The love of one's life isn't always the right person to have one's life, as Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon so aptly depict in George & Tammy. The Showtime limited series focuses on the dynamic and difficult relationship between country superstars George Jones and Tammy Wynette, whose love launched a number of hit singles. Developed by Abe Sylvia, whose screenplay for The Eyes of Tammy Faye helped Chastain land her first Oscar, the show chronicles the highs and lows of the celebrity romance—the latter often due to substance abuse.
Though Sylvia first considered George & Tammy over a decade ago, he has since made his mark on the industry through a myriad of other projects. He wrote episodes of the dark comedy Nurse Jackie, and served as co-executive producer of the highly-acclaimed thriller series The Affair and the recently-concluded Dead to Me. In all cases, Sylvia has demonstrated a keen ability to balance opposite extremes, which proves very necessary in a show full of equal parts joy and tragedy.
Screen Rant spoke to Sylvia about the moment he first conceived of Jessica Chastain as Tammy Wynette, the significance of his approach to the music in the series, and how he toes the line between George & Tammy's iconic love story and toxic relationship.
Abe Sylvia on Crafting George & Tammy's Troubled Love Story
Screen Rant: Jessica said she was actually approached about playing Tammy Wynette a decade ago, which was so surprising to me. At what point did you begin working on it, and how many iterations did it go through to get here?
Abe Sylvia: I got the idea to tell Georgia and Tammy's story first as a feature, and that same weekend I saw The Tree of Life. I told the producer attached to it, "I think Jessica Chastain should be Tammy," so we approached her. She came on board, and she really stuck with the project.
What really spoke to you about Jessica that has led her to play not one but two of your Tammys?
Abe Sylvia: That's true. [Laughs] George & Tammy predated The Eyes of Tammy Faye, in of the first draft, so when Jessica optioned The Eyes of Tammy Faye, she thought I'd be a good fit for it.
I have to say it was a bit of a spiritual confluence. I'd seen a picture of Tammy Wynette earlier that day and started musing on this idea of George & Tammy. Then I'm watching The Tree of Life, and this presence that I had not seen on film before just took my breath away. She has that same quality that Tammy Wynette has, where you knew you were in the presence of a star when she'd walk into a room. I think they look a great deal alike, to be honest, and I think there was an essential connection of spirits.
I thought you did a beautiful job of exploring why they were so drawn to each other and also of portraying the breakdown of their marriage without villainizing him or totally victimizing her. How did you dive into that marriage?
Abe Sylvia: We're telling a love story about two flawed people who fell in love with one another's flaws; with what was problematic about the other person. And I think, to a degree, a lot of love is based on that. That's why people have continued to invest in Georgia and Tammy's love story. As problematic as it is, there is something relatable about investing in a person and thinking that love will fix all. And then when it doesn't? How devastating. I think that's an incredibly relatable thing. Even though none of us will be able to fully relate to becoming a country music icon, all of us have fallen for somebody who was deeply problematic at one time in our lives or another.
Speaking of country music icons, I really love the way the series approaches the songs. Was it always going to be Jessica and Michael singing the songs? How did you decide which ones make it in and how do you honor the originals while having them service the story?
Abe Sylvia: I think we went in knowing there's nobody who's going to sound like George Jones and Tammy Wynette; those two people have singular voices. But what connects a listener to them or a fan to them is this idea that they live their pain and their joy out in the open; it's all reflected in their music. You're listening to the embodiment of emotional experience. There's a lot of people who can sing, but there's not a lot of singers that can touch you and move you.
We really approached it from that standpoint, and we had Jessica and Michael, who are both wonderful singers. But how can we make them more like Georgia and Tammy? Well, they're two of the finest actors alive, so we make sure that every performance is coming from an emotional place in the story. They can play the scene and grab you in the way that George and Tammy would, even if they don't sound exactly like them.
We pre-recorded the songs, but when we got to set, we did all the singing live. That allows them to not predetermine their destination emotionally. If they're locked into a performance they gave in a booth a year ago, you're not going to have something that is as alive as something that you make now that you've lived with these people for a year. They're finally playing the scene, so why are you locking them down to performances they gave a year ago which will not be as informed as what's happening now?
Further down the line, I thought the way you depicted her relationship with George Richey was so interesting. What dictated how much of him you incorporated, and whose version of events you're telling in the story?
Abe Sylvia: Well, it's always Tammy story. It's always George and Tammy-centric, so as powerful a force as George Richey was in her life and in our show, it's very rare that we leave one of our leads' perspectives. There's maybe three times in the show that we do that, and it is to reveal [something big]. It should be unsettling in episode 5, when we finally break perspective to show who Richey is.
There are some beats that take me back to A Star is Born, which seems to unfortunately be a common trajectory for real-life stories of meteoric success. But when it comes to the music biopic genre, how did you ensure that you'd be able to go your own way and bring something new to the table?
Abe Sylvia: We decided to not think of it as a music biopic. We're not recreating their most celebrated performances; we're not doing a montage at the theater where we see that they finally found their sound, or where they're climbing the charts. This is a love story that happens to be centered around two country singers. I think that allowed us to sidestep some of the tropes, and it also allowed us to really focus on the people. The career highlights are there, and their relationship to their creativity is there. But it's all anchored in their relationship.
That also explains why you don't follow certain narrative avenues, such as their kids who also become singers.
Abe Sylvia: Sure, there's a version of the show that's essentially The Crown. I think one of the early ideas I had for the show was like, "This can be five seasons. Maybe we go off with a side character for an episode and really dimensionalize the world that way." But we had six hours, so the process was essentializing what we wanted to say about their love.
It was sad in some cases, where we were like, "Well, I love that story. I love that person in their life. But it doesn't pertain to the love story, or the Romeo and Juliet-ness of the show."
I imagine your next project, Mrs. American Pie, is about to be very different in tone.
Abe Sylvia: Mrs. American Pie is very witty, with lots of twists and turns. It's a big soap opera with a lot of wit and a lot of heart. It's also a world you haven't seen on TV before. 1969, with just fabulous clothes, very Slim Aarons. It's a total departure from the other work.
About George & Tammy
A limited series chronicling country music’s king and queen, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, whose wild and troubled love story inspired some of the most iconic music of all time.
Check out our other George & Tammy interview with stars Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon as well.
George & Tammy episode 2 airs December 11 on Showtime and is currently available to stream, with episodes on Paramount+ outside the US and Canada.