How Sebastian Stan and Lily James became Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee | British GQ

When it came to Stan, the most obvious addition in the transformation were the tattoos, but interestingly, it was the hair that required constant work. In order to achieve Tommy Lee’s 90s grunge look, Stan’s hair was modified from its natural texture through a process he underwent every 6 to 8 weeks. He would “typically spend 3 hours in the hair and makeup chair and 30 to 45 minutes was spent prepping his hair with product and then styling,” says Moe.

Jason Collins (the special effects makeup artist) and his team meticulously researched Lee’s tattoos in chronological order, designed them on Photoshop and printed them on a specialized paper known as a ‘waterslide’. “We put it on in reverse, and sprayed it with adhesive, saturating the paper with water, allowing it to slide off and bond to the skin.”

He quickly realized that Lee actually had incomplete tattoos for some of the real-life events the series depicted, and Collins admits he was torn between creating a realistic portrayal, and not distracting the engrossed viewer. “Half of [Lee’s] mayhem chest was complete and the other half wasn't. If we wanted to be completely accurate, we would just go ahead and do that,” says Collins, who understands that there is a pre-existing fanbase ready to scrutinize. “But as a TV show that really does pull the audience out of it”, and on top of that, legality always plays a part. “We can't copyright or infringe upon a tattoo artist's work, so once we're done designing those tattoos, we have to change them about 30%.”

Biographical projects are always in danger of consciously, or perhaps sometimes unconsciously, portraying a gross caricature of their real-life counterparts. Especially if the real-life sources are not involved in the production, as Anderson and Lee were not. So how do the crew ensure they are not producing a caricature?

“It's always the fine line of believability and authenticity,” Williams tells me. “But [there was] no better student of Pam Anderson was Lily James. She was constantly working on her character. Everything we do is for nought if the actor can’t bring it to life. She was exceptional, every day, all day long, working on the accent and watching videos when we were in the chair.”  Williams continues, “one of my baseline statements about make-up is: we don’t do it if it doesn’t enhance the character. It cannot, at any moment, be distracting. If there’s anything on the line of potentially being distracting, to me, I say we don’t do it. Everything we do has to let them have the ability to fully execute the character that they created.” Moe adds that “you never want your actor to be fighting against what they’re wearing when they leave your chair,” speaking to a fundamental aim of the crew.

Another part of the transformation was the teeth. “Pam has that Pam Anderson smile that you know when you see it, and it has so many meanings to it. Lily was impeccable and how she utilized that smile, she actually wore the [fake] teeth a lot throughout the day, because she is also a British actress doing a Canadian/American dialect” says Williams.