# The Last Showgirl

The Last Showgirl is a 2024 American drama film directed by Gia Coppola and written by Kate Gersten. It stars Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Billie Lourd, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song, and Kiernan Shipka. Its plot focuses on a middle-aged Las Vegas showgirl who is faced with an uncertain future after learning that the revue she has performed in for three decades is scheduled to close. The screenplay was adapted by Gersten from her own play, Body of Work, which she based on her visits to the Jubilee! show shortly before its closure in 2016.
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2024, and began a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 13, before expanding on January 10, 2025. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with Anderson garnering critical praise. Anderson received nominations for Best Actress at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards and the 31st SAG Awards while Curtis received nominations for Best Supporting Actress at the latter as well as at the 78th BAFTA Awards.

## Plot

Shelly Gardner is a 57-year-old showgirl who has performed for three decades in Le Razzle Dazzle, a classic French-style revue at a casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip. Her co-stars in the show now include several younger women, including Mary-Anne and Jodie, who view Shelly as a mother figure. Shelly's older friend, Annette, maintains a close kinship with Shelly, despite having been ousted from the show years prior, and now works as a cocktail waitress.
Eddie, the producer of the show, breaks the news that Le Razzle Dazzle is due to close in two weeks due to declining ticket sales, and is to be replaced by the more contemporary, neo-burlesque circus show that already took over their most popular nights. Shelly is crestfallen by the news, and views the replacement show as obscene and garish. Mary-Anne and Jodie begin auditioning for roles in other shows on the Las Vegas Strip, despite Shelly's objections that they are low-class and too risqué. With no means for retirement and few resources, Shelly worries for her livelihood.
Shelly notices her newest paychecks are smaller due to the fewer shows with fewer ticket-buyers, and she is docked for tearing her costume which required new fabric to be ordered. Shelly reaches out to Hannah, her semi-estranged daughter. Hannah lived with family friends for much of her adolescence and is now a student in Arizona. Hannah briefly visits Shelly at her home, but their reunion is marred by Hannah's emotional distance and Shelly's lack of realism. Shelly shows lack of knowledge of her daughter, forgetting her daughter's age and asking her if she has declared a major. Hannah declines dinner with Shelly that night but returns the following night and they enjoy each other's company.
Hannah later attends a Le Razzle Dazzle performance, unbeknownst to Shelly. Afterward, Hannah confronts her in the dressing room, offended that her mother prioritized the show over caring for her. Shelly storms out and Hannah briefly meets Eddie before leaving. Jodie comes by Shelly's place distraught because her own mother will not talk to her, but Shelly is unsympathetic and rebuffs her. At the next show, Jodie refuses to help Shelly get ready, leading her to rip part of her costume and ultimately miss her cue, breaking down on the floor backstage. Shelly invites Eddie to dinner, where she discusses her future and feelings of alienation as an aging woman, frustrated that Eddie can continue working for the casino as a producer of the new show. Through their conversation, it is revealed that Eddie is Hannah's father, a fact which neither has ever disclosed to Hannah. Eddie implies his disappointment about Hannah's upbringing, while Shelly condemns Eddie for his failure to be present in Hannah's life.
Annette and the other older cocktail waitress are shown having their shifts cut early in favor of younger new hires. Annette seemingly gets drunk while working on the casino floor and begins dancing. When she next appears with Shelly, she reveals that she's lost her job, and needs a place to live, as she has been living out of her car for several weeks. She asks Shelly to let her live with her, and promises it will be only temporary.
Shelly auditions at a casting call also attended by Mary-Anne. The audition goes poorly, as Shelly is clearly nervous and unfamiliar with modern auditioning. The director stops Shelly early and plainly tells her she is not a talented dancer, and made up for it with youth and looks when she was hired years ago at Le Razzle Dazzle. Shelly is shattered and humiliated, and Mary-Anne misses her own audition slot to console her and get her to leave the stage. Before driving off, Shelly verbally attacks Mary-Anne in her grief over giving up her life for this unforgiving industry, telling her she is not their mother and she does not love them.
Shelly leaves Hannah an apologetic voicemail and appears to reconcile with Jodie and Mary-Anne. At the final performance of Le Razzle Dazzle, Shelly tells Eddie she is considering moving to Arizona so she can be present for Hannah's graduation, but also considers maybe working as a cocktail waitress like Annette. Shelly envisions Hannah smiling at her backstage and watching excitedly in the audience with Eddie, but it is unclear if Hannah truly forgave her or if it was just a manifestation of Shelly's hopes.

