Lily James Reflects on Transforming into Pamela Anderson | Building Character | Harper’s Bazaar

Hey Harper's Bazaar, I'm Lily James and I'm breaking down how I brought some of my most iconic characters to life. The Countess of Grantham presenting the Lady Rose McClare. This is Lady Rose Aldridge from Downton Abbey. This is really, really early doors for me. I think this is one of the big first auditions that I got where I thought, oh hang on a second, this is unbelievable because growing up in England, I was obsessed with period dramas. I mean, Kate Winslet was my dream. It couldn't have been a more perfect role and more of a dream of mine to exist in a show and in a world like Downton Abbey. When I found out, I remember I was in a coffee shop in West London and I spilt my drink all over myself. I could not believe it. I had my hair blonde because I'd done this film. I dyed it blonde. And then when I turned up to shoot Downton Abbey, I'd gone back to a brunette and they were completely stunned. I didn't realise you should really tell to many people at that time and so I wore a wig in the end actually. I think we dyed my hair too. They were like, no, no, no, no, Lady Rose is definitely a blonde. What have you done? I was so new. I was suddenly sitting opposite Maggie Smith and I'd only just left drama school and it was overwhelming and wonderful and everyone welcomed me in in a really beautiful way. I'm not going to give you an answer until you say it properly. Do I have to kneel down? Of course. Their costumes were out of this world. I'd go in every morning and there was all this different jewellery lined up and I got to pick how I'd accessorise my looks with all the long beads and the hats and the detail was extraordinary. We'd go to Angel's, which is this huge warehouse in London that has all the like authentic old vintage pieces from the time and then you'll look in the name tag and it'll say Cate Blanchett and she'd worn it in, you know, some show because they all get stored there. It's this huge archive so you feel this power. There's such a beautiful story around the wedding dress that I wore as Lady Rose. Our designer had found this dress in a vintage store and it was still in its original box and wrapped in a ribbon and it was a woman whose fiancé had died in the war and so she'd never got to wear her dress and so it actually makes me feel emotional thinking about it. And so I had this dress that was an original dress from that time period, from the 20s. By the end of the day, I guess it had been in a box for so long and it was silk, it was almost disintegrating on my skin. I love that feeling when you stand in front of the mirror and you're suddenly like wearing the skin and the clothes of the new character and with Lady Rose it was so exquisitely done. My dress. I can't go in this dress. Can you mend it? Mend it? No, no, no. I'll turn it into something new. Oh no, please don't. This was my mother's. This is Cinderella from Cinderella in 2015. Auditioning for Cinderella was one of the most intense periods of my career. I got told even by my agents, there is no way you're going to get this. I went in for one of the ugly sisters. They weren't ugly sisters but I went in for one of the sisters and I remember I'd worn my most disgusting pink and orange tie-dye jumper but because I dyed my hair blonde for Downton Abbey, I guess the casting director, the legendary Lucy Bevan, who I adore, said, oh why don't you read for Cinderella too? It was literally, I guess, my hair colour and before I went in, the casting director and my agents were like, just have fun because you're in front of Disney producers. You're probably not going to get this but just go for it. I did take that advice. I think I was spinning around and dancing around. There's so much secrecy around it so I couldn't tell anyone for a really long time. It's very connected to Downton Abbey. I remember Laura and Michelle knocking on my door and they were like, and I couldn't say but they could tell and I sort of celebrated it with that cast actually and then I told my brothers and my mum and then I couldn't say anything for a really long time. Fairy Godmother. What is it? My stepmother and the girls. Don't worry, I'll make sure they don't recognise you. The costumes were out of this world. They were built from scratch. I don't think I'll ever witness anything quite like that again. I mean, the bull gown was made of like 14 gossamer thin layers of different shades of blue silk, iridescent, like different shining and then I had the corset and it took like 40 minutes to get in the dress. The kind of creation of the whole Cinderella look was such a beautiful collaborative process. We had Carol Hemming who did my hair and she would stick tiny Swarovski crystals into my hair and you had to make sure that the hair could also be recreated as like a Disney store wig. And the slippers of course were Swarovski crystal and they were, obviously I couldn't put them on my feet. I had a wonderful foot double, thank God, and green spots on my feet. During the promotion of Cinderella, all the incredible shoe designers created like a Cinderella inspired slipper and I have every single one. At the moment I have the Jimmy Choo slipper which is stunning on my mantelpiece. But there was Louboutin and it was just really a Charlotte Olympia and it's kind of my most prized possessions now. You know what you want? Your name? Well, you can get that for free. It's Debbie. Deborah. This is Deborah from Baby Driver from 2017. I'm a huge fan of Edgar Wright's. I just would have done anything to be in his movie. I have found that I can only really be funny by accident and in the audition I kept forgetting my lines and sort of, oh, oh, and he would really think I was hilarious and then I got the job and then I just, the part was never funny again. But it was too late because I had the job. I loved, loved, loved, loved working with him and Ansel. It felt very iconic, that relationship and the world that Edgar created on those sets and with the costume. I didn't get to drive as much as I'd have liked, but there was amazing times in the car where Ansel was spinning it around. Incredible scenes with Jon Hamm in the diner being absolutely