Pamela Anderson hailed as a ‘major, major’ awards contender after premiere of new film

The ‘Baywatch’ star plays a veteran dancer in ‘The Last Showgirl’

2024 TIFF - "The Last Showgirl" Premiere (Invision)

Pamela Anderson has received rave reviews following the premiere of her new film The Last Showgirl, which has premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival – with some suggesting she could be a major awards contender.

The film from Palo Alto director Gia Coppola tells the story of a veteran dancer in Las Vegas named Shelly (Anderson), who has worked for most of her career as part of an old-fashioned feathers and rhinestones show called “Le Razzle Dazzle”.

Shelly’s life is then sent into a downward spiral when the show’s producer, Eddie (Dave Bautista) tells the dancers that the casino that hosts them is closing the show down with only two weeks’ notice.

Kiernan Shipka and Brenda Song star as a pair of younger dancers performing alongside Anderson, who has recently been cast in a remake of The Naked Gun. Jamie Lee Curtis, who emotionally talked about her role afterwards, plays an older cocktail waitress still working for tips in the casino.

The film has been widely praised by those who have seen it in Toronto, with many expecting the former Baywatch actor to get plenty of awards buzz for the role.

“The Last Showgirl is both the role of a lifetime for Anderson, one that can fully capture her incredible emotional intensity and vulnerability and (we can only hope) the start of a brand new career for her. Meet Pamela Anderson: Major, major contender”, writes Kate Erbland in Indie Wire.

Caryn James for the BBC hails Anderson as a “revelation” who “embodies her character with such genuine feeling”.

On X/Twitter, Sara Clements of Next Best Picture wrote: “You’ve never seen Pamela Anderson like this before. This role was made for her. What an emotional and powerful performance.”

Film critic Orlando Maldonado added: “Only Pamela Anderson could have played the lead in Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl, a very honest and moving drama about ageism in showbiz. The whole cast is wonderful. Expect some buzz for Pamela.”

After being greeted with a huge applause after the film had finished, Anderson said at a Q & A that she’s “been getting ready my whole life for this film.”

The 57-year-old Canadian added: “I never felt something so strongly about something [as this film]. It was do it, just be it, and I did it.”

TIFF The Last Showgirl (The Canadian Press)

For Anderson, the festival acclaim was a novel experience. Even just getting a script like “The Last Showgirl” was something new for her.

“It’s the first time I’ve read a good script, first of all. I’ve never had a script come to me that was coherent,” said Anderson. “I was like: I’m the only one that can do this. I’ve never felt that strongly about something.”

“The Last Showgirl” extends a run of good fortune for the former Playboy Playmate that includes her 2023 memoir Love, Pamela and the Emmy-nominated Netflix documentary Pamela, A Love Story. It also shares some of the same themes as another TIFF entry, the body horror film The Substance. That film, starring Demi Moore, likewise grapples with agism for female entertainers.