Renee Zellweger’s transformation for “The Thing About Pam” may be incredible, but it was also pretty uncomfortable. The actress revealed Monday that she was actually very allergic to the adhesive used on the prosthetics she had to wear.
During an appearance on “The Tonight Show,” Zellweger discussed her new show, set to premiere on NBC tonight, and walked Jimmy Fallon through the long process of becoming Pam Hupp in the makeup chair. According to Zellweger, she only realized after the transformation was complete that she was having problems.
“By the time you get it on, you’re so excited, and you stand there and then you go ‘Oh wait. I think I’m allergic to this,’” she joked. “I was so allergic to the adhesive, it was hilarious. Y’all, lots of Benadryl. Lots of Benadryl.”
Zellweger noted that it initially took about four and a half hours to transform her into Hupp, but Arian Titan — who crafted and applied the look — was able to tighten it into two and a half hours. Zellweger joked that she was fine with how long it took, because she was able to get things done while sitting in the chair.
Obviously, acting through an allergic reaction is pretty tough, but Fallon was curious if there were any other difficulties that came with acting in heavy prosthetics. At that, Zellweger conceded there was.
“Well I didn’t know that it’s a whole different skill that I didn’t know I didn’t have,” she said. “And I really didn’t have it. I really didn’t.”
You can watch the moment in the video here and above.