Pamela Anderson wrote her memoir, “Love, Pamela” and participated in the Netflix documentary of her life last year, but now it seems as those activities were just warm ups for not the end, but rather really in some ways the beginning of a career that just parachuted into high gear with her universally acclaimed performance in Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl. In the movie which will open an awards qualification run on December 13 for a week, and then go wide on January 10, 2025, she plays Shelley, a long time Vegas showgirl whose show has been given a closing notice. As something she has done for virtually all of her career this becomes a devastating moment, but also perhaps one of rebirth.
That word, rebirth, also describes the career transformantion Anderson is undergoing right now with this film, preceded by a Broadway debut in 2022 as Roxie Hart in Chicago, a role this professed “non-dancer” said she got after director Rob Marshall who made the Oscar winning film version saw her on Dancing With The Stars and recommended her for the role. It was life-changing, a critical success and yes, a new beginning. Her documentary ends with that triumph and with her saying she does not know what is next. At that time that was true, but “next” turned out to be The Last Showgirl, an indie production shot in 18 days that has now generated awards buzz including a nomination for Lead Performance at the Gotham Awards taking place next week. The film has also been winning awards on the Fall festival circuit after its debut in Anderson’s home country, Canada at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September where fans lined up for four city blocks to get into its premiere screening (I know this because I was at the end of that line).
Anderson joins me now in conversation for my Deadline video series, The Actor’s Side and discusses all of this, her wild career from Baywatch to Broadway as she puts it, the ups and downs, and a deterimination to make the most of this new chapter.
To watch and to get the ‘actor’s side’ of it all from Pamela Anderson just click on the link above.
Join me every week during Oscar season for more episodes of The Actor’s Side.
