Before Paris Hilton adopted a breathy baby voice and stuffed her closet with head-to-toe pink ensembles, before Kim Kardashian was dubbed “famous for being famous” and before anyone with an iPhone could become a celebrity through a little shameless self – Promotion, there was Angelyne.
A Los Angeles icon, Angelyne was a mystery model in the 1980s who would appear on prominent billboards promoting nothing but, well, Angelyne. She became a legend and a local celebrity cruising around town in her pink Corvette. Now she’s getting the miniseries treatment.
In the first trailer for Angelyne, released on Tuesday, Emmy Rossum wears a Dolly Parton-style sky-high wig to play the blonde bombshell. Her luscious prosthetic cleavage oozes out of a low-cut latex dress. It’s a hair and makeup transformation reminiscent of Lily James’ unrecognizable role as Pamela Anderson in Hulu’s Pam & Tommy.
“Ever since I was a girl, I’ve known that fame is my destiny,” purrs Rossum in the mockumentary-style preview of the series. The three-minute clip touts Angelyne as the originator of the kind of self-made fame that’s so common on social media today, but decades before smartphones were invented.
The true identity of the real Angelyne was a closely guarded secret for much of the poster queen’s career, until a 2017 article in revealed that she was Renee Goldberg, an LA-raised Polish immigrant and daughter of Holocaust survivors. The Deep Dive article is the inspiration for showrunner Allison Miller’s series.
However, according to Miller, Angelyne will not be your average biopic. “Angelyne pays homage to the real Angelyne, who became a cultural icon in Los Angeles. That’s not the real story of Angelyne. It’s not a simple biopic,” Miller said. “It’s a story inspired by everything that Angelyne represents, so it’s a magical story, a hopeful story, a story about becoming the person you’re meant to be and tapping into your own inner strength believe in order to achieve his dreams. It’s a story about Los Angeles and all that the city means to people who are moving here and to people who dream of moving here.”
As for Rossum herself, she recently described the Angelyne aesthetic: “It’s like Marilyn Monroe walked into a simple oven with an ’80s punk Barbie doll and a dose of New Age spirituality.”
Angelyne herself is executive producing on the project, along with Lucy Tcherniak from The End of the F***ing World. Tchneriak directs all episodes.
In addition to Rossum, the Angelyne cast includes Alex Karpovsky, Martin Freeman, Lukas Gage, Michael Angarano, Hamish Linklater, Molly Ephraim, Philip Ettinger, Charlie Rowe and David Krumholz.
The series premieres May 19th on Peacock.