Where You’ve Seen ‘Pam and Tommy”s Sebastian Stan Before
Sebastian Stan — the actor best known for his work as Bucky Barnes and the Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — will play a whole different type of bad boy when he stars as Tommy Lee in Hulu's upcoming limited series Pam & Tommy.
The series will chronicle the whirlwind relationship between Lee and Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson, who got married only four days after meeting each other in 1995, and the fallout from the leak of their honeymoon sex tape. The role of Anderson goes to Lily James, who formerly starred as the titular protagonist of the 2015 live-action Cinderella remake.
Following an appearance in a 2003 episode of Law & Order, Stan's first recurring television role came in 2007 when he was cast as Carter Baizen in Gossip Girl, whom he played for the show's first three seasons. He also landed a leading role as Jonathan "Jack" Benjamin in the 2009 serial TV drama Kings, which was canceled after its first 13-episode season.
Around that time, Stan also began picking up more substantial movie roles. He appeared in two vastly different feature films in 2010: Black Swan and Hot Tub Time Machine. But his career exploded the following year when he made his MCU debut as Bucky Barnes in Captain America: The First Avenger. The film grossed $370 million worldwide, and Stan starred in its two direct sequels, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War, as well as Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Watch the 'Pam & Tommy' Trailer
Stan, 39, is no stranger to epic production budgets and elaborate costuming and makeup. Nevertheless, he said transforming into Lee — who was 32 when he and Anderson got married — on set every day was a Herculean task. "I think it took two hours for myself and then three hours for Lily almost every morning," he told Entertainment Tonight earlier this month. "Then you pile that onto a 12-hour day, and it just definitely gets interesting by the end."
Those hours in the makeup chair paid off. When Hulu released its first photos from Pam & Tommy last May, fans were astounded to see how much Stan resembled Lee, sporting the rocker's full-sleeve tattoos, "Mayhem" stomach tattoo and nipple piercing.
The actor said it was especially disorienting to see his costar, whom he didn't even recognize after shooting wrapped. "It's really wild, with Lily, because the first time I saw her as herself was actually at the end of the shoot five months later," he said. "And I was like, 'Who are you?' That's when we actually formally met."
Although Stan may not share Lee's rock 'n' roll bona fides, the drummer supports the casting decision and the direction of the series. "I know Sebastian, he's playing me. From what he's told me, really beautiful story," Lee told ET in September 2021. "I think a lot of people would think it's one thing, but it's really about privacy and how things got crazy then. There's different laws now."