The Last Showgirl is set to hit theaters next month, and for Pamela Anderson, landing the starring role in Gia Coppola’s drama was a “life or death” moment for her. Anderson stars as Shelley, a seasoned showgirl who is faced with uncertainty after her Las Vegas show abruptly closes, leaving her to question what comes next. In a way, the movie mirrors her own life, as Anderson rose to stardom thanks to Baywatch, and has since struggled to find her footing in both her career and in life.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly ahead of The Last Showgirl’s theatrical debut on Dec. 13, Anderson said that upon reading the script penned by Kate Gersten, she immediately knew she had to say yes to the part, if for no other reason than that no one else was eager to feature her in a movie. She hasn’t been seen on the big screen since 2022’s Alone at Night, and before that her last feature role came by way of the 2018 French action-comedy Nicky Larson et le parfum de Cupidon.
“I’ve never read a script that I responded to like that before — no one was sending me anything like this. I read it and I thought, I have to do this. It’s life or death. It’s really important.”
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While Anderson has appeared in numerous films over the years, including Barb Wire, Superhero Movie, and The Institute, those roles didn’t exactly have a lot of meat on the bone, and highlighted her physical assets more than her acting talent. She knew she had more to give, as is evident by comments made back at the TIFF premiere of The Last Showgirl in September, when Anderson remarked that she’d “been getting ready my whole life for this role,” quickly following it up with these telling words:
I have nothing to lose. And what if this is the last movie I ever do, or the only movie I ever do?
Gia Coppola Calls Pamela Anderson the ‘Marilyn Monroe of Our Time’
With The Last Showgirl being Coppola’s third feature film following 2013’s Palo Alto and 2020’s Mainstream, when it came time for her to cast the role of Shelley, all she could picture in her head were stars from a bygone era of Hollywood who have all passed away. “It was all these actresses from the past I would dream about,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “Wouldn’t this be an interesting role for Marilyn Monroe?”
That being said, she found herself captivated by Anderson thanks to the 2023 Netflix documentary Pamela, a Love Story, in which the 57-year-old bared her heart and soul for everyone to see, discussing everything from her childhood to how she was objectified for years by a system that chews you up and spits you out when you’re no longer useful; a fact Monroe herself struggled with before her death in 1962. As such, that led to Coppola drawing a comparison between the two, leading to her making a bold claim to EW.
”
She is the Marilyn of our time
. I find her to be a very interesting human being. She’s very intelligent and has an art background, and I could see she was a woman that was really craving to express herself as an actress creatively. I saw a lot of parallels with Shelly, but I also saw this was a person that was really hungry to show her talents.”
Whether The Last Showgirl is a hit at the box office remains to be seen, but regardless, it appears as if this will be Anderson like we’ve never seen her before. That is more than enough to pique our interest to see what she does with the role, and to keep track of what comes next for her, which will be an appearance in next year’s reboot of The Naked Gun.
- Release Date
- September 6, 2024
- Director
- Gia Coppola