Sebastian Stan ‘terrified’ to take on the role of still-living Tommy Lee
Sebastian Stan says he and Lily James were “terrified” to take on the roles of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee for a new Disney series about the couple’s infamous sex tape.
Stan, who stars as the Motley Crue drummer, says he went running while listening to Lee’s voice “on loop” to prepare for playing “someone so different to me”.
Pam and Tommy charts the celebrity couple’s whirlwind romance and the theft of their intimate video which was leaked on the internet in 1997 after being stolen from their home.
Asked about playing two people who are still alive, Stan said: “We were both terrified, these are big shoes to step into.
“Pamela for (James) and for me, I don’t have a tattoo on my body and so the idea of someone so different from me was terrifying.
“But then we got to this camera test and we had this unbelievable hair and makeup team that got us there.
“We looked at each other and thought ‘ok I think we have a shot here at doing this”.
On his preparation to play the famous rock musician he said: “Luckily YouTube was a huge help here because there is a lot of footage and information.
“There’s concerts where you can watch him playing the drums and really get the energy … and there’s a lot of interviews with him online as well.
“I would watch that on repeat and create playlists with his voice on loop and then I would go running listening to him every minute of the day as much as possible.”
The series director, Craig Gillespie, added: “It’s an incredibly stressful situation for an actor to be taking a very iconic person and having to portray them.
Asked if he felt pressured by the presence of the real-life Anderson and Lee, he said: “I always feel pressure.
“The one thing that made me feel ok about it is that we were really trying to portray how heinous the situation was.”
Three episodes of Pam And Tommy will premiere in the UK on February 2.
