Was Renée Zellweger’s Performance the Best Part of ‘The Thing About Pam’? (POLL)
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Thing About Pam series finale, “She’s A Killer.”]
Whether or not you enjoyed NBC’s six-part dramatized take on Pam Hupp, Renée Zellweger’s performance in The Thing About Pam has to stand out. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if she ended up with an Emmy nomination as a result.
The series offered a look at the murder of Betsy Faria (Katy Mixon in the series), for which Betty’s husband Russ (Glenn Fleshler) was convicted, despite his claims of innocence. He was later exonerated. The crime led to a chain of events that ultimately ended with Pam (Zellweger) in prison — and in showrunner Jenny Klein’s take, a meta conclusion that saw her watching the series. It’s a story that became popular after several episodes of Dateline NBC were dedicated to it, as well as a 2019 podcast.
Real footage of Pam played over the closing credits, and it’s then that Zellweger’s performance really shines. “That was something that we really wanted to do to show the real life Pam and hearken back to all these moments in our series where we reflected her costume, her mannerisms. You can really see how transformative Renée was in her physicality, in her carriage, in her cadence,” Klein told TV Insider.
One moment from the finale that rings true as a result of seeing that footage is Pam reaching across the table for the pen (which she’d then use to stab herself in the neck in the bathroom) and water bottle in the interrogation room.
“Renée studied that video and she came to set, she knew exactly how to do it,” Klein said. “And I was stunned because we hadn’t gone too deeply into it in prep. I was like, ‘Renée, that’s exactly how she did it.’ And Renée said, ‘Oh, yeah, this is like a choreography. It’s like a dance, learning these movements are so specific to the moment.’ And she took it so seriously. I was totally blown away.”
It’s scenes and prep work like that that make her performance easily the most memorable part of the show, as it should be. But what did you think? Was Zellweger as Pam the standout from the NBC limited series? Let us know in the poll below.
Conversation16 Comments
Please read the TV Insider Community Guidelines.
Comments are closed on this story.
-
P
Great performance by Renee. Love her in anything she does. I love true crime and followed this story on Snapped and Dateline. Looking forward to more like this. With Keith Morrison narrating. Perfection!
7
-
G
Fantastic job…Emmy and Golden Globe
7
-
B
Talk about Mental Illness! Renee should definitely win an award! Never have I seen such a portrayal of evil! Pam really is a "mad woman" with no conscience whatsoever! Truly a tragedy for all those that did not survive her insanity!
6
-
C
The only bad thing about it is that it's over!super great performance !
5
-
O
Absolutely fantastic!!! Best performance ever. She has got to get an award for it. I'm already watching all 6 episodes a second time!!
5
-
P
Great performance!! Definitely Emmy, Golden Globe. Outstanding!!
5
-
G
Renee crushed the dam thing...Def needs a nomination!
4
-
O
She was amazing. Nailed the character.
3
-
O
All I did was watch the commercial for it and thought it was Emmy-worthy. I would be shocked (and disappointed) if she didnt at least get a nomination for her portrayal of pure evil.
1
-
C
Renee did one bang up job as Pam. She really had you hating that women by her acting in " such " away to do that !!! I really think that the Prosecutor (in real life) is a real idiot !!! She almost is as bad as Pam. Her pride is her down fall. She has a real surprise coming when she meets her Maker. Just know they need to do a show abt Pam's early life. What in the world would cause someone to grow up as twisted as she IS !!! It's the way she thought through the curves, twists and holes to get where she got !!!
1
-
G
She should get an award for her portrayal of Pam. She was excellent and the make up was unbelievable. Even when they did close-ups. Definitely award material from Renee.
1
-
C
Yes, award for the worst tv actress! She was terrible, the whole show was terrible. I don’t know how she can look herself in the mirror after this, she won two Oscars!! This is below level of any oscar winner, awful, awful, awful!!
1
-
O
How do you figure? She was incredible, and the format, making it like a Dateline episode, clever and original. If you watch any clips of the real life person, you'll see she was spot on in her portrayal. To each their own, but you cannot say she didn't do this role justice with any level of credibility.
-
-
-
O
Renee should most definitely get an Emmy for her portrayal of this wretched witch! I found myself having to break from watching it! She played that role. I hope that witch never sees daylights.
-
R
I love Renee Zellweger I have watched just about every movie she's been in but my opinion her performance in The thing about Pam was horrible it was not a part she should of taken
8
-
O
Is that you, Pam?
-
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services