With her third film, “The Last Showgirl,” filmmaker Gia Coppola takes audiences inside the inner workings (and inner feelings) of the talented showgirls who populate a long-running Las Vegas show that is unexpectedly closing after a decades-long run. Starring Pamela Anderson in a revelatory lead role as the last showgirl in question, the film was shot on location in just 18 days, and is filled with attention to detail (and a little magic) that brings us inside this special world.
For the film’s stars, that also included wearing real showgirl costumes (Coppola’s mother, Jacqueline Getty, served as co-costume designer, alongside Rainy Jacobs), learning the ropes from real showgirls, and steeping themselves in some key “do’s and don’ts.”
“The costumes were museum pieces by Bob Mackie, they hadn’t been outside the theater in 30 years, so it was a real honor to wear them,” Anderson said during a Sunday evening post-screening Q&A in New York City. “Some of the costumes still had the girls’ names in them, little bedazzled pieces here and there, and we felt like they had magic in them. They really carried a lot of history. You could just tell that they were just loved and worn with pride.”
Anderson, alongside co-stars Kiernan Shipka and Brenda Song, wore a variety of costumes throughout the shoot. And they were heavy.
“These headdresses were pretty heavy,” Anderson said. “I think the girls only wore them for two minutes at a time [during their shows] because the last thing you put on is your headdress and [it’s] the first thing you take off when you go off [on] the other side of the stage. We had them all day, so we were leaning against the wall, feeling a little stiff the next day. The choreography alone of putting on and off the costumes was another challenge. It was great, it felt like a dance, too.”
To nail those quick-change elements, Coppola’s cast worked with professional showgirl dressers. “They taught us how to do it, and make it look like we’d been doing it for 30 years,” Anderson said. (As the film gears up for its release next month, we’ll have more interviews with the team behind it coming.)
Coppola also brought in actual showgirls to assist her cast. “We had Diane Palm, who was part of the original ‘Jubilee’ show, come and bring other showgirls from that time over to Pamela’s house to talk to us about their experience and show [them] how to stand.” Anderson piped in, “Do’s and don’ts!” (Also of note: many of the background dancers in the film are part of Dita Von Teese’s Vegas show, “Dita Las Vegas,” which was an homage to the classic shows like “Jubilee.”)
And those do’s and don’ts? Anderson said, “Well, no pasties. They really wanted to make sure that it wasn’t burlesque, … the way they hold themselves, the showgirl walk, the way you hold your hands. It’s just a lot of things we worked out together.”
While their real-life showgirls have not yet seen the film, Coppola added, “We hope that they approve, because we really wanted to make the world authentic to their experience.”
Anderson, who has earned many accolades for her role in the film, turned reflective when thinking about the real people whose lives have inspired the film.
“It’s such a glamorous industry, especially in Las Vegas. It’s the people holding up those rhinestones and those headpieces that are just full of life experience and relationships, going to the grocery store, having boy troubles, or whatever it is, there’s so much,” Anderson said. “Each person on stage has a life to draw from. It was really fascinating to do that kind of in-depth character, very flawed and wonderful and messy and makes mistakes and wears her heart on her sleeve. There’s so many parts of the character I related to, but I also felt that was just a jumping-off point. She became her own person.”
Roadside Attractions will release “The Last Showgirl” in theaters on Friday, December 13.
