The Last Showgirl: Pamela Anderson and Gia Coppola in conversation

Pamela Anderson is sweating. Lit by an unforgiving spotlight, her stage make-up is melting as she smiles ingratiatingly, wincingly, under the scrutiny of the audition’s unseen conductor. With strained, affected coyness she attempts to deflect a question about her age, shrugging it off with a little Monroe-esque laugh, like Sugar Kane in a harrowing, modern-day reimagining of Some Like It Hot. It’s painful, you’re sweating too, just watching.

So begins The Last Showgirl, Gia Coppola’s new film starring Pamela Anderson as Shelly, a long-serving Vegas showgirl who’s forced to contemplate a new future when Le Razzle Dazzle, a show she’s danced in for 30 years, is abruptly closed. Among many other things, it’s a story about fantasy. Shelly is enamoured with the glamour and elegance of a bygone era, but at what cost? She’s forgone her marriage and her relationship with her daughter and, despite her romantic ideas of faraway Paris, the spell cast on her by Le Razzle Dazzle has kept her bound to Vegas – a surreal city of spectacle in which the Eiffel Tower and the canals of Venice are recreated in the desert for tourists.

The Last Showgirl is a brilliant study of the cruelty of obsolescence. While younger dancers begin auditioning for more contemporary shows, Shelly sees the aggressive sexuality of modern acts on the Strip as “low class”.  As the old world gives way to the new, Shelly – an agent of a particular species of old-world glamour – finds herself redundant and the dream she’s laboured for is no longer valued or recognised.

Anderson’s performance is totally disarming in what she describes as her first dramatic role. Evoking both fragility and indomitable resilience, it’s hard not to feel compassion for Shelly, even while she’s not always a clear-sighted heroine. And Jamie Lee Curtis is a perfect foil as Annette – an older, cynical former dancer reduced to the indignity of working in the casinos.

Not only is The Last Showgirl a beautiful-looking film, but it stays with you after you’ve left the cinema. Coppola manages to retain a sense of impartial ambiguity throughout that keeps us continually recalibrating our perceptions of its protagonist – to what extent is she delusional or defiant? The film’s genius also lies in its depiction of female relationships – difficult mother-daughter bonds, intense friendships and the sisterhood of the dressing room. Despite the threadbare reality behind the scenes of Le Razzle Dazzle – the chaos of the costume changes, the patched-up outfits – the camaraderie between the dancers is tangible and real, creating a dysfunctional but devoted family. 

Below, we chat with Pamela Anderson and Gia Coppola about The Last Showgirl, the fantasy of show business, and how they created such an authentic vision of showgirl life behind the scenes.

What drew you both to Shelly’s story?

Gia Cappola: I’ve always loved Las Vegas and I’ve been looking for the right story. So when I came across Kate [​​Gersten’s] play, I thought it was a beautiful portrait of what it’s like to live there, which was a part of my fascination with this unusual city and what goes on behind the magic. At the heart of it, it’s a mother-daughter story but it also deals with how our culture so easily discards anything after a certain point – technology, art, humans.

I found it really inspiring to understand the world of showgirls, which is an icon of the city. And Shelly, I think she’s so human and lovable and flawed. To be in love with something that sometimes doesn’t love you back is a situation we’ve all faced in many different forms. And how do we meet these challenges? Pamela just made it come to life in a much grander way than I could have even imagined.

Pamela Anderson: Authenticity and vulnerability are rarely shown in the world of glitz and glamour, so I was excited to share that part of this seemingly superficial world. These are human beings who have relationships and kids, and they go to the grocery store and can't pay their rent, they have to do things to get by. I love delving into the woman who’s holding up the rhinestones, you know.

Meeting with the Jubilee dancers, having them over to my house for tea, hearing stories and getting the showgirls’ dos and don’ts. What they do is an art form. The showgirls are what you think of when you think of Las Vegas, but it doesn’t exist anymore. So it’s kind of out with the old and in with the new.

