‘I just want to love people’: Charlotte-filmed ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’ trailer unveiled

Hollywood star Jessica Chastain unveiled a trailer of the upcoming “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” movie that tells the tale of TV evangelist Tammy Faye Bakker.

The movie was filmed in Charlotte beginning in October 2019 and also stars Andrew Garfield of “Spider Man” fame.

Charlotte has seen an uptick in TV and film production in recent years. The movie of Judy Blume’s beloved book, “Are you there, God? It’s me, Margaret,” is filming in the Charlotte area. The Hollywood flick, “Evolution,” recently wrapped up production after filming in the area this spring.

And the TV series “Delilah,” both filmed and set in Charlotte, began airing in March on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN TV network starring Maahra Hill of “Black-ish” and “How To Get Away With Murder” and Jill Marie Jones of “Girlfriends.”

‘Intimate look’

“The Eyes of Tammy Faye” offers “an intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption” of the televangelist, according to the TV and film database site IMDb.

“I’m really excited to share this trailer with you,” Chastain posted on Instagram. Chastain looks remarkably like Tammy Faye in the movie.

“Took us almost 10 yrs to get here,” Chastain posted with a heart emoji. “#TheEyesOfTammyFaye in theaters September 17th @eyesoftammyfaye; @frecklefilms.”

“These Eyes,” the 1969 hit song by The Guess Who, plays in the background near the end of the trailer.

The trailer includes what may become some memorable lines from the actors, such as: “The devil is coming for me, Tammy,” (Garfield as Jim Bakker); and “I just want to love people” (Chastain).

When Jim Bakker proclaims, “I built an empire,” his wife replies decisively, “I built an empire”

The trailer drew 62,663 views in an hour.

PTL Club

Tammy Faye Bakker and her then-husband, Jim Bakker, rose to fame on “The PTL Club” television show they hosted in the 1970s and ‘80s. They also built a Christian theme park, called Heritage USA, in Fort Mill, S.C., which attracted millions of people each year.

Their ministry fell apart in 1987, amid revelations of hush money being paid after Jim Bakker had a tryst with Jessica Hahn, a young church secretary.

Prison for Jim

PTL-related fraud later put Jim Bakker in federal prison for nearly five years. Tammy Faye died in 2007 of cancer.

In February 2018, Jim and his current wife, Lori Bakker, visited Charlotte to pay their respects to Billy Graham, who both was a spiritual adviser to U.S. presidents and visited Bakker when he was in federal prison.

A tearful Jim Bakker told reporters at the Billy Graham Library that Graham was the greatest preacher since Christ, Observer news partner WBTV reported at the time.

Bakker and Lori Bakker host “The Jim Bakker Show” based in Branson, Mo. He suffered a stroke in May 2020 but returned to the show several months later.