This week, Angelyne premiered on Peacock, and the show did not impress its namesake. The real-life Angelyne gave an interview with Inside Edition where she revealed that she refused to watch actress Emmy Rossum portray her in the new miniseries. The producers of the show have since responded with disappointment.
Angelyne tells the story of a Los Angeles, California icon and a pop cultural urban legend named Angelyne. The model has graced billboards in the Hollywood area since the mid-1980s, yet for msot of that time her real identity has been steeped in mystery. Finally, in 2017 The Hollywood Reporter ran an article chasing down the truth of Angelyne’s identity, which is what inspired this new miniseries. However, Angelyne herself told Inside Edition that the show is not accurate, and she doesn’t appreciate the way it portrays her.
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“I had a little glimpse of it, and I refuse to watch it,” she said. “It doesn’t do me justice. Would you be flattered if someone played you and misrepresented you?” Producers from Peacock and Universal Content Productions (UCP) responded quickly in a statement given to E! News. They were disappointed by Angelyne’s response and said that they only meant to celebrate her unique legacy.
“This series has embraced the legend and legacy of Angelyne from its inception,” the statement read. “There have been no bigger advocates for celebrating her than Emmy Rossum and the producing team, who approached the storytelling with love, admiration and respect. We were happy to have Angelyne on board during the creative process and are very proud of this show.”
Previous teasers for the show indicated that Angelyne was onboard for the way the show was depicting her life. In another interview with E! News, Rossum herself said that she had met with Angelyne for four hours before filming began to get her understanding of the character straight. She seemed to have a positive perspective on Angelyne as well.
“I just told her from the heart how moving I find her life, her power, how original she is, what a kind of renegade I think she is and what I hope to achieve with this story, which is to imbue it will all of the kind of magic and whimsy and fairytale storytelling that she has made her performance art of,” Rossum said.
In spite of Angelyne’s personal misgivings, the show has gotten relatively positive reviews so far. It is streaming now only on Peacock.
