Roadside Attractions has acquired North American rights to Pamela Anderson’s “The Last Showgirl,” after the movie made a splash and premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, the company announced on Friday.
The film was directed by Gia Coppola and will be released only in theaters for 2024 Awards Season.
In his review of the film, The Wrap’s Matthew Creith wrote, “Director Gia Coppola takes a modern audience into the dazzling world of Las Vegas revues and showgirls in the aptly titled “The Last Showgirl.” Anderson stars as Shelley, an aging performer who reveres The Razzle Dazzle, a seemingly ancient remnant of Las Vegas’s golden past. Equipped with dance skills and a love of live performances, Shelley is heartbroken when it’s announced that the show she’s dedicated her life to will close for good in two weeks’ time.”
Best known for her roles in “Baywatch” and “Home Improvement,” Anderson had an intense emotional connection to the film, revealing how the screenplay connected with her in a way she had never experienced before.
“I’d never read a good script in my life. I’ve never been given a script at that caliber where I felt so strong,” Anderson told TheWrap’s Steve Pond at TheWrap’s 2024 TIFF Studio sponsored by Moët & Chandon and Boss Design. “I said, ‘Oh, this must be what that thing is when you really relate to a script and you really want to do it more than anything in the world.’ I read it, and I said, ‘There’s nobody that can do this but me, I have to do it.’”
“The Last Showgirl” co-stars Jamie Lee Curtis as Shelley’s best friend, who brings her own unique interpretation and brilliance to the story, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka and Billie Lourd.
Written by Kate Gersten, the film is produced by filmmaker and co-founder of Utopia Robert Schwartzman and Natalie Farrey. It features a new original song “Beautiful That Way,” sung by pop superstar Miley Cyrus, produced by Andrew Wyatt (“Barbie”) and written by Cyrus, Wyatt and Lykke Zachrisson.
Dani Koenigsberg, Nick Darmestaedter, Kate Gersten, Brandon Lee, Michael Clofine for DI Entertainment, Jessamine Burgum and Kara Durrett for Pinky Promise, Alex Orlovsky, Duncan Montgomery and Jack Selby for High Frequency Entertainment, Robina Riccitiello and Josh Peters for Spark Features serve as EPs.
“Pamela Anderson will bring some much-needed stardust to the world of cinema this fall in Gia Coppola’s extraordinary film” Roadside Attractions Co-Presidents’ Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff said in a statement to The Wrap. “We are thrilled to join our friends at Utopia to release this film into awards season.”
Utopia’s Robert Schwartzmann added: “This has been a very special film since the beginning and continues to attract such incredible talent and collaborators. We couldn’t be more excited than to team up with the passionate and accomplished team at Roadside, who we will continue to build momentum with following our TIFF debut into our upcoming 2024 release.”
CAA Media Finance brokered the deal with Schwartzman and Cohen
Deadline first reported the news.