With a scheduled broadcast this Wednesday on Disney +, “Pam & Tommy” was made without the participation or permission of Pamela Anderson. However, it is not for lack of trying, assure the showrunners of the event series.
In an interview with the American site Entertainment Weekly, DV DeVincentis assures that the production has tried several times to contact Pamela Anderson about the series. Comedian Lily James, who plays the former Baywatch star, also tried to reach her on several occasions. Without success.
“We absolutely wanted to let her know that this portrait was going to be positive, that we care a lot about her, and that this series was a testimony of love towards her”, explains the showrunner. “We haven’t had a response, but considering what she went through with this story, when we were trying to get in touch with her, it was completely understandable,” he continues. .
A real trauma
For Rob Siegel, the other showrunner of Pam & Tommy, the series clearly shows Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee as “the victims of a crime”, that of the violation of their privacy when Rand Gauthier, the electrician who worked on the construction site of their house in Malibu, stole the safe in which was the videotape of their honeymoon, and their lovemaking. He also recalls that the entire storyline of the series is based on an article published by Rolling Stone Magazine in 2014, which went into detail about the affair of the sex tape, and how it had taken place.
The Pam & Tommy showrunners were keen to show the horror experienced by the couple when this video escaped their control, and the real trauma it had caused them. They also point out how this event kicked off the “age of the sex tape,” at a time when the power of the internet was just beginning to be measured, with celebrities consciously using the technique to gain exposure.
“We will not name anyone. But because other sextapes subsequently emerged, some cynically believe that Pamela and Tommy were okay with the release of this video. But this is totally false. They were victims of a crime. (…) And this series also deals with the incredible strength of character and heroism of Pamela Anderson behind the scenes to face all this, and succeed in getting out of it, ”says DeVincentis.
DV DeVincentis is particularly admiring of the way in which the actress manages, for all these years, to publicly collect the inappropriate questions on this incident, to keep smiling, and to use this to evoke the subjects which are really close to her heart, like the defense of the animal cause. “It’s a conscious choice, and it takes a lot of courage on his part,” he says.