There are many paths to stardom, but the blueprint used by Los Angeles pop icon Angelyne was especially ahead of its time. While attempting to jump-start her music career in the 1980s, she appeared on a series of billboards and soon rose to fame as “L.A.’s Billboard Queen.” Before long, she was scoring television gigs and cameo roles in films like 1988’s “Earth Girls are Easy.” In a post-Kardashians world, celebrity for its own sake has become a perfectly normal pursuit. But before the age of the internet, Angelyne was a pioneer in the mysterious art of self-promotion.
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Now her story is coming to Peacock in the form of “Angelyne,” a limited series starring Emmy Rossum (“Shameless”) in the titular role.
Here’s the official synopsis:
“Angelyne” is Peacock’s new limited series about fame, identity, survival, billboards, Corvettes, lingerie, men, women, women teasing men, men obsessed with women, West Hollywood, crystals, UFOs, and most importantly of all, the self-proclaimed Rorschach test in pink, glow-in-the-dark queen of the universe, Angelyne.
The show was conceived from an article written by The Hollywood Reporter’s Gary Baum, who also served as a consultant. According to showrunner Allison Miller, the series “isn’t a straightforward biopic,” but is instead “a story about Los Angeles and everything the city means to people who move here and to people who dream about moving here.” The show’s adoration for 1980s Los Angeles iconography echoes that of “Winning Time,” the recent HBO Max series tracking the rise of the Showtime Lakers. Its popular success out of the gate bodes well for “Angelyne.”
The supporting cast will feature Martin Freeman (“Sherlock”), Alex Karpovsky (“Girls”), Charlie Rowe (“Vanity Fair”), Lukas Gage (“The White Lotus”), and David Krumholtz (“The Deuce”) among others. Episodes were directed by Lucy Tcherniak (“Station Eleven”) and Matt Spicer (“Ingrid Goes West”). Executive producers include Rossum and “Mr. Robot” architects Sam Esmail and Chad Hamilton.
“Angelyne” is set to launch on May 19 exclusively on Peacock.