## Cast

* Pamela Anderson as Shelly Gardner, a successful seasoned showgirl
* Jamie Lee Curtis as Annette, Shelly's bestfriend, a cocktail waitress and former showgirl
* Dave Bautista as Eddie, producer of the revue whom is Hannah's father
* Brenda Song as Mary-Anne, a showgirl
* Kiernan Shipka as Jodie, a showgirl
* Billie Lourd as Hannah Gardner, Shelly and Eddie's daughter
* Jason Schwartzman as the casting director

## Production
### Development

Kate Gersten adapted the screenplay from her own unproduced play Body of Work (developed at Roundabout Theatre), which she had been inspired to write in conjunction with her visits to the Jubilee! show before it closed in 2016. Coppola said that the play's structure allowed them to keep the story contained and create an intimate movie. She began collaborating with producer and cousin Robert Schwartzman in 2021, opting for a modest budget and short shoot to keep creative control: "By staying intimate, I get to keep my creative autonomy. When I came across Kate's play, it lends itself structurally to doing a movie in that way. There are not a lot of locations and a small cast, so you can be insulated."

### Casting

The casting of Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka and Billie Lourd was announced in February 2024 as filming had wrapped. Coppola wanted to cast Anderson as Shelly after watching her 2023 documentary Pamela, a Love Story. She sent the script to Anderson's then-agent who turned it down within the hour without letting Anderson know about it. Coppola then reached out to Anderson's son Brandon through mutual friends, passing it along to his mother, who had largely given up on acting. Anderson said: "I've been handed a lot of scripts in my life, but never a challenge like this. You don't see parts like this when you're working in your bathing suit. I was so drawn to the character, I heard her voice in my head and pictured everything. I thought, 'Oh! This is that thing people talk about when they read material and know they have to do it.'" Anderson likened the film's style and her emotional trust with Coppola to the works of John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands. Curtis agreed to star in the film when director Coppola told her Anderson was playing the lead character. Similarly to Anderson and Curtis, Coppola instantly thought of Bautista for his part after recalling a conversation between the two from years prior about his desire for dramatic roles.

### Filming

Principal photography took place on location in Las Vegas over the course of 18 days on a budget of under $2 million. Coppola was inspired by nonfiction views of Vegas, from documentaries to the work of the late journalist and art critic Dave Hickey, stating: "I didn't look to movies for inspiration on this project; I was looking to photography. I knew this world because of that." Coppola reunited with cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw, who shot her 2013 directorial feature film debut Palo Alto as well as 2020's Mainstream. Arkapaw shot The Last Showgirl on 16mm film to capture a raw, grainy quality, using a handheld camera and custom anamorphic lenses. The scenes with Curtis were shot first as she only had four days available to film in January 2024.
The showgirl costumes worn by the cast in the film were archival pieces designed by Peter Menefee and Bob Mackie, some of which were used in the actual Jubilee! revue.

## Music

The film's score was written by Andrew Wyatt; the film also featured an original song "Beautiful That Way" in the end credits, performed by Miley Cyrus and written by Cyrus, Wyatt, Lykke Li. It was released as a single on December 9, 2024, and was included in the accompanying soundtrack album which released digitally on December 20, 2024, through Milan Records.

## Release

In May 2024, unveiling the first look for the film, Goodfellas and Utopia, the latter of which was co-founded by Coppola's cousin once removed Robert Schwartzman, announced that they would be teaming up to handle international sales on the film, which had already generated much interest among distributors, at the Marché du Film.
It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2024. It also made it to the main competition slate of the 72nd San Sebastián International Film Festival. On September 27, Roadside Attractions acquired distribution rights to the film. A few days later, it was announced that Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions had acquired all remaining international distribution rights to the film, including Latin America, France, Scandinavia, Greece, Portugal, Turkey, Israel, Eastern Europe excluding Poland, Asia, and Africa. The film was released in one theater in Los Angeles for one week beginning December 13, 2024 in order to qualify for the 97th Academy Awards, before receiving a wide release on January 10, 2025. The movie premiere scheduled for January 9 at the Chinese Theatre was canceled due to the Los Angeles wildfires.

## Reception
### Box office

During its one-week run in Los Angeles in December 2024, the film earned $77,589 screening at one theater. It was the fifth best per-screen opening of the year and marked Roadside's second-highest opening per-screen average in its 20-year history. Upon its expanded theatrical release on January 10, 2025, it grossed $620,700 on its first day from 870 theaters, and went on to finish in tenth place at the box office with $1.5 million. The film's weekend was touted as a success by the industry, and was noted as outperforming Better Man, another expanding film that made just $1.1 million from 1,291 theaters.

### Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of 219 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "A wistful showcase for Pamela Anderson in a refreshingly dramatic role, The Last Showgirl pays homage to the working class of Las Vegas with a superb collection of performances." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Writing for KTLA News in Los Angeles, critic Russell Falcon positively compared the film's themes to those of Coralie Fargeat's The Substance, opining that both films observe the prices women pay for their beauty and career. Time's Stephanie Zacharek named Anderson's performance as one of the 10 best of 2024, writing that her "take-me-as-I-am face intensifies both the vulnerability and the defiance she brings to the role."
Writing out of the film's world premiere RogerEbert.com's Marya E. Gates praised Anderson for her nuanced performance, writing, "As Shelly, Anderson is a revelation, bringing the same balance of buoyancy and pathos that Judy Holliday brought to each of her roles." Sheila O'Malley also compared Anderson to Judy Holliday, further writing, "And so 'comeback' isn’t the right word at all for Anderson’s performance, one of the best of the year. Her performance is an inadvertent indictment of an industry who pumped her up while simultaneously de-valuing her, barely considering her an 'actress' at all. Nobody could play Shelly the way Anderson plays it." Citing Pamela Anderson's turn as Shelly as one of the ten best performances of the year, The Boston Globe's Odie Henderson writes, "Anderson gives the kind of lived-in performance that proves the actor knew her character inside and out."

