George & Tammy
George & Tammy is an American biographical drama television miniseries created by Abe Sylvia and directed by John Hillcoat, which premiered on Paramount Network, Showtime and CMT on December 4, 2022, with Showtime as its primary network. It stars Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon as country musicians Tammy Wynette and George Jones, chronicling their tumultuous relationship and intertwined careers.
George & Tammy
Abe Sylvia
The Three of Us: Growing Up with Tammy and George
by Georgette Jones
"The World's Most Broken Heart" by Tammy Wynette
United States
English
6
- Jessica Chastain
- Kelly Carmichael
- Abe Sylvia
- Andrew Lazar
- Josh Brolin
- David C. Glasser
- David Hutkin
- Bob Yari
- Bryan Goluboff
- Ron Burkle
- John Hillcoat
Igor Martinovic
Katharine McQuerrey
- Freckle Films
- 101 Studios
- MTV Entertainment Studios
- Mad Chance Productions
- Blank Films Inc
- Aunt Sylvia's Moving Picture Company
- Brolin Productions
December 4, 2022 –
January 8, 2023
The series received a positive critical reception, particularly for the performances of Chastain and Shannon. For her role, Chastain received a nomination for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film at the 80th Golden Globe Awards and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie at the 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards.[1][2]
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
In February 2016, Josh Brolin announced that he and Chastain would play George Jones and Tammy Wynette in a biographical film.[3] In September 2020, it was announced the film would instead be a limited series, based on the book The Three of Us: Growing Up with Tammy and George by Georgette Jones, with Brolin no longer attached, instead serving as an executive producer.[4] John Hillcoat will direct all six episodes of the series.[5] Chastain's production company, Freckle Films is set to executive produce.
Casting[edit]
Upon the limited series announcement, Chastain was set to star as Tammy Wynette with Josh Brolin as George Jones.[4] In December 2021, it was announced that Michael Shannon would replace Brolin due to scheduling conflicts and Steve Zahn was to play George Richey.[5][6][7] In January 2022, Kelly McCormack and Katy Mixon joined the cast of the series, in guest starring roles.[8]
Filming[edit]
Principal photography began on December 8, 2021, at the EUE/Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina[9][10]
Music[edit]
Chastain and Shannon recorded their own vocals for the show and performed them live on set. When comparing the experience to her work as Tammy Faye in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Chastain explained that she found recording Wynette's songs more intimidating than any of Bakker's catalogue. Both actors worked with vocal coach Ron Browning for months prior to filming, with Shannon stating “These songs, they’re pretty deep and they’ve got some dark corners in them, and we spent a lot of time with them. In addition to learning how to sing them, I think they also kind of taught us about who the people were and the story we were telling.”[11] The songs were produced by T Bone Burnett and Rachael Moore and both actors talked about how the focus was not on doing an impersonation of Jones or Wynette but of capturing certain aspects of their personality and conveying this during their performances.[12] A soundtrack featuring songs from the show was released digitally from Sony Masterworks on December 16, 2022.[13]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 84% approval rating with an average rating of 6.9/10, based on 32 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "George & Tammy may not have the staying power of the classic songs recorded by its subjects, but this biopic benefits from a pair of well-matched and supremely committed leads."[19] On Metacritic the series holds a score of 71 based on 23 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[20]
