The showgirl maintains such an enduring association with Las Vegas that, while there are no longer any classic showgirl productions running at any Vegas hotel-casinos, creators who represent the city onscreen almost invariably still include them. That lack of understanding might initially seem to be what drives director Gia Coppola’s new film, The Last Showgirl, but Coppola and screenwriter Kate Gersten offer a more grounded — if still sometimes overly simplistic — perspective on the showgirl’s place in modern Las Vegas.
The decline of the showgirl is central to the story, about veteran dancer Shelley (Pamela Anderson), who learns that the show she’s been performing in for more than 30 years is being shut down. Shelley struggles to figure out a future for herself without the artistic expression that has defined her identity. The impressive supporting cast includes Jamie Lee Curtis as Shelley’s cocktail-waitress best friend, Dave Bautista as the show’s stage manager, and Kiernan Shipka and Brenda Song as Shelley’s fellow performers.
“To find a role like this to play at this point in my life, I just realize that everything in my life was worth it,” Anderson said at a press conference for the movie. The actor’s own history as an international sex symbol informs the audience’s understanding of Shelley’s challenges. The Last Showgirl was filmed in Las Vegas, with casino scenes shot at the Rio (which Curtis said was “a bit of a shit box” at the time of shooting), and costumes borrowed from the Jubilee! archives. “We met with the actual Jubilee! dancers, and there’s a lot of do’s and don’ts,” Anderson recalled. “Even with the choreography of doing the quick changes (backstage), because there’s a way to do it.”
The movie has an elegiac tone that marks the passing of an era, both in the city and in Shelley’s life. “Las Vegas, in itself, it’s such a metaphor for America and the discarding of traditions, replaced by more consumerist values,” Coppola said. “It’s a perfect indictment of where we are as a culture, of what we expect women to do,” Curtis added. “That artform that Pamela really immersed (herself) in is no longer.”
In its most effective moments, The Last Showgirl brings that artform back to life for one final bow.
The Last Showgirl opens January 10 in theaters.