### Accolades

| Award | Ceremony date | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| San Sebastián International Film Festival | September 28, 2024 | Golden Seashell | The Last Showgirl | Nominated |
| San Sebastián International Film Festival | September 28, 2024 | Special Jury Prize | Cast of The Last Showgirl | Won |
| Zurich Film Festival | October 4, 2024 | Golden Eye Award | Pamela Anderson | Won |
| Newport Beach Film Festival | October 24, 2024 | Outstanding Feature Narrative | The Last Showgirl | Won |
| SCAD Savannah Film Festival | November 2, 2024 | Marquee Award | Pamela Anderson | Won |
| Miami Film Festival | November 3, 2024 | Art of Light Acting Award | Pamela Anderson | Won |
| Hollywood Music in Media Awards | November 20, 2024 | Best Original Song – Independent Film | "Beautiful That Way" – Miley Cyrus, Lykke Li and Andrew Wyatt | Won |
| Gotham Awards | December 2, 2024 | Outstanding Lead Performance | Pamela Anderson | Nominated |
| Winter IndieWire Honors | December 5, 2024 | Performance Award | Pamela Anderson | Won |
| Sun Valley Film Festival | December 6, 2024 | Pioneer Award | Pamela Anderson and Gia Coppola | Won |
| Astra Film Awards | December 8, 2024 | Best Indie Feature | The Last Showgirl | Won |
| San Diego Film Critics Society | December 9, 2024 | Best Costume Design | Jacqueline Getty and Rainy Jacobs | Runner-up |
| Las Vegas Film Critics Society | December 13, 2024 | Best Song | "Beautiful That Way" – Miley Cyrus, Lykke Li and Andrew Wyatt | Won |
| St. Louis Film Critics Association | December 15, 2024 | Best Actress | Pamela Anderson | Nominated |
| Pandora International Film Critics Awards | December 18, 2024 | Song Composing | "Beautiful That Way" – Miley Cyrus, Lykke Li and Andrew Wyatt | Nominated |
| Online Association of Female Film Critics | December 23, 2024 | Best Supporting Female | Jamie Lee Curtis | Nominated |
| Online Association of Female Film Critics | December 23, 2024 | The Rosie | The Last Showgirl | Nominated |
| North Texas Film Critics Association | December 30, 2024 | Best Actress | Pamela Anderson | Nominated |
| Greater Western New York Film Critics Association | January 4, 2025 | Lead Actress | Pamela Anderson | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | January 5, 2025 | Best Original Song | "Beautiful That Way" – Miley Cyrus, Lykke Li and Andrew Wyatt | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | January 5, 2025 | Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama | Pamela Anderson | Nominated |
| Austin Film Critics Association | January 6, 2025 | Best Actress | Pamela Anderson | Nominated |
| Alliance of Women Film Journalists | January 7, 2025 | Best Woman Director | Gia Coppola | Nominated |
| Hawaii Film Critics Society | January 13, 2025 | Best Song | "Beautiful That Way" – Miley Cyrus, Lykke Li and Andrew Wyatt | Nominated |
| Women Film Critics Circle | January 15, 2025 | Best Actress | Pamela Anderson | Runner-up |
| Women Film Critics Circle | January 15, 2025 | Karen Morley Award | The Last Showgirl | Won |
| Chicago Indie Critics Windie Award | January 17, 2025 | Best Original Song | "Beautiful That Way" – Miley Cyrus, Lykke Li and Andrew Wyatt | Nominated |
| Critics Choice Awards | February 7, 2025 | Best Song | "Beautiful That Way" – Miley Cyrus, Lykke Li and Andrew Wyatt | Nominated |
| AARP Movies for Grownups Awards | February 8, 2025 | Best Actress | Pamela Anderson | Nominated |
| Society of Composers & Lyricists | February 12, 2025 | Outstanding Original Song for a Dramatic or Documentary Visual Media Production | "Beautiful That Way" – Miley Cyrus, Lykke Li and Andrew Wyatt | Nominated |
| Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild | February 15, 2025 | Best Contemporary Hair Styling | Katy McClintock, Marc Boyle and Stephanie Hobgood | Won |
| British Academy Film Awards | February 16, 2025 | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Jamie Lee Curtis | Nominated |
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | February 23, 2025 | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role | Pamela Anderson | Nominated |
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | February 23, 2025 | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role | Jamie Lee Curtis | Nominated |
| Golden Raspberry Awards | February 28, 2025 | Razzie Redeemer Award | Pamela Anderson | Won |