Pam & Tommy True Story Explained: What's Real & What Changed
Here’s what’s real and what’s changed in the portrayal of the true story in Pam & Tommy. The eight-part Hulu series is based on the real-life incident surrounding the sex-tape scandal concerning Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson, with Sebastian Stan and Lily James playing the respective roles. The first three episodes of Pam & Tommy premiered on Hulu on Feb 2, 2022, while the rest is expected to follow a weekly-release format.
The core of Pam & Tommy is based on a 2014 Rolling Stone exclusive story about the nitty-gritties of the scandal, perhaps featuring the only public testimony by Rand Gauthier (Seth Rogen), who accidentally found the tape after stealing the couple’s safe. The basic tenets, facts, and dramatic retellings of the show closely follow the reported story, but the show adds its own layer of embellishments for creative effect. In essence, while most of the events mimic real-life, some are mere additions to flesh out individual character arcs and holistic themes.
For instance, most of the conversations are creative imaginings, wherein the ones in the initial episodes are written with the comedic, satirical tone of the show in mind. Also, the storylines about Gauthier’s ex-wife, Erica, have obviously been altered to offer a more holistic view of her dynamic with Gauthier. Here’s what’s real in the Pam and Tommy story and what’s changed.
It is now common knowledge that Gauthier was a disgruntled electrician who was not paid the $20,000 he was owed by the couple for working on the mansion’s renovations. However, the turning point in Rand Gauthier’s motivations was when he went back to the mansion with a general contractor to retrieve their tools, only to be denied and being asked to get off the property at gunpoint by Lee himself. The show retraces this incident in a similar fashion, making the alteration that Rand goes in alone without explicit permission from the property owners, hence, trespassing when he had gone in to retrieve his tools.
As shown in the show, the real Gauthier had planned an elaborate heist of the couple’s garage safe by staking out the house for weeks. His strategy for bypassing the security cameras was to throw a white Tibetan yak fur over himself and crawl, in an attempt to resemble the couple’s dog. As bizarre as this sounds, this seems to have been exactly how Gauthier managed to carry out the theft unnoticed, although details about how he hauled a huge Browning safe out of the gates remain fuzzy. The show tries to fill in the gaps as best as possible, using the mention of a U-haul in the Rolling Stone interview to make the heist a success, combined with the prospect of sheer luck working in his favor.
The absolutely sudden, chaotic way in which Pam and Tommy meet in episode 2, “I Love You, Tommy”, is mostly true to real life, as the couple first met during a New Year’s Eve party in 1994. While Pamela is clearly smitten by Lee’s persona, she puts some distance between them initially, but is eventually swept away by his persistent wooing. Lee went on to surprise Pamela during a shoot in Cancun, although she repeatedly asks him not to come in the show, spending a grand total of four days together before he proposed to her. The highs and thrills of the relationship have been captured somewhat well in the second episode, albeit the treatment is in the form of a highly glamorous, stylized, nostalgia high. The couple did get married on a beach in Cancun, with Pamela wearing the white bikini which also happened to be one of the items inside the stolen safe. Instead of a traditional ring ceremony, the couple got tattoos of each other’s names on their ring fingers. While all of these aspects are retained in the show, viewers also get a glimpse into the emotional aspect of the dynamic, which is really sweet for the most part.
One of the many highlights of Pamela’s career is her role as lifeguard C.J.Parker in Baywatch, in which she starred throughout five seasons. Being one of the primary characters of the show, C.J. was close friends with show lead Mitch Buchannon and an adept lifeguard who would never hesitate to rescue those in need as a part of her job. Pam & Tommy highlights Pamela’s fame as C.J., with the image of her running across the beach in the iconic red swimsuit becoming a pop culture phenomenon at the time. However, the show also focuses on the reductive role she was provided as the seasons went on, wherein the showrunners solely focused on her body as opposed to her autonomy as an empowered character. Whether Pamela had to actually deal with misogynistic condescension on the set of Baywatch or whether her monologue was actually cut out from the show remains unknown.
The release of the tape in 1996 coincided with the release of Barb Wire, a superhero film based on the eponymous Dark Horse comic book series, with Pamela in the titular role. The film was critically panned due to a plethora of reasons, from helming a terrible storyline to being overwhelmingly hollow. True to real-life events, the show focuses on the barrage of intrusive questions that Pamela is subjected to, especially during her media appearances, such as when she is on the Jay Leno show. While Barb Wire did not take off for obvious reasons (the inherent quality of the film), Baywatch got its highest ratings while the tape remained in news, despite the fact that some foreign markets and network affiliates demanded that the show be canceled.
Much is not known about Gauthier except his involvement in the scandal and the fact that he was a small-time porn actor apart from mainly working at construction sites. This has been captured in Pam & Tommy in a much more detailed manner, wherein Rand meets porn actor Erica during one of his work visits at her home, where the two bond and eventually get married after a while. Due to the comedic nature of the first few episodes, especially aspects of Rand’s life, his involvement in the adult entertainment industry is presented as more of a coincidence than a planned choice. Gauthier is shown struggling on an economic level, and his marriage, for reasons unstated, crumbled after a few years, While Rand and Erica are shown to be on good terms, there is a sense of bittersweetness in the relationship, with Erica being befuddled by Rand’s actions, especially after she learns the truth about the leaked sex tape.
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