The Eyes of Tammy Faye Trivia | 40 facts about the movie

«The Eyes of Tammy Faye» is a 2021 American biographical drama film directed by Michael Showalter, based on the 2000 documentary of the same name.

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1. The Eyes of Tammy Faye is a 2021 American biographical drama film.
2. It was directed by Michael Showalter.
3. It is based on the 2000 documentary of the same name by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato of World of Wonder.
4. The film tells the story of Tammy Faye Bakker from her humble beginnings growing up in International Falls, Minnesota through the rise and fall of her televangelism career and marriage to Jim Bakker.
5. Jessica Chastain played Tammy and Andrew Garfield played Jim.
6. Cherry Jones and Vincent D’Onofrio also star in the movie along with Chastain and Garfield.
7. The screenplay is written by Abe Sylvia.
8. Jessica Chastain is also one of the film’s producers.
9. The Eyes of Tammy Faye had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2021.
10. It was released on September 17, 2021, by Searchlight Pictures.
11. The film grossed $2.7 million during its theatrical run, and received mixed reviews.
12. Critics praised the performances while criticizing the screenplay, deeming the film to be inferior to the documentary.
13. Regardless, for her role in the film, Chastain won the Academy Award for Best Actress, SAG Award, a Critics Choice Award.
14. Jessica Chastain also received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress.
15. The film also won the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and won the BAFTA for the same category.
16. It was announced in May 2019 that Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield were cast to star in the film, with Michael Showalter directing.
17. The film was produced through Jessica Chastain’s production company, Freckle Films.
18. Chastain detailed in an August 2019 interview she had acquired the rights to Tammy Faye Bakker’s life in 2012.
19. In October 2019, Cherry Jones joined the cast of the film.
20. Chastain and Jones had both starred on Broadway in The Heiress, and Chastain was an admirer of Jones’ work.
21. In November 2019, Sam Jaeger, Vincent D’Onofrio, Gabriel Olds, Mark Wystrach, Chandler Head, Fredric Lehne and Jay Huguley joined the cast of the film.
22. Principal photography began in October 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
23. Chastain stated in interviews that the makeup for the film took between 4–7 hours in the makeup chair having prosthetics added to her face. Chastain also wore false teeth in certain scenes to match the way Tammy Faye smiled.
24. Chastain performs several songs from Bakker’s musical catalog in the film.
25. Tammy Sue Bakker-Chapman, the daughter of Jim and Tammy, performed on the film’s soundtrack with a cover of “Don’t Give Up (On the Brink of a Miracle)”.
26. The film was later made available to stream on HBO Max in February 2022.
27. The films soundtrack was released on September 17, 2021, by Hollywood Records.
28. The score for the film by Theodore Shapiro was also released as a separate album.
29. Jessica Chastain worked with music producer Dave Cobb to record the soundtrack.
30. Jessica Chastain does her own covers of Tammy Faye Bakker’s original songs.
31. Jessica Chastain notes there’s one misconception about Tammy Faye Bakker that the film portrays correctly: parodies and impressions of Tammy Faye, particularly on Saturday Night Live (1975) and late-night talk shows, featured her crying with heavily running mascara. Chastain noted that when researching Tammy Faye she couldn’t find a single image of her with running mascara (because she only wore waterproof).
32. The film had been a passion project of Chastain’s for a number of years before it ended up being made. She had seen the documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000) around 2012 and felt drawn to tell Tammy’s story after acquiring the rights to produce a biopic about the infamous televangelist.
33. This is the second screen version of the Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker story. The first was a 1990 made for TV movie starring Kevin Spacey and Bernadette Peters, titled Fall from Grace (1990).
34. At 5’4″, Jessica Chastain is the same height as the real life Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield, who plays Bakker, is 5’10”). Tammy Faye was 4’11”.
35. Jessica Chastain is six years older than Andrew Garfield, whereas the real Tammy Faye Bakker was younger than Jim Bakker.
36. Video clips of people talking about the Bakkers and their religious organization occurs along with the opening credits.
37. While the movie depicts The Jim And Tammy Show originating from studios on Virginia Beach, the set and studios were actually located in the former WYAH TV station on Spratley Street in nearby Portsmouth VA.
38. Jessica Chastain (Tammy Faye Bakker) and Cherry Jones (Rachel Grover) both starred on Broadway in two separate revivals of the play “The Heiress”. Chastain did it in 2012 and Jones in 1995. The latter won the Tony Award that year for Best Actress in a Play.
39. Andrew Garfield and Louis Cancelmi previously appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).
40. Although the movie lightly hints at an attraction between Roe Messner and Tammy Faye, it does not explain either that they actually got married (in 1993, shortly after each of them had divorced their first spouses) or that Roe Messner (like Jim Bakker) was also indicted on charges stemming from his involvement in the PTL scandals and was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison. He and Tammy Faye remained married during his incarceration and until her 2007 death.