Pamela Anderson…seriously: Actress talks about 'The Last Showgirl' in Vegas

Posted: January 6, 2025, 02:15 pm.

Last updated: January 6, 2025, 02:22 pm.

It didn't detract from the Golden Globes she was up for on Sunday night, but we live in a world where there's real Oscar buzz for Pamela Anderson. The former “Baywatch” babe plays a Las Vegas showgirl facing the end of her career in Gia Coppola's indie film “The Last Showgirl,” which is receiving rave reviews and will be released Wednesday .

“I love 'Baywatch' and I took it very seriously,” Anderson said. vegas pbs Following a screening of the film at the Beverly Theater in downtown Las Vegas last week. “People don't want to understand it, but I've always been interested in crafts. I didn't know where to start.”

As it turned out, Coppola (Francis Ford's granddaughter) found His. She was impressed by the vulnerability displayed by Anderson in the 2023 Netflix documentary “Pamela, A Love Story” and saw parallels between her journey and that of her film's lead character.

Shelley is a 50-year-old dancer with no other skills who is looking toward a future of minimum wage bartending with her former classmate (Jamie Lee Curtis).

All this when her devotion to being a showgirl cost her her marriage and her relationship with her daughter, who still bears the wound of being left in the casino parking lot during the show because Shelley was babysitting. Couldn't afford it.

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“The Last Showgirl” is the first film to directly shed light on the plight of hundreds of former Las Vegas showgirls who found themselves professionally and personally adrift after the closure of the last two showgirl productions on the Strip – “Folie Bergère” . Tropicana in 2009 after 50 years, and “Jubilee!” At Bailey's in 2016, after 35 years.

Anderson was met with a handful of “Jubilee!” resulted from. Showgirls, asking for their input.

“I called them over and I made tea for everyone and we talked about different stories and dos and don'ts and some things that were really important to them,” Anderson said. Vegas PBS. “I greatly admired their pride and how they carried themselves in their everyday lives like dancers.”

Anderson said she prepared for the role for months with her acting coach Ivana Chubbuck, before filming for 18 days in Rio last January.

He said, “I had to learn a lot about myself to be able to play a role like this.”

deadline While Anderson's performance was called “career-defining… heartbreaking and sensational” indiewire It was called “both raw and nuanced”, highlighting the harsh reality of aging in the entertainment industry.

At 57, Anderson said she is eager to continue the second career that “The Last Showgirl” has helped launch.

She said, “I always knew I was capable of much more than I did, but I didn't know how I would get the opportunity to share it. The amazing thing about Gia was that she I was able to overcome that and see a person striving to express himself as an artist.

“it's never too late.”