My God, the first trailer for the Michael Showalter-directed The Eyes of Tammy Faye at Searchlight looks amazing. It’s clear that Jessica Chastain is gonna be in the running for an Oscar after this movie comes out September 17. My guess is that it will debut at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Chastain is WORKING it as the titular televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in the first trailer and when she said, “Can we talk about satan later, Jim?” I was D.E.A.D.
Showalter directs a script by Abe Sylvia which follows the Notorious T.F.B. and her rise, fall and ultimate redeption. In the 1970s and ’80s, Tammy Faye and her husband, Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield — who also impresses in the trailer), rose from humble beginnings to create the world’s largest religious broadcasting network and theme park, and were revered for their message of love, acceptance and prosperity.
Tammy Faye was legendary for her indelible eyelashes, her idiosyncratic singing, and her eagerness to embrace people from all walks of life. However, it wasn’t long before financial improprieties, scheming rivals, and scandal toppled their carefully constructed empire.
Wet Hot American Summer icon Showalter is the perfect director for this project as he knows how to balance humor, heart and meaningful storytelling as we have seen in Hello, My Name Is Doris and the Oscar-nominated The Big Sick.
The film is low on POCs, but that’s forgiving because this is very much a white story. The film also stars Cherry Jones, Fredric Lehne, Louis Cancelmi, Sam Jaeger, Gabriel Olds, Mark Wystrach, and Vincent D’Onofrio
Watch the trailer above.
