The Last Showgirl With Pamela Anderson Wows Toronto Film Festival

The Toronto International Film Festival increased the razzle dazzle factor on the second day of its 49th edition with the world premiere of “The Last Showgirl,” a Vegas-set drama in which star Pamela Anderson enters the awards season conversation for the first time in her illustrious career.

Gia Coppola’s (“Palo Alto”) film follows a 30-year professional dancer who works in sequins in the last remaining classic floor show in Sin City, a gambling paradise. Dave Bautista plays the show’s stage manager, who must inform the dancers that their act will close permanently in two weeks.

Kiernan Shipka from “Mad Men” and Brenda Song are the next-generation dancers who perform alongside Anderson, while Billie Lourd plays her estranged daughter.

Jamie Lee Curtis, a recent Oscar winner with a perma-tan and frosted lipstick, provides comic relief as a Vegas cocktail waitress who must deal with rude clients while working for tips at a casino.

Anderson garnered loud ovation when she arrived for a post-credits Q&A. Wearing black trousers, a black top and dark sunglasses, the singer discussed her transition from ’90s sex symbol to playing Shelley, a dreamer who is overlooked in the Vegas whirl due to her age.

“I’ve spent my entire life preparing for this film,” she deadpanned, eliciting raucous laughs. “I’ve never felt so strongly about anything [as this picture]. It was do it or be it, and I did it.”

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