The Eyes of Tammy Faye is an intimate look at televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker’s amazing rise, failure, and restoration. Tammy Faye and her husband, Jim Bakker, built the world’s greatest religious television network and theme park from poor beginnings in the 1970s and 1980s, and were respected for their message of love, acceptance, and success.
Tammy Faye was known for her unforgettable eyelashes, eccentric singing, and willingness to accept people from all walks of life. However, it wasn’t long until financial misdeeds, scheming competitors, and scandal brought their neatly crafted empire crashing down.
Jessica Chastain, Kelly Carmichael, Rachel Shane, and Gigi Pritzker produced the film, which was directed by Michael Showalter and written by Abe Sylvia. Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones, Fredric Lehne, Louis Cancelmi, Sam Jaeger, Gabriel Olds, Mark Wystrach, and Vincent D’Onofri are among the key cast members.
While this movie document the life and demise of Tammy Faye, how closely does it stick to the truth and does it do justice to the real happenings that actually took place, this is what we will explore further in this article and get right down to the bottom of it.
The film, which is based on a 2000 documentary of the same name, will be released to the general public on September 17, 2021 in the United States.
Is The Eyes of Tammy Faye based on a true story?
Tammy Faye Messner’s genuine story is as layered as the makeup she’s famous for. To say the least, the film appears to be expansive. Messner’s narrative will be told by Chastain from the time she met her husband Jim in college until at least her second marriage to Roe Messner in the 1990s.
The teaser provides short glimpses into Messner’s complicated personality, ranging from her blind devotion to her spouse Jim to her sympathy for the LGBTQ community and HIV/AIDS patients during the peak of the epidemic.
In the 1970s, pioneer televangelists Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker became well-known. In 1960, they met as undergraduates and soon began travelling the road as ministers together. Such activity was prevalent in the United States at the time, according to the documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and the Bakkers were following in the footsteps of clergymen like Oral Roberts.
After struggling to make a living on the road, Pat Robertson, a well-known televangelist, invited them to host a show on the Christian Broadcast Network, which was still in its infancy at the time. Robertson wanted the Bakkers to host a children’s show for the network after they had found success using puppets to explore and explain Christianity. They agreed on the condition that Jim host a late-night talk show as well.
According to the documentary, Robertson agreed. Jim went on to host The 700 Club, a syndicated talk show that is still on the air today. According to Tammy Faye, Robertson then wanted to be the centre of attention and took over the performance. Robertson continues to host the show and is well-known for his history of prejudiced remarks.
The Bakkers launched the PTL Satellite Network in 1974. From 1974 through 1987, they hosted The PTL Club, the network’s flagship show. The acronym PTL stands for “Praise the Lord.” In the 1970s and 1980s, Tammy Faye became noted for her voice and made more than a dozen gospel recordings. They established Heritage USA, called the Christian Disney World, in 1978.
Tammy Faye embraced the LGBTQ+ community, unlike other Evangelical leaders, including her husband. Even scenes from Bakker’s historic conversation with AIDS campaigner Steve Pieters, played by Randy Havens, are shown in the trailer for The Eyes of Tammy Faye.
The movie then follows the scandals which led to the demise of the influential teleevangalist. Former church secretary Jessica Hahn claimed in 1987 that Jim Bakker had sexually assaulted her in 1980. Hahn had been given $200,000 by the ministry to keep quiet. Bakker later stated that he believed it was a consenting relationship.
Jim resigned from his position as PTL’s CEO after the news broke. Falwell pushed the Bakkers out of the company they built, just as he had done in the past.
After thereafter, the government began looking into PTL’s finances and filed criminal charges against Jim. He was charged with twenty-three charges of fraud and one count of conspiracy in 1988 and sentenced to 45 years in prison.
The Bakkers divorced in 1992. Tammy Faye married megachurch designer Roy Messner and changed her last name. She spent the last few years of her life singing, appearing on television, and finding her faith.
She also spoke openly about her years-long battle with drug addiction, as depicted in the documentary. Messner admits in the documentary that Diet Coke is her only surviving addiction. Big Tent: The Tammy Faye Bakker Musical, which premiered on Broadway in 2007, was inspired by her life. She died in the same year, at the age of 65.
Jim Bakker’s sentence was reduced to eight years during an appeals hearing, and he was paroled in 1994. He then returned to his job as a televangelist, which he still does today.
The movie thus is definitely based on true story and documents the rise and fall of the couple through the eyes of Tammy Faye and stays as true to the 2000’s documentary since it is a biopic after all.