When most of us think of Tammy Faye Bakker, we think of of her involvement with The PTL Club, a televangelist program she co-founded with her then husband Jim Bakker which grew into a multi-million dollar empire before it collapsed following sex scandals and fraud, but a new biopic aims to dive into who Tammy really was. The Eyes of Tammy Faye will be hitting theaters later this year, but People have a few first look photos which feature a nearly unrecognizable Jessica Chastain as Tammy. Check them out below!
Jessica Chastain stars alongside Andrew Garfield, who plays Tammy's first husband Jim Bakker. "I just was so blown away by her and her story," Chastain told People. "The thing I loved the most about Tammy is her capacity to love. She knew what it felt like to not feel important, and she didn't want anyone to experience that." Chastain added:
Here's a woman that I had an idea of because of what I was fed about her. Even the thing about the mascara running down her face. There is not one picture of her with mascara running down her face in reality. But people were always making her into a clown and punishing her for the mistakes of her husband, which all throughout history women have been the victim of, atoning for the sins of men.
Transforming Jessica Chastain into Tammy Faye obviously meant many hours a day with prosthetics and wigs, but Chastain hopes that people walk away from The Eyes of Tammy Faye with a new sense of appreciation for Tammy, especially when it comes to her support of the LGBTQ movement. "That's really why I wanted to make the movie," Chastain explained. "Because in a time when people were even afraid to say AIDS, we had this female televangelist. And she was a minister too in her own right. She wasn't just the preacher's wife, the singer. The interview [with Christian gay minister and AIDS patient Steve Pieters] is phenomenal. It's so beautiful and loving. And it's such a huge turning point in terms of what people could associate God's grace with, because I feel like she was filled with grace." The Eyes of Tammy Faye will hit theaters on September 17, 2021.
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