Taylor Schilling Reveals She Signed on to Hulu’s ‘Pam & Tommy’ Because of Episode 7

Pam & Tommy Episode 7 “Destroyer of Worlds” takes us on a horrible journey to illustrate just how catastrophic the sex tape scandal was for Pamela Anderson (Lily James). Over the course of the episode, Pam loses out on key roles (in Austin Powers and L.A. Confidential) and discovers she is officially a laughing stock. Husband Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) tries to wreck his revenge on Rand Gauthier (Seth Rogen), but it’s really Rand’s own ex-wife Erica (Taylor Schilling) who gets to hammer home what a tragedy has occurred. In two fabulous scenes, Erica not only manages to give Pamela some surprising props, but she also explicitly breaks down why the Pam and Tommy sex tape was such an act of violation.

Pam & Tommy Episode 7 lets Erica shine — and it’s this episode that convinced star Taylor Schilling to play the adult film actress in the first place.

Pam & Tommy is Hulu‘s provocative exploration of the Pamela Anderson/Tommy Lee sex tape scandal. In the ’90s, a personal tape of the celebrity couple having sex leaked on the internet and became a focus of fascination. Instead of recognizing that Anderson and Lee had been violated by the tape’s theft and distribution, people collectively shamed the couple. In Pam & Tommy Episode 7, Erica finally discovers that her ex-husband was the person who stole and shared the tape. Her reaction is to immediately condemn him for his crime. Schilling told Decider that this scene was “the lynchpin” for why she wanted to work on Pam & Tommy and why she loved Erica.

“She’s small, but mighty,” Schilling said. “It is Pam and Tommy’s story, but the way that Erica can highlight and hold a mirror and amplify what’s going on or amplify the way that Pam was exploited is because she’s a sex worker who has made the decision with her own agency in a very autonomous way and is living life the way she choses. She’s a well-adjusted successful adult actress. And because of that she’s able to say, ‘What I do is pornography. What I do involves consent forms and salary. And -I am happy to hold the gaze of people who recognize me from my work when I’m buying milk. But what happened to Pam Anderson is a violent crime because there were no consent forms.'”

“I had also thought that we needed a woman like Erica to be able to explain that,” Schilling added. “Like it really added to the story that she was able explain it the way that she did.”

Another key scene where Erica’s perspective as a sex worker shines is when she and girlfriend Danielle talk about actually watching the tape. It’s the only female perspective on the tape that we get about the tape itself outside of Pamela. Erica breaks down the tape’s composition like a critic, positively praising Pamela for the way she chooses to frame Tommy’s face during shots a male director would otherwise focus on sex itself.

Schilling said she also loved that scene because of the way it “articulates something that’s really valid” about the tape’s popularity in the first place.

“It’s that we’re watching two people who are deeply in love in a deeply private moment. Very real. It’s not acting and it’s not a product. It’s just a relationship,” Schilling said. “And Erica sees that.”

Schilling added that the scene was one of the few moments where Erica’s real life history in the adult film industry was able to get a nod: she was a director herself.

“The other thing that is interesting about Erica is that she as a historical figure as a real person went on to be one of the first female directors of pornography or adult films,” Schilling said. ” Because the writers are so brilliant, there’s like these little tips of the hat to her. Noting she knows shot choices and camera angles. You kind of get to see how her brain works just a little bit.”

Where to stream Pam & Tommy