by Gill Pringle at San Sebastian Film Festival
One of the most famous women in the world, the public followed former Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson through five stormy marriages, sex tapes, reality shows and a B-list movie career.
Having all but given up on Hollywood, Pamela Anderson returned to her native Canada, buying a farm on Vancouver Island and growing organic veggies.
Pamela Anderson, the serious actress, seemed like the most unlikely of reincarnations.
Until now.
There was something about the 2023 Netflix documentary Pamela, a Love Story, which captivated director Gia Coppola (Palo Alto) – granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola – who was looking to cast her next film, The Last Showgirl.
She immediately envisaged the former Playboy model as the lead character Shelley, a topless dancer in a faded Las Vegas revue forced to reckon with herself after the show is cancelled.
Shelley has given up everything for this show, including her now adult daughter, played by Billie Lourd. Anderson’s achingly honest portrayal is heartbreaking as we watch Shelley struggle to assess her life choices.
“I felt like there was no one else who could play the part other than Pamela,” says Coppola when we meet with her and Anderson at San Sebastian’s elegant Hotel Maria Cristina. “I had seen her picture around, and something was really drawing me to her. But when I saw her documentary, I knew that she had to be Shelley, and no one else could do it.”
For Anderson, the role felt like a lived experience.
“I related to Shelley’s belief in glamour – and now it was ending… I really worked on it from personal experience and just trying to find ways to encapsulate this entire life that’s almost impossible to articulate, that I’ve gone through, from Playboy to Baywatch to all these different things,” she says.
“We worked really hard and fast, so there was no time to overthink it. Just become it. I’m 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 took from all my experiences, from my marriages, my children, my life, my career.

“I think being a woman in your 50s is inspirational, just to be able to be here. I’ve got off the rollercoaster of emotions over the last few decades. I barely even remember them, but here I am, and with all this experience,” she says in a soft girlish voice which barely rises above a whisper.
For Coppola, The Last Showgirl was a family affair – not just with her cousin Jason Schwartzman playing a small but pivotal role, but also her cousin Kate Gerston, who wrote the script, while another cousin, Robert Schwartzman came on board as a producer.
“I’ve always wanted to do a film in Las Vegas. And when my cousin Kate, who also had an affection for Las Vegas, told me about her time spent with the Jubilee! Showgirls, it was just a world that I was so excited to learn more about. This art form is under-appreciated and there’s so much quality to it that I didn’t even realise until diving into it; the level of production design and costume design was interesting to me.
“The showgirl is such a symbol for Las Vegas, and there’s no show that represents that act anymore, so it just felt very symbolic in a lot of ways,” says the director.

Even though her family name opens many doors, Coppola has had her fair share of setbacks, which she is philosophical about today. “The movie business is a very hard industry to work your path in, and I’ve definitely had my learning lessons of a project not always loving me back.
“But it always feels like rejection is protection. And if you can be not be bitter about things and embrace where life is leading you, I find there’s a lot of knowledge and learning opportunities when you are open to that.
“But I feel like with this project, in particular, the stars really aligned for us in so many ways, and the universe bringing us together,” says Coppola.
Anderson is clearly grateful for the opportunity to show her acting chops. “I’m lucky to be able to work because some things are very hard to articulate in the moment, and to able to be in a film that kind of expresses all these different emotions that we’re all feeling was very healing and exciting,” she says.
Famously married to bad boy rocker Tommy Lee with whom she has two sons, both are now adults – Brandon, 28, and Dylan Jagger, 27.
In fact, it was Brandon who first entered into discussions about his mum starring in the film, even serving as an executive producer on The Last Showgirl.
“Brandon helped produce the film. He brought me the script because no one could find me … and he knew where I was on the farm,” Anderson says.
“I was really drawn to the script and felt a kinship, obviously. I’ve never been offered a movie part like this. I was also drawn to the mother-daughter relationship and how she managed her dreams and managed this business and just be the best you can be,” says Anderson who quickly recognised the parallels in her own life.
“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’ve done this experiment with myself, just to peel it all back. Remember who I am, not be defined by what people do to me, but defined by what I do, and just have passion for the work and not become bitter or jaded, still finding joy in the process, in life and in this business.”
With her entire adult life a series of headlines, following her divorce from the Motley Crue drummer, she entered into short-lived marriages with Kid Rock, poker player Rick Salomon, hairdresser-turned-film-producer Jon Peters and bodyguard Dan Hayhurst.
But she sees The Last Showgirl as an opportunity to turn a new page, cast opposite veterans like Jamie Lee Curtis and Dave Bautista.
Hollywood is already paying attention, with Karim Ainouz casting her in his upcoming arthouse thriller Rosebush Pruning opposite Elle Fanning, Riley Keough and Jamie Bell.
“This has just been a wonderful experience to do this film and be surrounded by women who genuinely and authentically care about one another,” says Anderson.
Having learnt hard life lessons, today she has found a new resolve. “Even if people don’t believe in you, you have to believe and push yourself because it’s very easy to pigeonhole somebody – you have to find reasons to keep blowing people’s minds.”
Certainly, Hollywood loves a second chance. “I think in my Playboy centerfold, I wrote that I wanted to be a good mother and win an Oscar!” she says.
The Last Showgirl is in cinemas in 2025