Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield suit up as superstar televangelists in The Eyes Of Tammy Faye trailer
The upcoming film will take an “intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker."
Film News Tammy Faye
Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield look almost unrecognizable in their new roles as televangelists Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker for the upcoming Searchlight Pictures production The Eyes Of Tammy Faye.
The Eyes Of Tammy Faye will take an “intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker. In the 1970s and 80s, Tammy Faye and her husband, Jim Bakker, 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.”
Academy Award nominees Chastain and Garfield star as the Bakkers, the married couple from Minnesota who—in their pursuit of sharing the Lord’s word—created a televangelist empire. The two were the founding hosts of of The 700 Club and co-founded the television show The PTL Club, which collapsed following a sex scandal between Jim and church secretary Jessica Hahn, in which Hahn alleges Jim raped her.
At the peak of their success, the Bakkers reached unimaginable heights. They created a multimillion dollar business, which afforded them luxuries even God would struggle to afford. But as they say, more money, more problems, and in 1988 Jim was indicted on eight counts of mail fraud, 15 counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy.
Tammy Faye was known throughout her career for her kindness, sincerity, and her empathy toward the LGBT community at the height of the AIDs epidemic. She took on the last name Messner after the re-marrying mega-church contractor Roe Messner following her divorce from Jim Bakker in 1992. Messner died in 2007 after an 11-year long, highly publicized fight with cancer.
Following his time in prison Jim Bakker went on to remarry Lori Graham, and the two now raise money on The Jim Bakker Show by selling end of the world products to help people prepare for “the end of days.” During the COVID pandemic, the two sold the debunked colloidal silver supplements, claiming it cured the coronavirus. Jim and Lori were ordered to cease selling the product by the state of New York, and Missouri and Arkansas have since filed lawsuits against the couple.
The Eyes Of Tammy Faye hits theaters September 17, 2021.
32 Comments
God damn is it weird seeing crook Jim Baker portrayed by Andrew Garfield, and Jessica Chastain really nailed the persona of Tammy Faye. Thank you for adding that Jim is still scamming people to this day with his new show. It’s all wild stuff and he should be ashamed.
Very confused because this film shares a name with an early ‘00s documentary (narrated by RuPaul) about the exact same subject matter. When I first saw it on release schedules, I thought it was an anniversary re-release.Just thought that merited a mention.
Right? So weird that the filmmakers did that, and somehow even weirder than none of the “reporting” mentions it. The doc made a huge impression on me when I saw it in theaters, and when I re-watched it a year or two ago I was like “wow, half of Drag Race’s jokes come from Tammy Faye Bakker.”
I’m worried this will subject me to another two hours of poorly-done Minnesota accents, but I’ll watch this since Showalter is directing and this could be one of Chastain’s better film choices. I think she’s good at her job, and her filmography should be better.
Not to knock Michael Showalter, but I couldn’t help think what a perfect story this would be for the Coen Brothers.
Dammit, I hadn’t thought of that, and now that’s all I can think of. Also, how great (but unconventionally cast) would Frances McDormand be as Tammy Faye?
And I love the idea of Steve Buscemi as Jim. Because they’re both kinda funny looking, in a general way.
There is so much I like about this: I adore Jessica Chastain, and so want to see her with a role that equals her astonishing breakthrough in 2011-12, and this kind of story (rags to riches back to rags) is my kind of thing…but man, those prosthetics she has look like something made for an SNL skit.
And now my day just got sad because I remembered they are both dead.
Well, to be fair … Also, RIP Jan Hooks.
And for some reason, I’ve always confused Nora Dunn with Jan Hooks, so when Hooks died, I was thinking of Dunn, and even now, I will still mix them up, which leads me to discover all over again just who has actually died. It a vicious circle of mourning.
Catherine O’Hara also did a very funny impression of Tammy Faye for SCTV, but when I saw the trailer I kept thinking of Jan and how good Jan would have been in this part.
Chastain is a great actor and I love Showalter, but this just makes me want more Righteous Gemstones.
Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield look almost unrecognizable in their new roles as televangelists Tammy Faye and Jim BakkerYes, agreed; I do not recognize them as Tammy Faye or Jim Bakker. Is she wearing some kind of prosthetic jaw?
no mention at all that this is a michael showalter joint? i know av club’s been slipping but c’mon.
They think he died in 2000.
He attended an annual event that used to be racist!
I’m glad we’re humanizing and celebrating the quirky adventures of snake oil salesmen who scammed and damaged an untold number of lives. No editorializing the objectively horrific things they did in this article, no sir. At least they didn’t appear in a sketchy beauty pageant in their teens.
I do wonder if there is a single televangelist out there who isn’t running a scam.Thankfully we don’t get these nutters in the rest of the world.
My main concern is that they won’t recreate the Bakker’s waterslide properly.
Whoa. And there it is. Jessica Chastain can be made less than gorgeous.
If they’re just going to put Andrew Garfield in makeup to look like Ty Burrell, just cast Ty Burrell.
This is one of those rare cinematic cases where the leading woman is actually older than the leading man.
I don’t think I could watch Chastain transform into Tammy Faye.
I know this will not be well-received here, because Jessica Chastain is awesome, and I’ll still watch this, but it’s jarring how little she looks like Tammy Faye, and instead how she looks like Jessica Chastain in heavy makeup doing a Marge Gunderson imitation. It also messed with my head a little because I could swear Tammy Faye had a southern accent, not Minnesota?
I’m so in love with her that she even looks hot to me as Tammy Faye.
Bernadette Peters played Tammy Faye in an early 90s TV movie. With then-little-known Kevin Spacey as Jim. Surely I’m not the only person who remembers.
You are, and stop calling us Shirley.
Kevin Spacey played Jim Bakker…I wonder who is more embarrassed by that fact now LOL
As long as the movie doesn’t try to redeem in some way that grifting, hate-filled sack of full colostomy bags Jim Bakker, then maybe it’ll be ok.
It’s a well-made trailer (for whatever that’s worth), but a part of me feels like this story is already so well known and no one can tell Tammy Faye’s story better than she did herself. I was mostly struck by how little resemblance Andrew Garfield bears to Jim Bakker. I know the movie isn’t about Jim, and I’d rather watch Andrew Garfield than that ghoul any day, but…I guess that makeup budget did not run far.