PHOTOS Agnes Bruckner as Anna Nicole Smith in Lifetime biopic

Lifetime continues its string of celebrity biopics this Saturday with the premiere of their original film Anna Nicole, which tells the tragic story of model and actress Anna Nicole Smith. As you would imagine, playing the part of one of the most voluptuous women of the last 20 years is quite the challenge, especially for Agnes Bruckner, who landed the role. The 27-year-old actress certainly possesses the beauty and the acting skills, but as lots of women (and men) know, merely acting like your B-cup breasts are Double Ds just isn’t enough.

Enter three-time Academy Award winning prosthetic designer Greg Cannom and makeup artists Todd McIntosh and David De Leon.

“David and I would apply the breasts in tandem,” McIntosh told the New York Post of gel-filled silicone falsies. “This created the freedom for them to move and jiggle more like flesh,” he explained. “It would have been impossible for her to do the pole dancing or fill out some of the outfits without this innovation.”

The results were nothing short of astonishing, as you can tell from these before and after photos of Agnes, who refers to herself as “flat-chested:”

“They couldn’t have been any more real looking,” Agnes says. “It was so strange, wearing them for the first time. I was standing there ‘topless,’ but it was really like I had a shirt on because there was nothing exposed of my own. I’d look at myself, and I kept thinking, ‘Oh, my God, could you imagine if they really were that big?’”

But the physical transformation from Agnes Bruckner into Anna Nicole Smith didn’t just involve breast augmentation, there was a lot more to it. “I was a brunette when I got the role. So we bleached my hair and we had all these different pieces, and we had fake eyelashes. And the wardrobe team came together and created these wonderful gowns and dresses out of scratch,” Bruckner tells Showbiz Tonight. (Clip below)

In addition to the bleach, the eyelashes and the dresses, there was also a great deal of makeup needed… clown makeup! Check out these side-by-side photos of with Agnes (left) recreating the famous video clip in which a very high Anna Nicole was sporting clown face makeup and passing gas:

Here is the Agnes Bruckner bio from Lifetime followed by their press release announcing Anna Nicole will premiere this Saturday, June 29 at 8/7c:

Agnes Bruckner is no stranger to being in front of cameras, having begun acting at the age of 12. In 2002, she earned the attention of critics nationwide for her leading role in Blue Car, an independent drama about a gifted teenager whose world of turmoil becomes increasingly complicated after a unique relationship forms with her English teacher. For her work in Blue Car, Bruckner was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in the category of “Best Female Lead.”

Bruckner has had a successful run on the silver screen during the past several years. After the triumphant debut of Blue Car, she went on to star alongside Sandra Bullock and Ryan Gosling in Warner Bros.’ Murder By Numbers. Soon afterwards Bruckner starred opposite Val Kilmer, Carrie Fischer and Rachel Leigh Cook in Samuel Goldwyn Films’ Stateside, before appearing in 2007’s MGM fave Blood and Chocolate with Hugh Dancy. Other film projects include Dimension’s Venom, Sony Pictures’ Dreamland, and Sony Pictures’ The Woods. Bruckner also starred in a number of successful independent films including Home Room with Busy Philipps and Erika Christensen; Rick with Bill Pullman and Sandra Oh; Haven with Orlando Bloom; Peaceful Warrior with Nick Nolte and Amy Smart; Kill Theory; Breaking the Girls; The Millionaire Tour; The Pact and The Citizen.

In 2011 Bruckner starred in the Lifetime Television movie The Craigslist Killer, a crime thriller about a seemingly normal man who lived a dark and secretive online life. Also on the small screen, she has had significant roles on Covert Affairs, 24, Private Practice, Fairly Legal, Hawaii Five-0, Dirty Sexy Money and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, to name a few.

Bruckner currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

Via press release:

LIFETIME ORIGINAL MOVIE ANNA NICOLE TO PREMIERE JUNE 29

Starring Agnes Bruckner as Anna Nicole Smith with Academy Award®-Winner Martin Landau, Oscar® Nominee Virginia Madsen, Adam Goldberg and Cary Elwes

LOS ANGELES, CA (May 22, 2013) – The Lifetime Original Movie Anna Nicole tells the rags-to-riches story of the iconic supermodel who captured the world’s attention with her beauty and unconventional lifestyle. Exploring the sordid details that created her infamous persona, from stardom to untimely death, the world premiere will be on Saturday, June 29, at 8:00pm ET/PT.

The film, starring Agnes Bruckner (Lifetime’s The Craigslist Killer, Private Practice) as cultural icon Anna Nicole Smith, Academy Award and Golden Globe®-winner Martin Landau (Ed Wood), Oscar nominee Virginia Madsen (Sideways), Adam Goldberg (Saving Private Ryan) and Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride), is from executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Lifetime’s Steel Magnolias, Oscar-winning Chicago) and Judith Verno (Lifetime’s Drew Peterson: Untouchable, The Craigslist Killer, Natalee Holloway). Directed by Mary Harron (American Psycho, I Shot Andy Warhol) and written by John Rice and Joe Batteer (Blown Away, Chasers), Anna Nicole is from Sony Pictures Television.

Anna Nicole follows the swift rise and fall of Vickie Lynn Hogan (Bruckner), a Texas high school dropout and single mother with dreams of a better life. Realizing the power of her beauty, Vickie accepts a job as a dancer at topless bar, where she changes her name to Anna Nicole Smith and first makes her mark. With a new persona and a shocking marriage to octogenarian millionaire J. Howard Marshall (Landau), Anna’s career blasts off when Playboy features her in a pictorial spread that evokes comparisons to Marilyn Monroe. But after her husband’s death, Anna’s financial support ends and her hard-partying ways, excessive drinking, drastic weight fluctuation and endless pill-popping take their toll, inevitably setting the stage for the fading starlet’s tragic descent.

Hungry for celebrity, Anna launches her own hit reality show and soon gives birth to her daughter. But her newfound happiness and positive outlook on life is shattered when her son dies of an overdose while visiting his mother and newborn sister in the hospital. Unable to overcome the devastation over his death, in a tragic twist less than one year later, Anna herself dies of a fatal combination of pills, adding her name to a long list of icons who have succumbed to the temptations of fame.

Madsen portrays Anna’s mother Virgie, Goldberg is Anna’s lawyer, Howard K. Stern; Elwes plays Marshall’s son, E. Pierce; and Graham Patrick Martin (Two and a Half Men) stars as Anna Nicole’s son, Daniel.

Anna Nicole is executive produced by Verno’s Peace Out Productions and Zadan and Meron’s Storyline Entertainment in association with Sony Pictures Television. Mary Harron (American Psycho, I Shot Andy Warhol) directed the screenplay by John Rice and Joe Batteer (Blown Away, Chasers).

Lifetime’s Anna Nicole trailer:

Showbiz Tonight interview with Agnes Bruckner about Anna Nicole:

Entertainment Tonight’s interview with Agnes about why she did the movie and the transformation into Anna Nicole Smith:

All photos (except Agnes Bruckner “before” photo and Anna Nicole’s clownface video cap): Patrick Eccelsine, Bob Mahoney and Lifetime