The Coppola dynasty heavies up this festival season as Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” hits theaters on September 27 and his granddaughter’s third feature film, “The Last Showgirl,” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, September 6. The film follows as a dancer (Pamela Anderson) in her fifties, she struggles with what to do next and tries to repair a strained relationship with her daughter.
Gia’s aunt Sofia Coppola told us last year that she is “proud to be part of a history of personal filmmakers. My dad raised me to be.” Gia shares a similar positive sentiment towards her family, as she told IndieWire at the premiere, “I feel like we’re all very tight knit and creative collaborators and they’re such a supportive force. I just try to keep that mindset and not listen to the outside.”
Kiernan Shipka, who was most recently seen in “Longlegs,” shared that Anderson plays a mother-like figure to her character in the film. “She is unbelievably raw in this movie,” she teased of Anderson’s performance.
“I think that level of just like vulnerability and truth that she was able to find was brave and amazing and a really addictive quality because it made everyone around her want to do the same almost in a way where it didn’t even feel like there were cameras around,” Shipka continued. “I owe that to her; whatever I did it was because she was set in that kind of way.” The “Man Men” actress also shared that she’s been a fan of Gia ever since her directorial debut “Palo Alto” in 2013. “I’ve been a Gia fan girl for forever, and known her for a while too. So to be able to work together was really exciting.”
Brenda Song, of Disney Channel fame, also appears in the film and had nothing but praise for Gia. “She is the most incredible leader, because she drives the ship with such a definitive decision. She’s so calm. She is so brilliant, so softspoken, so smart, so talented, and really pushed to make me very uncomfortable in the best way because this project was so different and I’m so grateful that she allowed me to go on this journey with her and that she gave me this opportunity because it’s so different from anything I’ve done.”
“She just really pushed me to be scared and then to go with it,” Song continued. “Really, I feel so empowered. I mean, working with these women, with Jamie [Lee Curtis], with Pam, with Kiernan, with Billie [Lourd]. These women are wonderful humans, talented people, but they’re so generous with their time and with like their experience. This 18-day shoot was one of the best experiences of my life.”
We caught a quick few seconds with Curtis, who was quickly making her way through the press line to run into the premiere screening. “I’ve known Gia since she was a little girl. I’m going to go see the movie now!” And off she went.
Reflecting back on her three features, we took Gia back to her first, “Palo Alto.” We asked if she would ever reunite working with star James Franco, knowing the sexual assault allegations that have since come out. “I think it’s a complicated question,” Coppola said. “I feel like from my experience with him, he’s a good person.”
