Two years ago, Pamela Anderson’s eldest son, Brandon Thomas Lee, asked documentary filmmaker Ryan White (“Good Night Oppy,” “The Keepers”) to direct a film about his iconic, misunderstood mom. “He kind of wasn’t into it,” says Lee, who, undeterred, leaned into his pitch. “I was like, ‘Listen, just meet her. You guys will get along.’” Later, after White and Anderson spent a couple of hours nonstop talking on Zoom, White was all in.
“Everything Brandon told me was confirmed,” White says. “Pamela Anderson isn’t what you expect her to be. I was very pleasantly surprised and felt like, if we could translate the surprise of that conversation to a documentary, the audience was going to be surprised too. That’s a recipe for great documentary film.”
Ryan, so Brandon, then 24, didn’t just want you to direct “Pamela, a love story,” he planned to be a producer. Did you see red flags?
Ryan White: Many, many red flags. You never want to work with the child of your documentary subject. But it became clear early on Brandon was essential to the trust factor with Pamela. Having [her] son as an integral part of the team made her feel like her story would be taken care of.
Pamela Anderson: Brandon’s my truth barometer. I don’t think he’s capable of watering things down. I trust his vision. They convinced me that “since there’s all this interest in your life, why don’t you tell the story?” Even that sounds corny. But a day doesn’t go by when people don’t come up to me and say, “I love you. I resonate with your story.” It made a difference in my life.
Were there discussions about what the documentary would look like?
White: From the start I said, “I make very bare-bones, stripped-down, raw films.” And she said, “I love that.” There’s literally no lights used in this film. That’s all natural light in her home. And we’re talking about one of the most famous models on camera ever. It was a crew of four people. She just plopped down on the couch and we started talking. I felt like it was so real. I hope that lends this film a sense of intimacy.
Brandon Lee: So many of these are like an ass-kissing festival. I think ours is the exact opposite. My goal was to share the real her. Pamela is such a positive and lovable person. She’s really like that, and I’m her son. I love her to death. But I’m the most annoyed and sick of her out of everybody. [Laughs.]
Did your conception of the documentary change over time?
White: What they always say about docs is if you end up making the film you set out to make, you did something wrong. From the beginning, I thought our film was about this small-town girl from an island in Canada who’d lived this crazy life, then returned to that island, married a Canadian guy and was living out her final years on her family land. [But then] Pamela chose to get divorced. She chose to take a role in [the musical] “Chicago.”
But the Hulu show [“Pam & Tommy”] was completely out of our control. We had to be nimble when it came to storytelling. It wasn’t the tidy narrative we thought it’d be. I feel like for the second half of the shoot, we were on an adventure. I had no idea where it was going. I don’t think Pamela knew where it was going, either. That’s why the final line of the film is like, “I don’t know what’s next. Maybe I’ll decide next week.” I felt like that’s the perfect encapsulation of Pamela Anderson.
Brandon, you’ve said making this was important for your mom. How about for you?
Lee: I’ve said this before, but I thought it was like watching my life come together in reverse. I’d find myself watching things being like, ”Oh, that’s why we were there” and “That’s why this happened.” Lots of things I felt were missing pieces [and] didn’t understand kind of came together. It felt like I was on drugs. It was a very crazy, realistic and visceral experience.
The documentary includes clips of late-night talk show hosts and TV interviewers asking you about your breasts. Has anyone apologized? Jay Leno? Matt Lauer?
Anderson: No. But I really believe at that point all I put out into the universe was my body. How would anybody know to ask me about the things I really care about or believe? Even though I was on Jay Leno probably over 10 times, he kept asking me the same questions about boobs and boyfriends. So I just kind of smiled my way through it. I can be angry about a lot of things, but it takes up so much energy. I’d rather feel joy and happiness and love.
Lee: I think that answer literally is the most “my mom” answer I’ve ever heard. It lets everyone that’s done anything wrong to her completely off the hook because she’s focused on moving through her life positively and with grace. In my opinion, what those people did was a complete violation. And for her to say that always gets me a bit frustrated because she lets them off easy. And I still think the fact that we didn’t hear from any of these people is sort of ridiculous.
