The rich story behind Pamela Anderson in “The Last Showgirl”

Aafter the world premiere of her new film The Last Showgirl, During an onstage question-and-answer session at the Toronto International Film Festival, Pamela Anderson was asked how she prepared for the role of Shelley, a Las Vegas showgirl whose long-running gig is coming to an end. “I think I've been preparing for this role my whole life,” said Anderson, wearing a black suit that she accessorized with sunglasses (which she eventually removed).

She also admitted that she rarely gets this opportunity. “First of all, it's the first time I've read a good script,” she said, laughing. Other material, she joked, isn't quite as “coherent.”

In fact, The Last Showgirldirected by Gia Coppola, is Anderson's most significant film work to date, and has received excellent reviews. The BBC called the 57-year-old actor a “revelation.” The film comes at a time of cultural reassessment of the former Baywatch The star's career, which was frequently used as a punch line or headline in the tabloid press. Although Anderson's Shelley is a recent creation, the historical feeling that audiences associate with the actress who plays her, whose rise to fame was inextricably linked to her appearance, is relevant to the story. Shelley demands that her passion for performing in the Las Vegas revue, nudity and all, be taken seriously – just as Anderson has long demanded for herself.

Anderson's biggest film up to that point was probably the 1996 thriller Barbed wirewhich ultimately became another punch line in the saga of her career. At the time, she was in the midst of her high-profile marriage to rocker Tommy Lee and suffered a miscarriage during filming. Roger Ebert wrote in his review of the film, “Pamela Anderson Lee may not be a great actress, but she is a good athlete.” Later, Anderson said, “I don't even know what this movie is about. I have no idea.”

The past few years have provided the public with an opportunity to rethink Anderson and the media's treatment of her. First came the 2022 Hulu miniseries Pam and Tommywhich explored the aftermath of the infamous Anderson and Lee sex tape and starred Lily James as Pam. Although the show was open to Anderson, she herself did not agree with it, describing it as “salt in the wound” in an interview.

The following year, Anderson told her own story in the Netflix documentary Pamela, a love storyDirected by Ryan White. There she spoke openly about her life, including her experiences with sexual abuse, and shared diary entries. The film also documented her rehearsals for the role of Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway during an eight-week run of performances in 2022. The Guardian reviewed her performance: “Anderson may not show great talent for singing (her voice is feather-light and soft, sometimes difficult to hear even in the orchestra) or dancing (good enough), but she has what she needs: an unserious confidence and an excellent sense of tongue-in-cheek camp.”

The Last Showgirlis not kitsch. Instead, it is a tender look at the corners of Vegas that many would dismiss as crass or kitsch. The script by Kate Gersten was inspired by her time watching the showgirls of Anniversary!the “last show of tits and feathers, as they call it,” as she described it during the Q&A. Gersten had a job where she was supposed to write a text for the show that included some of the anniversary's performances.

From then on, Gersten introduced himself to Shelley, a woman who was involved in the production Le Razzle Dazzle for over 30 years, prancing on stage every night with wings and rhinestones. Shelley loves her job and acts as group mother for some of the younger dancers (including Kiernan Shipka and Brenda Strong). But Shelley is also stuck in the past and clings to the idea of ​​what Le Razzle Dazzle was once a phenomenon where showgirls were celebrated and flown all over the world. Now it is about to be replaced by a “dirty circus” and in the final weeks of its performance, Shelley is helpless.

Anderson plays Shelley with a perfect sweetness that sometimes comes across as naivety. Le Razzle Dazzle has been Shelley's life for so long that she doesn't understand how others perceive it – including her estranged daughter (Billie Lourd), who is about to graduate from college. Shelley is not a tragic figure, though. In a key scene, she tells a dismissive casting director, “I'm 57 and I'm beautiful, you son of a bitch.” The TIFF audience applauded.

During the post-film Q&A, the rest of the cast was visibly moved by Anderson. Jamie Lee Curtis, who plays Shelley's tanned friend who works as a cocktail waitress, cried as she addressed her co-star. “I can't,” she said.

Lourd, daughter of the late actress Carrie Fisher and granddaughter of Hollywood's Golden Age star Debbie Reynolds, said playing the role of Shelley's child was “cathartic” for her.

“It felt like Shelley was my grandmother and I was my mother. I got to know my mother on a deeper level than I ever had before and it was a beautiful experience,” she said. “And to do that with Pamela was an absolute gift. She's a wonderful mother in real life and a wonderful mother to me in this film.”

Parenthood is an important part of the journey that Anderson talks about in Pamela, a love story– including the description of her miscarriage during Barbed wire-Production The Last Showgirl another full-circle moment for her. It's just another way in which the film allows Anderson, the mother of grown sons Brandon and Dylan Lee, to reveal aspects of herself that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.

On stage, Anderson noted that when she read the script, she thought, “I'm the only one who can do this.” When you see it, you believe her.