Emmy Rossum really must have wanted to say goodbye to Fiona Gallagher because her new turn in Angelyne is a total 180. She’s bewigged as the iconic, buxom-blonde beauty shrouded in mystery as she graced 1980s billboards in Los Angeles. Of course, Rossum’s next project after Shameless landed at an awkward time, due to the global situation, so Peacock’s Angelyne took four years to bring to life.
The final product, well, it’s very pink, and my apologies to Winston Churchill for botching his iconic quote, and I’m completely out of context here. The series aims to take a pointed look at identity and celebrity and how we view ourselves vs. how other people view us, and it’s a ride, alright. Poor Hamish Linklater (Netflix’s Midnight Mass and many other selections where he’s unsettled the bejesus out of people) looks so surprisingly uncool. In other words, the hair, makeup, and wardrobe do their intended job.
The show dives into the Marilyn Monroe-wannabe persona of Angelyne, who road numerous coattails in her quest to be famous for nothing. Take that, Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. Angelyne is also a Barbie doll homage of sorts, and this series has got a whole gathering of familiar male faces (Lukas Gage, Martin Freeman, David Krumholtz, and more) who pop up to support the leading lady’s rise to the literal top of LA. We’ve already seen a brief teaser, but this trailer fills in more blanks about how (dare I say) unrecognizable that Emmy Rossum decided to be on her maiden voyage out of South Side Chicago.
Let’s just say that the wig budget must be outrageous. From the limited series’ synopsis:
ANGELYNE, Peacock’s limited series about fame, identity, survival, billboards, Corvettes, lingerie, men, women, women teasing men, men obsessed with women, West Hollywood, crystals, UFOs, and most importantly of all, the self-proclaimed Rorschach test in pink, glow-in-the-dark queen of the universe, Angelyne.
Angelyne premieres on May 19. Enjoy these images and wonder how much time was spent in the makeup trailer.
