The 2023 documentary “Pamela, A Love Story” showcased Pamela Anderson‘s career in a new light, highlighting her talent that shone through the frequently unfair setbacks that she faced. The project found its way to Gia Coppola, who was inspired to cast Anderson in her latest directorial effort, “The Last Showgirl.”
“I could see this artist that was so creative and so knowledgeable of art and philosophy and just the way she approached life,” Coppola said of Anderson at a recent Q&A promoting the film. “And how vulnerable she was, not really wearing makeup in the documentary, so I could see that this was a person who was fearless. I just really wanted to collaborate with her. I could see her hunger to kind of express her talents in a dramatic way.”
“The Last Showgirl” stars Anderson as a Las Vegas dancer who finds herself at an unexpected crossroads when the show that has employed her for three decades suddenly closes. The acclaimed character study has generated major Oscar buzz for Anderson, which could continue to build when it opens in theaters across America in January.
“The Last Showgirl” is written by Kate Gersten and directed by Gia Coppola. In addition to Anderson, the film stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Billie Lourd, Kiernan Shipka, and Brenda Song.
The film earned rave reviews following its premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, with critics heaping praise on Anderson’s career-revitalizing performance.
“Like the character at the heart of Coppola’s film — the eponymous ‘last showgirl’ Shelly — Anderson has been forced to spend most of her life contending with unfair expectations and unreasonable requests. And while ‘The Last Showgirl’ follows Shelly as she deals (and, often, doesn’t) with the fallout from a lifetime spent blazing her own trail, Coppola’s film seems destined and designed to do the opposite for Anderson: to open up an entirely new series of possibilities for the actress,” IndieWire’s Kate Erbland wrote in her TIFF review. “’The Last Showgirl’ is both the role of a lifetime for Anderson, one that can fully capture her incredible emotional intensity and vulnerability, and (we can only hope) the start of a brand new career for her.”
Roadside Attractions will release “The Last Showgirl” in theaters nationwide on Friday, January 10th following a one week Oscar-qualifying run in Los Angeles in December. Watch the teaser below.
