Entertainment- Renée Zellweger said she took "lots of Benadryl" to play Pam Hupp in "
The Thing About Pam ." - She told Jimmy Fallon that she was allergic to the adhesive glue used to put on her
prosthetics .
Reneé Zellweger said on Monday's "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" that she had to take "lots of Benadryl" to wear her costume in
Zellweger had to wear prosthetics to play convicted murderer Pam Hupp and told Fallon, "I was so allergic to the adhesive. It was hilarious."
The "Judy" actor joked she took "lots of Benadryl" to get through a workday.
Hupp weighs noticeably more than Zellweger during the time period of the show, which begins around the day Hupp's former friend, Elizabeth "Betsy" Faria, was killed on December 27, 2011.
So, in addition to the prosthetics, Zellweger had to wear a
Despite how long it took, Zellweger enjoyed her time in the makeup chair. "You can call your mom in the chair, get your Christmas shopping done," she told Fallon.
The actor previously told Entertainment Tonight that the transformation process into Hupp took so long because "the idea is to be accurate" with the costume. Hupp, Zellweger explained, was someone who "seems so familiar" to the audience. So, it was important to Zellweger to get Hupp's physical characteristics right so the audience would feel that.
While talking to ET, Zellweger added that much of the reason why Hupp, who lived in small-town Missouri, initially got away with her crimes was because of the way she looked. People "projected" who they thought she was onto her rather than seeing who Hupp actually was.
Zellweger's transformation, while realistic, has been controversial because of the choice to have an established star wear a fat suit rather than cast a mid-weight actor in the role.
Her boyfriend, Ant Anstead, joked in an Instagram caption that has since been edited that his "smoke show" girlfriend Zellweger should "leave the wardrobe at work."
"The Thing About Pam" airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on NBC.