‘The Last Showgirl’ stars Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis on the film’s message of resilience
Courtesy Roadside Attractions
Pamela Anderson says her latest role in the Gia Coppola-directed film The Last Showgirl is close to her heart and one she’s “really proud of.”
During an interview with Good Morning America, the actress said the script by Kate Gersten had many parallels with her own life, so she felt confident she could take on the role from the beginning.
“There’s lots that I identified with,” Anderson told GMA about her connection to her character, Shelly, a seasoned showgirl forced to find her next act after the Las Vegas revue she’s headlined for decades announces its final show.
“I’d never received a script like this,” she explained. “It had so many beautiful characters, so fully written and a great story and just the glamor. I couldn’t wait to get started.”
Anderson’s co-star Jamie Lee Curtis, who plays a former showgirl turned bevertainer, echoed the praise for the storyline, telling GMA the film is about “resilience, particularly, the resilience of women.”
Reflecting on her mindset ahead of officially landing the role, Anderson shared, “I couldn’t believe I was going to get this opportunity. So I just thought, if I never do anything else, I’m going to make sure I apply myself and throw everything at this that I know and have learned.”
“It was just for me,” she said. “I got to do something that I’m really proud of.”
Anderson is already receiving praise for the film, which was shot in 18 days, from both critics and audiences alike. She earned a Golden Globe nomination for best actress in a motion picture drama in December.
Blake Lively is taking legal action against her It Ends with Us co-star and director, Justin Baldoni, for alleged sexual harassment during the filming of the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel.
This comes months after rumors of tension behind the scenes first surfaced.
In the complaint filed with the California Civil Rights Department and obtained by ABC News, Lively claims Baldoni’s alleged behavior caused her “severe emotional distress.”
A representative for Lively said in a statement that “Blake was retaliated against because she raised concerns about sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior that she and other members of the cast and crew experienced on the set of the film.”
The complaint further alleges that a meeting was held to address Lively’s concerns, adding that it was attended by key stakeholders in the film and Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds.
According to the complaint, Lively said she laid out specific demands at the meeting to ensure a safe and professional working environment, including “no more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake” and “no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake’s weight, and no further mention of Blake’s dead father.”
Lively claims Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, then engaged in a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” Lively’s reputation, according to the complaint. The complaint includes alleged texts from Baldoni’s publicist to a Wayfarer publicist, whom the complaint alleges said Baldoni “wants to feel like [Ms. Lively] can be buried,” and “We can’t write we will destroy her.”
In a message to his publicist, according to the complaint, Baldoni allegedly wrote, “We should have a plan for IF she does the same when [the] movie comes out. Plans make me feel more at ease.”
Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios, denied the allegations in a statement to ABC News:
“It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions,” Freedman said. “These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”
Freedman added, “Wayfarer Studios made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film, to work alongside their own representative with Jonesworks employed by Stephanie Jones, due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production which included her threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met. It was also discovered that Ms. Lively enlisted her own representative, Leslie Sloan with Vision PR, who also represents Mr. Reynolds, to plant negative and completely fabricated and false stories with media, even prior to any marketing had commenced for the film, which was another reason why Wayfarer Studios made the decision to hire a crisis professional to commence internal scenario planning in the case they needed to address. The representatives of Wayfarer Studios still did nothing proactive nor retaliated, and only responded to incoming media inquiries to ensure balanced and factual reporting and monitored social activity. What is pointedly missing from the cherry-picked correspondence is the evidence that there were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario planning and private correspondence to strategize which is standard operating procedure with public relations professionals.”
In the film, Lively plays a woman with a traumatic upbringing who enters into a relationship that turns abusive.
Baldoni previously told Good Morning America that Lively was an integral part of the film and that he partnered on the project with a foundation dedicated to ending domestic and sexual violence.
The magazine made the announcement for its annual Sexiest Man Alive issue, which includes an interview with the actor exclusive to People.
Upon hearing the news that he was named Sexiest Man Alive, the actor told People that he thought he was “being punked.”
“Just immediate blackout,” he said. “Zero thoughts. Other than maybe I’m being punked. That’s not how I wake up usually, thinking, ‘Is this the day that I’ll be asked to be Sexiest Man Alive?’ And yet it was the day you guys did it. You really raised the bar for me.”
In his interview with the magazine, he talked about his life as an actor, including his roles as Jim Halpert from The Office, and his work in A Quiet Place, which he co-wrote, directed and starred in with his wife, actress Emily Blunt.
Krasinski said working with Blunt was “one of the most thrilling processes I’ve ever had, because I’d never worked with Emily.”
The actor said that he met Blunt in 2008 in a restaurant and as soon as he shook her hand, he said he “just knew” that she was the one.
When he told Blunt that he was named Sexiest Man Alive, he said she was “very excited.”
“There was a lot of joy involved in me telling her,” he said.
They’ve been married for 14 years and share two daughters: Hazel, 10, and Violet, 8.
“It’s a phenomenal thing to get to be in this family and be a dad,” he added. “It’s changed my life completely.”
To see more of the men featured in People‘s Sexiest Man Alive Issue pick up the new issue on newsstands nationwide Friday.
The Golden Bachelor star Gerry Turner is opening up about being diagnosed with a blood cancer earlier this year.
Turner, 72, revealed in an exclusive interview with People published on Wednesday that he was diagnosed with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia.
Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia is a rare blood cancer that results in an excess of abnormal white blood cells in the bone marrow, according to the National Institute of Health.
The NIH estimates that the disease affects three in 1 million people per year in the United States, and the condition occurs twice as often in men than women.
Turner told the outlet that there being no cure for Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia “weighs heavily in every decision I make” and that the diagnosis “was like 10 tons of concrete were just dropped on me.”
“And I was a bit in denial for a while, I didn’t want to admit it,” he said.
All of this occurred while he was still married to Theresa Nist, whom he proposed to on The Golden Bachelor, which aired its finale in November 2023, and whom he married in a televised wedding on ABC in January.
The couple revealed to GMA in April they were divorcing.
Turner said that after his diagnosis, “the importance of finding the way with Theresa was still there, but it became less of a priority” compared to spending time with his family.
“When you are hit with that kind of news and the shock wears off after a few days or a few weeks and you regroup and you realize what’s important to you, that’s where you start to move forward,” he told the outlet. “And I hope that people understand in retrospect now that that had a huge bearing on my decisions and I think probably Theresa’s as well.”
Turner said he’s embracing the fun of life and not living with regrets these days and wishes Nist “all of the good luck in the world, that she finds everything she wants to.” He said he holds their brief relationship as “a cherished memory.”
