In the upcoming Showtime limited series George & Tammy, Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon take on the roles of two of country music’s biggest icons, Tammy Wynette and George Jones, but it turns out that portraying the couple, referred to as Mr. and Mrs. Country music in the 1970s, by itself wasn’t what made Chastain the most nervous. It turns out it was the singing. Speaking with ET, Chastain revealed that it was singing in the series that made her the most nervous as both she and Shannon used their own singing voices in the project.
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“Yes, the singing,” Chastain said. “Sometimes before I’d sing a song, I’d look out into the audience and see all these sweet faces of these girls and be like, ‘do not listen to the lyrics of these songs.’”
While the singing may be what Chastain is most nervous about, showrunner Abe Sylvia told The Hollywood Reporter that it was very important that she and Shannon use their own vocals in the series.
“I think that the important thing to remember is George and Tammy themselves conveyed so much pain and beauty and sorrow and joy and happiness and all of this emotion in their vocals, and that’s what we wanted to capture with Michael and Jessica,” Sylvia said. “The vocals are recorded live, and you get their true feelings in the vocals at all times, that’s how they’re most like George and Tammy.”
The series, which also stars Steve Zahn, Kelly McCormack, Katy Mixon, and Walter Goggins is directed by John Hillcoat and will tell the story of Wynette and Jones, who created many iconic country music hits together all while sharing a rocky personal relationship as a couple.
“It was fascinating to me that someone like Tammy Wynette, who sang all these songs like ‘Stand by Your Man’ also was married five times,” Chastain said previously. “I was excited about this woman who was married and divorced multiple times and struggling in Nashville and really made a name for herself on her own. She charted multiple times before she met George Jones.”
George & Tammy debuts December 4th on Showtime.
