Gia Coppola cast Pamela Anderson in ‘Last Showgirl’ after seeing Doc

When filmmaker Gia Coppola set out to star in her third film, “The Last Showgirl,” finding her titular showgirl in Las Vegas was initially something of a mystery. Coppola’s film follows Shelly, a longtime performer whose entire life is thrown into disarray when her show, the last of its kind on the Strip, closes. It’s a heartfelt character study of a singular woman, a part that required old-fashioned glamor and hard-won smarts.

“I couldn’t really imagine who was right for the role of Shelly. I would kind of think of Marilyn Monroe or actors who are no longer around, nobody else felt quite right,” Coppola said during a Sunday evening post-screening Q&A in New York City.(As the film gets ready for release next month, we’ll have more interviews with the team behind it.)

And then she found the 2023 Netflix documentary “Pamela, a Love Story,” which reorients our understanding of Pamela Anderson. The Ryan White film sets the record straight on many things in Anderson’s life; fleshes out the icon for those who may not know anything beyond “Baywatch.” Hot on the heels of the “Pam & Tommy” series, White’s film provides another vivid version of the real Anderson. It certainly grabbed Coppola.

“And then I came across her documentary and I could just see so many parallels to Shelly, but I could also see this artist who was so creative and so knowledgeable about art and philosophy and just the way she approached life, ” said the instructor. . “And how vulnerable she was when she wasn’t really wearing makeup in the documentary, so I could see that this was someone who was fearless. I just really wanted to collaborate with her. I could see her hunger to express her talents in a dramatic way.”

It wasn’t quite so easy, but when Coppola tried to get the Kate Gersten-penned script to star, she hit a quick roadblock. “I was eager to meet her,” Coppola said. “But I got a rejection within an hour (of reaching out to her team about the part) that wasn’t from her. So I had to persevere and find alternate routes (to get to her).”

Coppola laughed and turned to Anderson, “It was really funny when we connected because I sold myself to you and you were very excited to sell yourself to me.” The end result, starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka and Billie Lourd, speaks for itself: the film was positively reviewed after its TIFF premiere, including many accolades for Anderson, and is set for a December release. Documentaries: a good thing!

Roadside Attractions will release “The Last Showgirl” in Los Angeles on Friday, December 13, with a national release to follow on Friday, January 10.