Get A Behind-The-Scenes Look At Jessica Chastain's Transformation For The Eyes Of Tammy Faye
Throughout her career, Jessica Chastain's shown up in a number of high profile, acclaimed films — from 2011's "The Tree of Life" to 2014's "Interstellar" and 2016's "Miss Sloane." She even has two Academy Award nominations to her name, so far: a Best Supporting Actress nod for 2011's "The Help" and a Best Actress nod for 2012's "Zero Dark Thirty."
Chastain's acting chops are put on full display in her most recent film role as the titular character in "The Eyes of Tammy Faye." Directed by Michael Showalter, the film gives viewers a look into the personal life of controversial televangelists, Tammy Faye Bakker and her husband Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield).
One look at the trailer and you'll see that Chastain is unrecognizable as Tammy Faye, with facial prosthetics and heavy makeup. While Chastain takes the reins on conveying the persona of Tammy Faye on screen, it's the makeup team that transformed her physically for the role. In a new behind the scenes video, we get to take a look into the wild process necessary to achieve such extreme physical transformation.
Chastain's transformation included prosthetics and multiple wigs
Along with her Christain views, Tammy Faye was known for the heavy makeup she wore — including a thick coat of mascara and a bold and intense use of eye shadow. Linda Dowds, the head of the makeup department on the film, explained her approach to Tammy in a recent Screen Rant Plus video. Dowds said, "Not only do we have the prosthetic element, but there's a real beauty element here and no matter what people may think of Tammy Faye's style of makeup, it was her way of beautifying herself."
Dowds also discussed one of the elements she enjoyed the most on this project — getting to show Tammy Faye's makeup and beauty evolution over the course of her career. In "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," the makeup has its own arc. Dowds explained, "For me, what was lovely was to look at her when she was younger, where she began and how she moved into the makeup and we wanted to see that progression. So we see the freshness and the hope in her more youthful look. And as we progress, all the colors for her, in terms of her wardrobe, her makeup, even her nails, everything got a bit darker."
Not only did Tammy Faye's makeup presentation evolve over the years, but she also took on multiple different hairstyles and colors — leading Stephanie Ingram, the head of the hair department, on the hunt for multiple wigs. Ingram said, "I knew that I was going to have at least eight to ten wigs. We have brown, we have platinum blonde, then we had a dirty blonde with roots."