terrifying. Eiza Gonzalez just being such a kind of firecracker and just so incredibly sexy. I loved that diner dress. I thought it was beautifully designed. It was kind of me getting into the modern age and leaving period dramas behind. I was really happy to be out of a The dress was very short, though, so there was other things to contend with. It's never straightforward. I'm really excited about the sequel. Unlike Mamma Mia, I am in it. I really, really hope it happens. There's an amazing script. This was me playing young Donna in Mamma Mia. I was on my way to Glastonbury Music Festival and I had the whole car packed up, ready to go and sort of like pulled up, jumped out the car, ran in, had to sing and dance and then got back in the car and went to the festival and then you don't really have signal there and you kind of disappear for four days. And I found out I got the job at that time but hadn't had the phone on me, so I didn't know. And then I came back from Glastonbury having completely lost my voice and having to go into like singing lessons. I was like, oh no, I can't speak anymore. I had loved Mamma Mia the musical since I was a kid. I knew every song off by heart anyway, so it felt so kind of rooted in me, that music. My favourite part of Donna's style, again, it felt very sort of how I was when I was 18. A lot of like big chunky jewellery that she'd obviously got like on her travels and a lot of kind of colour and the dungarees and floaty dresses. It was just very reminiscent of that kind of 70s but could be right now like free spirit when you're so young and you're out and you're going to explore the world. When I was preparing for this, I didn't ever meet Meryl and then eventually she came and we had this kind of moment where we danced together in the closing credits and it was really, really special. I mean, to meet Meryl Streep and have that moment with her was very meaningful for me and she was so much fun. I did study her performance. I remember the main things I noticed. Her performance is so kind of like this amazing way that Meryl Streep can do it. It's kind of larger than life but completely truthful and honest. It's a bold character and I noticed there was a lot of hand gestures and this beautiful expanse in her body language and the way she danced and sang and so I did really try and emulate that for sure and obviously the dungarees helped in connecting us. Tommy, Tommy, do not come. Goodbye Tommy. This is me as Pamela Anderson in Pam and Tommy in 2022. I did an audition for this. This was something I was offered. Couldn't believe it. I thought they were utterly insane. They did then explain the logic behind it, which was that she was the kind of girl next door from Vancouver Island and they wanted it to be a surprise for people to go, why have you cast her? That was kind of part of the trick so that there could be a big transformation. They had a fake forehead, then they stuck the eyebrows on. I had fake teeth. Obviously I had fake boobs. It took four hours so over those four hours I would be listening to Pamela's voice in my head and honestly I just wanted to capture an essence of her that I'd found in watching her. Kind of beauty and an innocence and kind of at that time and this kind of chaos and romance, impulsivity. The costumes were so incredible. Particularly that 90s style was just so kind of cool girl, rock and roll, rebellious, two fingers up. It just felt like free. I did keep one outfit. There's an amazing sequin pink miniskirt and this kind of like v-neck halter neck with a backless. All sequins and it was so heavy. I kept that. I don't wear it usually together because it's a lot but I wear them separate. I felt huge pressure obviously to do justice to Pamela Anderson and the story. Of course it's a very sensitive story and we really wanted to kind of champion her, reshift the narrative. It was such an iconic rock and roll time so stepping into those, they were big shoes to fill and working with Sebastian will be one of the great experiences of my kind of acting life because we were both so in it. We never really entirely spoke to one another as Lily and Sebastian until the movie wrapped. It was so full on and so fast that we kind of stayed in it. I didn't meet Pam throughout filming. I did meet her at a Versace fashion show which was very surreal. It was brief but sort of said hello and introduced myself and actually she'd invited me to the film of her documentary which was amazing to watch. It is a crazy thing to play someone real. She was just awesome. Women have to send the first message. This is going to shift outdated gender dynamics, encouraging equality from the get go. Lastly this is me as Whitney Wolfhard in Swiped. I read the script and was very bowled over by this woman's story. She is the founder and creator of Bumble, the dating app. There was a woman that was moving with such conviction and resilience and tenacity and really breaking boundaries and so to explore that moment in tech history where these apps were created, the inception, I thought that was interesting to look back at and celebrate a story about a younger self-made female billionaire. I wanted to champion that. We recreated a lot of real looks that Whitney had worn. I really remember that 2012 skinny jeans, big scarves and I was dreading it. I said to the costume designer Beth Morgan, you've got to help me out here because it didn't suit me then and it's not going to suit me now. It doesn't feel so long ago but it does feel like a very different time stylistically. I think there was a journey of her that we as, by the way, completely our interpretation, rejecting your femininity to try and fit in and kind of sit in with the boys club and we kind of explored her wearing more jeans and baggy stuff. Then as she was finding her strength and her courage, stepping into her femininity more and owning her femininity. It's very subtle and nuanced but as she steps into Bumble, she's wearing these bright yellow suits. She's wearing colour. She's in a room of dudes in grey suits and she is owning her light and her womanliness in a way that's super powerful. I really enjoyed exploring that. Thank you so much for watching and Swiped is out now on Hulu and Disney+.