Finding joy and creating character

Pamela Anderson on the role of Shelley in The Last Showgirl: 'I just relate to the character so much and I really worked on it drawing from personal experience' Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival/Jorge Fuembuena

With Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl, Pamela Anderson becomes the latest older star to have the opportunity to reframe herself and show her acting mettle at the movies. In a role that puts you in mind of Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler, the former Baywatch star plays Shelley, a dancer who is facing major life choices as the Vegas show she has performed in for decades is marked for closure. In addition to facing up to life away from the stage, Shelley, whose friend Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis) is also facing up to ageing, is trying to reconnect with her adult daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd).

The film premiered in Toronto before starting a festival run that has already included San Sebastian, Zurich and a string of Stateside stop-offs. It’s a family affair for Coppola - whose grandad Francis’ film Megalopolis has also been hitting the festival circuit this year.

Speaking at a press conference in San Sebastian, alongside Anderson, the director said: “I made this movie in a very intimate way. A lot of it was with my family. My cousin Robert Schwartzman was the producer, my cousin Kate Gertson was the writer, one of my aunts was script supervisor, my mother (Jacqui de la Fontaine) did the costumes and all my friends were heads of department. It gave me a lot of autonomy to make the movie that I wanted to make.”

Pamela Anderson and Gia Coppola collect the Special Jury Prize in San Sebastian Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival/Alex Abril

Noting that the showgirl is “a symbol” for Las Vegas, even though the traditional extravaganzas they take part in are becoming a thing of the past, Coppola says that after seeing the Netflix documentary about Anderson, “ I felt like there was no one else that could play the part other than Pamela”.

For her part, Anderson leapt at the chance of the role not least because she says she feels a sort of kinship with Shelley.

“I just relate to the character so much and I really worked on it drawing from personal experience. I’m trying to find ways to really encapsulate this entire life that's almost impossible to articulate that I've gone through from Playboy to Baywatch to all these different things and trying to navigate it. I really related to the script. When I read the script I was overwhelmed, I’d never really been offered a movie part like this. I was also really drawn to the mother/daughter relationship and how to manage your dreams and manage this business and just be the best you can be.”

Coppola also says she relates to Shelley.

“There's so many parallels of just being a woman and how society confines you,” she explains.

She adds: “I guess I relate to it in just the confines of being a woman and being a creative. So many times I'm in a position where you love a creative opportunity and it doesn't love you back… and coming to terms with that. I think whatever gender or age you are, you can relate to having to juggle your dreams versus reality.”

The Last Showgirl’s themes include doubting yourself and, given the family film footsteps Coppola is following in, it’s perhaps no wonder she also has moments of uncertainty.

Pamela Anderson signs autographs for fans in San Sebastian

“Being creative comes with a lot of insecurity,” she says, “It’s just that perseverance of knowing that you have to express yourself and keep going and turn off the negative voice in your head. And I'm grateful that with my family that I have wonderful people to turn to for advice, but also very big creatives that I have to sort of navigate what my own vision is. But I think with every artist they have that.”

Anderson agrees, “I’ve doubted myself a lot… and others have too, but that’s kind of what drives you,” she says. “I feel like you keep this little flame burning inside you, and even if people don't believe in you, you have to believe in yourself and push yourself as an artist because it's very easy to pigeonhole somebody and you’ve just got to keep blowing people's minds.”

She adds: “I'm just so grateful that I got this experience because I've always known that I was capable of so much more and I think that I just had nothing to lose. I just so drawn to this project because this might be the only chance that I can do something like this. So I just really drew from all my experiences – my marriages, my children, my life, my career.. I feel like it's just addictive. It's fun.”

Anderson first came to prominence in Playboy, which was all about looks rather than what lies beneath, so she is relishing the opportunity to dig a bit more into character.

She says: “I'm 57 years old. A lot of my career was about physicality and it's been a journey but it's also been part of the reason why I'm kind of done this experiment with myself of just peeling it all back, remembering who I am and not being defined by what people do to me but by what I do and to have a passion and not become bitter. And, not become jaded, still finding joy in the process and life and in this business. So that's another trait I really related to in Shelley – her belief in glamour and how it was ending. But this is almost a much more sensual time for me than it was. So, that's where we cross paths too.”

Anderson’s dedication to the role is certainly paying off, with many arguing she will make a showing this awards season. The film also went on to take a Special Jury Prize in San Sebastian for its ensemble performances, which also include Dave Bautista breaking away from his more usual turns as a stage manager with a heart. The film will be released next year in the UK and US.