Renee Zellweger looks unrecognizable as convicted killer in trailer for new true-crime series

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By Carina Murphy

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Renée Zellweger is no stranger to physical transformations.

The Oscar-winning actress has often gained and shed pounds to better suit her onscreen roles. And it looks like she's done it again for NBC's upcoming true-crime drama, The Thing About Pam.

Zellwegger, 52, looks unrecognizable as suburban housewife and convicted killer Pam Hupp in a new trailer for the show.

Watch the official trailer right here:

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the two-time academy award winner explained how they'd used facial prosthetics, padded clothing, and body language to transform her into 63-year-old Hupp.

"It was prosthetics, it was a (padded) suit, it was the choice of clothing, it was the briskness in her step-step-step, her gait," she said.

"All of those things were really important because all those bits and pieces are what construct the person that we project our own conclusions and presumptions onto," the star added.

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Credit: YouTube/NBC

Zellweger - who famously gained 20 pounds for her starring role in the smash-hit rom-com Bridget Jones's Diary - went on to say that physical transformation was a mark of a great performance.

"Oh, gosh, if you don't recognize an actor or an actress in a performance, that's a great compliment," she said, adding: "You're not trying to tell your own story."

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PA Images / Alamy

The Thing About Pam is a true-crime drama about the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria, one of Hupp's close friends, who was stabbed 55 times in her Missouri home.

Betsy's husband Russ was originally convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, where he spent four years before being acquitted in 2015.

His wife's murder remained unsolved until last summer when police charged Hupp with the crime. By this point, the housewife was already behind bars - having been convicted of murdering disabled man Louis Gumpenberger in 2016.

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Credit: YouTube/NBC

Authorities believe Hupp killed Gumpenberger in a last-ditch attempt to frame Russ for her friend's death - when in fact she was the killer all along.

Zellweger’s role in the six-part series is her TV debut - but not be her first time portraying a real-life role. In 2020, she won the Best Actress Oscar for playing Judy Garland in the biopic, Judy.

The Thing About Pam premieres on March 8.

Featured Image Credit: PA Images/Alamy