The suggestion that she could play the singer, though, got her curious.
“And I have a whole new appreciation for that songwriting ‘cause it feels like diary entries.
It feels so exposed and vulnerable.”
Michael Shannon as George Jones and Jessica Chastain as Tammy Wynette in ‘George & Tammy’.Dana Hawley/SHOWTIME
Is there any relief in getting to focus on something more specific or contained?
Or do you still get to play around a bit?
I had confidence that he knew what he was talking about.
Jessica Chastain as Tammy Wynette in ‘George & Tammy’.Dana Hawley/SHOWTIME
That we still have to come up with between the two of us.
And I love that about playing a real character, I love research.
But then in some sense, you forget all about it.
Michael Shannon as George Jones in ‘George & Tammy’.Dana Hawley/SHOWTIME
And then I stopped planning things out.
And I found that to be particularly that way with this story.
CHASTAIN:Her laugh for me was super important.
Mike is such an interesting person to work with ‘cause there’s so many surprises.
So I worked on her laugha lotso it would become second nature to me.
That’s one of the most powerful things I’ve ever seen, really, that performance.
How they kind of get stuck inside these songs, you know?
Like “Golden Ring” it really is a ring and they’re stuck in it.
That always just fascinated me.
Eventually, he accomplished that.
Unfortunately, for George and Tammy, it was after she was gone.
But he got it eventually.
But they had a desire to try and overcome that.
CHASTAIN:Period of relative what?
Were you gonna say peace?
SHANNON:Not peace.
I don’t know.
SHANNON:Yeah, yeah.
She was an incredible cook.
That was something that all the men she dated always talked about she really knew how to feed someone.
But she also enjoyed sex.
I remember Georgette telling me there were mirrors above the bed.
She was a very sensual woman, and shelovedmen.
She loved everything about men.
I wish she loved herself as much as she loved the men around her.
You two obviously have worked together before Take Shelteris such a fantastic film.
How did that experience lend itself to this one?
We really went into it together and it was so scary for both of us.
[Laughs]
SHANNON:Yeah.
Scary in what way?
CHASTAIN:I mean, we’re completely out of our depth.
He started working with us in March 2021.
We’d each have a solo session, then we’d work on the duets.
He’s just an incredible teacher very patient and very kind.
You pre-record some of the vocals, just in case you might’t sing them when you’re shooting.
CHASTAIN:If you get like laryngitis or something, so you don’t lose a shoot day.
So you sang live as much as possible for the entire shoot?
CHASTAIN:All day, yeah.
She was the one who was on set with us recording all the vocals, every day.
She’d come in if there was ever an issue.
During those early rehearsals on Zoom, had you already finished filmingThe Eyes of Tammy Faye?
Or were you going back and forth between the Tammys?
So it was kind of like the beginning of that movie being released and then working on this.
Are there any other famous Tammys you could play?
It’s not a lot.
What kind of fulfillment do you get as a producer that you don’t get as a performer?
CHASTAIN:It’s more stressful, that’s for sure.
But I guess what really excites me is helping to focus the story.
CHASTAIN:The reality is they knew each other longer.
It’s hard to do that in one episode.
It was really important for us to show that immediately they had a connection.
I mean, she was connected to him before they ever even met.
She had that book that she wrote down every lyric of his song.
It’s like being seen, being truly seen, by another human being.
And that’s perhaps why it feels fast.
George & Tammyairs Sundays at 9 p.m. on Showtime.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
