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We had to do a triple take when we saw the latest pictures of Renée Zellweger! The 52-year-old actress looked completely unrecognizable in some behind-the-scenes pictures from the upcoming NBC true crime drama, The Thing About Pam, in which she will be playing the role of convicted murderer, Pam Hupp. This might be one of the most shocking actress transformations we’ve ever seen – and that’s saying something!
The Oscar-winner (Zellweger won the Academy Award in 2020 for her phenomenal portrayal of Judy Garland in Judy, as well as the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Cold Mountain back in 2004) has really outdone herself with her commitment to the character of the 63-year-old Missouri-native, especially as far as her appearance is concerned! Is this really the same person who sashayed down this year’s Oscars red carpet in a sleek and sexy pink Giorgio Armani Privé dress? We can’t believe how different she looks – we are actually blown away! The Thing About Pam is based off an unbelievable (no really – it’s been branded as ‘stranger than fiction’ and we totally agree!) true crime podcast about the 2011 murder of housewife Betsy Faria. Filming officially started earlier this month, although we don’t currently have any more info on the estimated release date. We hope we don’t have to wait too long though!
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In the newly-released pictures, the Bridget Jones’s Diary actress (sorry, she will always be Bridget Jones to us!) can be seen wearing a fat suit and facial prosthetics, as well as a short strawberry blonde bob which we believe to be a wig. She is dressed in winter attire – we assume to accommodate for the snowy weather in Missouri, where the show is set – which includes oversized jeans, a pair of snowboots, and a white coat. It’s safe to say that, akin to all of her previous roles, Zellweger has really thrown everything into the part and given it her all!
The complicated murder case featured on several episodes on Dateline, and became one of the show’s most popular cases. It also became the subject of its very own podcast back in 2019, rather aptly entitled, The Thing About Pam, and to this day, is still one of the most downloaded podcasts on iTunes. The role of Pam Hupp is interesting, to say the least; and we can’t imagine all actresses would be willing to take on the part of a real-life convicted murderer. But if anyone can, we think the two-time-Oscar-winner can! Although, according to Zellweger herself, getting into character wasn’t without its problems…
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“She’s notorious, not famous,” the Chicago actress said during an interview at BlumFest on October 1st. In terms of how she will be playing the role, Zellweger explained that she would be “trying to understand the character just based on the limited information that’s available,” in reference to the lack of records associated with Hupp’s case.
“I’m just going to keep my head down and do my work, try to research different personality types and try to understand whether or not that psychosis or solipsism or combination of both, whatever it might be,” the Jerry Maguire star added. “Either way it’s going to be interesting and there’s a lot to learn.” We’ll say!
The Thing About Pam will be produced by Blumhouse Television, NBC News Studios and Zellweger’s production company, Big Picture Co, and will also star Katy Mixon – who is playing the role of Betsy – as well as Josh Duhamel, Judy Greer, and Gideon Adlon. Based on the pictures, the cast, and all the information we currently have, it looks like the show is going to be unmissable! Will Zellweger be able to make us feel empathy for the character? We actually think she might… we CANNOT WAIT for this to come out!
