Younger audiences won’t remember Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, the hosts of the immensely popular television ‘ministry’ The PTL Club. Starting out of a small North Carolina studio, the Bakkers grew their show nationally and eventually into its own TV network. They even launched a 2500-acre theme park and resort. The couple’s lavish lifestyle was enough to rouse suspicion, but it was Jim Bakker’s sex scandals that brought the powerful hucksters to their knees.
The new film “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” sees Andrew Garfield and Jessica Chastain stepping into the roles of the televangelist power couple. The two stars make for a fascinating match and there is certainly plenty of material to cover. The film, directed by Michael Showalter, dropped its first trailer and looks to be taking a very sympathetic look at Tammy Faye. Jim Bakker was clearly a corrupt and contemptible charlatan but Tammy Faye’s hands weren’t exactly clean. It’ll be interesting to see if Showalter’s film sticks to their true story or has something else on its mind.
“The Eyes of Tammy Faye” opens in theaters September 17th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
Keith & the Movies 
:::smh::: Fleecing people in the name of God isn’t entertainment to me. Did either of these two ever see a day in prison?
Jim Bakker only served five years. Should have been a lot more!
Amen to that!
This looks awesome and also fun. Plus, the usage of “These Eyes” sold me. It has me thinking about Michael Cera singing that song in Superbad and talking about the hurtin’.
I’m not sure. It looks like they’re letting Tammy Faye off the hook a bit. We shall see.
True although I remember seeing a doc that her son did as he’s trying to understand what went wrong and such as he was trying to help his mom while his dad is still doing that preaching bullshit.
Man, there’s a special place in Hell for these evangelicals. The day God lays the smacketh down on these men trying to say they love the Lord will be the day we will see them in Hell spending their eternity being Satan’s bitches and listen to the most Satanic music of them all in…. SLAYER!!!!! *cackles*
I remember it all so vividly. Especially the infamous Nightline interview where Tammy Faye tried to defend her list of demands for leaving the PTL Club she sent to Jerry Falwell. She and Jim both knew they were robbing people blind.
IF YOU LOVE-A THE LORD-A!!!! THE WAY TO HELP HIM-A IS TO PUT A DOLLA IN THE BOX-A!!!!! Why couldn’t bank robbers go after them instead of the banks? At least they’d be doing something good for a change and put the money to something useful for a change? I’d rather trust the word of a common thief than someone claiming they’re doing the lord’s work.
We don’t have evangelicals over here, at least not on TV, I think this might be like watching a slow motion at crash, you do t want to see it but can’t look away. Chastain is nearly unrecognisable, what did they do to her cheeks!?
That slow motion car crash that you can’t look away from was exactly what their scandals were like at the time. I was young but I still remember it. They were nothing short of criminals who adopted the title of evangelical to rob people blind. And that’s not even counting Jim Baker’s sexual offenses.
I just might give it a watch to seee what it was all about. And also as I’m fascinated with Chastain’s cheeks.
I’m anxious to see how they handle it. And you’re right, Chastain’s cheeks are strangely fascinating. They almost have a life all their own! LOL just
I have no idea who these people are lol. I feel like this could go either way. It might be a solid biopic, or it might be Hillbilly Elegy. It seems they’re leaning into the camp. I’ll watch.
That’s a really good comparison – solid biopic or Hillbilly Elegy. I was young when their string of scandals hit, but I can still remember it very well. It was on the news everywhere around here. So disgraceful and crooked.