Gia Coppola: Las Vegas, Legacies and The Last Showgirl

The city of Las Vegas has a mystique that’s difficult to define, and means different things for different people. In the mind and heart of Gia Coppola, it’s a special place with its own story to tell, and she’s brought that story to the screen in The Last Showgirl, an emotionally charged exploration of resilience, identity and nostalgia.

“During college, I was a photography major,” Coppola says. “During the summer break, I would kind of drive to and fro, cross country, and I would stop in Las Vegas and take pictures. I was just always really fascinated by this unusual city and what the day-to-day life is like there.” Coppola, a third-generation filmmaker — she is the granddaughter of Hollywood icon Francis Ford Coppola and the late filmmaker and author Eleanor Coppola, and daughter of actor-producer Gian-Carlo Coppola — could never quite find the right story that captured her view of the city. The missing piece fell into place when her cousin, Matt Shire, introduced her to a play his wife, Kate Gersten, had written about the final years of Jubilee, one of Vegas’s iconic showgirl revues. “When I read it, I was just really struck with how it depicts the world of Vegas in the way that I wanted to see,” Coppola says. The Last Showgirl tells the story of Shelley (Pamela Anderson, Baywatch, Barb Wire), a glamorous showgirl facing the abrupt end of her 30-year career. The impressive ensemble also features Academy Award-winner Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song and Kiernan Shipka. In addition to encapsulating Coppola’s vision of the city, the story’s themes of chosen family and mother-daughter relationships resonated deeply with her. “I was raised by a single mom [and] I’ve become a mother myself,” Coppola says. Creating a family of showbiz peers was something that Coppola has also experienced working in the film industry.

“I hope we can sort of create a resurgence of the showgirl world and actually bring those shows back.”

The casting of Anderson as Shelley proved to be serendipitous choice, and again Coppola credits her cousin with connecting the pieces. “Matt was like, ‘I know who your Shelley is,’” Coppola says. Shire had seen Ryan White‘s documentary Pamela, A Love Story (2023), which chronicles Anderson’s career and life through a thoughtful and personal lens, and encouraged Coppola to watch it. Coppola was drawn to the actress and celebrated sex symbol’s underappreciated artistic depth, and saw parallels between Anderson and Shelley, though she felt that there were enough differences that the actress might find the role to be interesting. “When we heard her finally reading the words, it was like, ‘Oh my God,’” Coppola says. “You can hear Shelley just the way you imagine her.” 

Another actress whom Coppola knew she wanted to work with on the project was Billie Lourd, a friend who also comes from a film dynasty, as the daughter of actress Carrie Fisher and granddaughter of singer/actress Debbie Reynolds. Coppola was so set on using Lourd that she let the actress choose her own role. “I sent her the script kind of just openly like, ‘Which character intrigues you?’” Coppola says. The director assumed that Lourd would gravitate toward the chance to wear the glamourous costume of a showgirl, but to her surprise, it was the role of Hannah, Shelley’s estranged daughter, that reeled her in. “She loves the role of Hannah because of her personal connection,” Coppola says. Lourd saw a lot of Fisher in Hannah, and Reynolds, who used to do one woman shows in Vegas, in Shelley. “She really felt like this would be a cathartic experience of her getting to play her mother,” Coppola says. The result, Coppola notes, added “multi-layered” depth and empathy to the character.

“When I read it, I was just really struck with how it depicts the world of Vegas in the way that I wanted to see.”

The modest budget and condensed production schedule of The Last Showgirl meant the cast and crew had to form tight bonds quickly, and the collaborative environment fostered genuine connections. “When we were all in Vegas, we would do things like go to Pamela’s house, and she would teach us how to make this vegetable soup,” Coppola says. “It really created that dynamic to transcend through the film.” While Coppola believes it’s important for audiences to have their own individual experiences, she does have some specific hopes for what people will get from her film. “I hope we can sort of create a resurgence of the showgirl world and actually bring those shows back,” Coppola says. “But I think also the hope is just for the people that connect to the story emotionally, and other directors, to inspire them to make movies. You can be small and still have a big outreach and a big heart.”

The Last Showgirl is a poignant tale of the intersection between nostalgia and the modern world, and with its remarkable mix of the sweet and the cynical, the brash and the beautiful, as well as art and exploitation, this is a film that will stay with you for years to come. Gia Coppola, a spectacular talent and the latest in long line of visionary artists, has created a vivid portrait of connections, dreams and lasting legacies.

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