says she was a 'real wreck' after playing Pamela Anderson

She's opened up about the 'screwed-up process' behind her portrayal of the star in Pam & Tommy

Jake Massey

Jake Massey

Lily James has revealed she was a 'real wreck' after playing Pamela Anderson in Pam & Tommy.

The show retells the infamous story of the former couple's sex tape, which was stolen and disseminated across the globe.

In order to play the Baywatch star, Brit James had to push herself to the limit. As well as spending hours each day in the makeup chair and wearing a prosthetic breast piece to physically transform herself for the role, the 33-year-old also went full method, staying in character when she wasn't on the set.

Unsurprisingly, this exhausting process left her feeling 'shot to s**t'.

Playing Anderson was a huge challenge for James.
Album/Alamy Stock Photo

Speaking to the Mirror, she said: "It was such a screwed-up process. You just have to be patient with yourself.

"The hours are so long and you feel really burnt out. Your nervous system is just like, shot to sh**. I felt like a real wreck at the end of it."

As for why she decided not to stray too far away from Pam when the cameras weren't rolling, James explained that the gulf was too great to bridge at will.

"I'd go around in a blonde wig because I just felt that I needed to hold on to her a little bit," she recalled.

"The difference from me to her was too extreme to go back and forth. So, I had to stay in this middle no man's land of like Lily/Pamela most of the time. I would totally slip into her voice.

"Even when I went out for dinner and was ordering with the waitress or talking to my mom on the phone, I would be American.

"I think I've lost lots of jobs ­because I keep speaking like Pamela in any audition."

It was all worth it in the end though, as her extensive efforts were rewarded with an Emmy nomination for leading actress in a limited or anthology series or movie, which she described as 'such an honour'.

In a post on Instagram, she said: "A whirlwind. Thank you @televisionacad.

"It is truly such an honour to have been nominated especially alongside the unbelievable women in this category - as my mum told me on FaceTime as I was pulling up to the red carpet - 'you've already won darling'.

"Thank you for having me. And of course HUGE congratulations to all the nominees and Winners!"

Featured Image Credit: Doug Peters/Alamy Stock Photo/Disney+

Topics: Celebrity, Pamela Anderson, TV and Film

Jake Massey
Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

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@jakesmassey