I could hear her voice already when I was reading along with it, and I thought, this is something I can really bring a lot to. Shelly is very different from me, so this was creating a character from scratch, but I had a lot of empathy for her because I've been in similar situations.

To be in love with something that sometimes doesn’t love you back is a situation we’ve all faced in many different forms. And how do we meet these challenges? Pamela just made it come to life in a much grander way than I could have even imagined – Gia Coppola

I loved that I found a lot of ambiguity in the film. While I felt compassion for Shelly, the needle kept moving for me as to whether I felt it’s a cautionary tale or whether Shelly is defiantly living her dream in defiance of society’s expectations.

Gia Cappola: For me, as a filmmaker, I’m not trying to dictate one point of view or the other. I like to be more of an observer. What’s exciting is when movies bring up conversation. At what point does Shelly’s selfishness lie, especially as a mother. At some points you have to be selfish for yourself to be a good mother, and at what points does that tip too far? There’s no way to get it right.

All these women were dealing differently with the grief of this change. Shelly’s coping mechanism is to stay in her fantasy of the past and I think we have versions within ourselves where we do that. That’s what’s exciting to me when you dive into this stuff; human nature.

Pamela Anderson: I think all of what both of you said is true, which is what makes it so interesting and nuanced, too. I think Annette [Jamie Lee Curtis] is the cautionary tale for Shelly. I just feel like there’s no perfect way to be a parent. Being a mother is selfless, being a performer is kind of selfish, maybe, or seemingly selfish. So how do you balance all of that? It’s an interesting thing to play.

There were qualities [in the script] that just rang so true. I get goosebumps even talking about it because I think that’s what movies are for – you heal parts of yourself when you make them, you heal parts of yourself when you watch them. It was an experiment for me because this is the first time I’ve ever really applied myself to a dramatic role and I am really proud of myself that, instead of falling apart or settling for less, I chose to be truthful and loyal to my own heart.

Instead of falling apart or settling for less, I chose to be truthful and loyal to my own heart  – Pamela Anderson

So true. I love the complicated and fraught female relationships in the story, the friendships and mother-daughter relationships.

Gia Cappola: I was raised by a single mum, so I always wanted to tell a mother-daughter story. And I became a mother myself, so I could kind of understand the complexities of motherhood and also feel the systemic confines, especially as a creative working mother. But work itself and the relationships that are created there can become a kind of chosen family. Pamela talks so much about the banter backstage when she was working on Broadway. I love those relationships and what goes on behind the scenes.

Pamela Anderson: I think that’s always interesting to anybody – what goes on backstage. Who wouldn’t want to go backstage? It’s that backstage banter that we could bring into the film. The dancers that had been there for so long, they’re talking about what they’re making for dinner, and then they hear their cue and they go on, then they come off and they continue on what they’re making for dinner. They've been doing this for 20 years, some of them.

The choreography of doing the quick changes was an important element – all those pieces of costume… rhinestones, headpieces, armbands, gloves. There were a lot of challenges with that. But we were all in it together and that is how you create a family on set, especially in a situation like this, where you’re just showing so much of your heart and you’re so open and vulnerable.

That feeling of camaraderie felt really vivid and genuine. I wondered, what are your dearest hopes for Shelly’s future? What do you hope life after Le Razzle Dazzle holds for her?

Gia Cappola: I like to imagine Shelly and Annette robbing the casino!

Pamela Anderson: Yeah, that would be a fun sequel. I think Shelly is just on the verge of reinvention. She’s gonna find her way. You know, my mother and my aunts are all sparkly women, they’re very attached to beauty and nostalgia and they’ve all gone through hard things in their lives. It’s about new chapters. I have all my wishes and hopes for Shelly, but I think she’s going to be fine. She’s a very strong lady to be in this business for so long, she’s no pushover.

The Last Showgirl (with a Q&A with Pamela Anderson) previews across the UK on February 10, followed by a full cinema release on February 28.