Take a look above at the official teaser trailer to arrive for The Last Showgirl, with Pamela Anderson in a poignant role as a seasoned showgirl facing a fork in the road.
Anderson plays Shelly, who finds herself navigating an uncertain future after the abrupt closure of Le Razzle Dazzle, the Las Vegas show that marked a glamorous chapter in her life for 30 years. The former Baywatch star leads a cast that includes Jamie Lee Curtis as Shelly’s closest friend, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka, and Billie Lourd.
The Last Showgirl comes from director Gia Coppola, another member of the Coppola filmmaking family (the granddaughter of Apocalypse Now and The Godfather filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola). She previously directed Palo Alto and Mainstream. The screenplay comes from writer Kate Gersten, whose credits include series The Good Place and Mozart in the Jungle. The film also features the original song “Beautiful That Way,” performed by Miley Cyrus, with songwriting contributions from Cyrus, Andrew Wyatt, and Lykke Li.
Since its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Last Showgirl has been gathering solid praise, earning a jury prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival and earning – at the time of writing – an 81% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Anderson’s portrayal of Shelly has also garnered early awards buzz, including a nomination for Outstanding Performance at the Gotham Awards.
Reflecting on how the role came her way, Anderson revealed during a September TIFF panel that her former agent initially dismissed the opportunity. “This was such a fantastic happy accident because my ex-agent turned it down within an hour and didn’t even show me,” she shared. “[…] My ex-agent just didn’t think that I had it in me which was really horrible because this is the most important thing and that’s what made me also really want to freaking crush this. I was like, I’m just pouring myself into this. I have nothing to lose. And I am this character and I don’t even know who else could have done it. I said, this was meant for me.”
Coppola noted the similarities between Anderson and Shelly, pointing out Anderson’s resilience and spirit. Said in a recent interview with Deadline: “She seems so much a woman that was turning her frown upside down and making lemonade out of lemons, and that’s so much of what that character does. It was this bubbly, bright spirit sometimes, in a way, to protect themselves. I saw that with Pamela, and although there were similarities because she wanted to express herself as an actress, I think that there was enough of a difference that it was going to feel exciting to her as a role and not just as this documentary approach.”
In the U.S., The Last Showgirl will debut in Los Angeles cinemas on 14 December before expanding wide on 10 January. In Australia, the film hits cinemas on 10 February.
