Reneé Zellweger revealed on Monday’s episode of “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” that she needed “lots of Benadryl” to wear her costume in NBC’s new crime drama “The Thing About Pam.”
Zellweger, who played convicted murderer Pam Hupp, told Fallon, “I had to wear prosthetics.” “I was extremely allergic to the adhesive. It was absolutely hilarious.”
The “Judy” star joked that she needed “a lot of Benadryl” to get through a workday.
During the time period of the show, which begins around the day Hupp’s former friend, Elizabeth “Betsy” Faria, was killed on December 27, 2011, Hupp weighs noticeably more than Zellweger.
In addition to the prosthetics, Zellweger had to wear a fat suit, which she said took “about four hours and 20 or 30 minutes” to complete at the start of production. However, by the end of the shoot, Zellweger claimed that prosthetics designer Arian Titan had “whittled it down to under three hours.”
Regardless of how long it took, Zellweger had a good time in the makeup chair. “You can call your mom in the chair and finish your Christmas shopping,” she advised Fallon.
The actor previously told Entertainment Tonight that the time it took to transform into Hupp was because “the idea is to be accurate” with the costume. Hupp, according to Zellweger, “seems so familiar” to the audience. So it was critical for Zellweger to nail Hupp’s physical characteristics so that the audience could feel the same way.
During an interview with ET, Zellweger explained that Hupp, who grew up in a small town in Missouri, was able to get away with her crimes in part because of the way she looked. People “projected” their perceptions of Hupp onto her rather than seeing who she truly was.
While Zellweger’s transformation is realistic, it has sparked debate due to the decision to have an established star wear a fat suit rather than cast a mid-weight actor in the role.
Ant Anstead, her boyfriend, joked in an edited Instagram caption that his “smoke show” girlfriend Zellweger should “leave the wardrobe at work.”
“The Thing About Pam” airs on NBC on Tuesdays at 10 p.m.
