“The Last Showgirl” writer on that ambiguous ending, casting Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis' unscripted dance, and more

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last Showgirl.

After a decade-plus journey from the stage to the big screen, The Last Showgirl is finally shimmying into theaters everywhere this weekend.

Starring Pamela Anderson in a role she was born to play, the poignant drama follows Shelly, her titular Vegas showgirl, as she grapples with the closing of her long-running gig, the last act of its kind on the strip. As her life’s work comes to an unceremonious end, she strives to repair her relationship with her estranged daughter, Hannah (Billie Lourd), whom she neglected to raise in favor of prioritizing her career. Instead, Shelly’s fellow dancers became her family, particularly Jamie Lee Curtis' gambling-addicted cocktail waitress, Annette, Brenda Song's practical, world-weary Marianne, and Kiernan Shipka's naive, runaway teen, Jodie, who looks to Shelly as a mother figure. If the ragtag group has a patriarch, it's Eddie (Dave Bautista), their clueless long-time stage manager, who, unbeknownst to everyone but Shelly, is also Hannah's biological dad.

Initially written for the stage by Kate Gersten, who spent time behind the scenes with Vegas showgirls, including members of the now-defunct Jubilee!, as research, The Last Showgirl was never fully developed for the theater. But when her husband, fellow writer Matthew Shire, showed the script to his cousin, noted Vegas lover and filmmaker Gia Coppola, the director was immediately drawn to the story and worked with Gertsen to create a version for the screen that retained the intimacy of the would-be play. The result is one of the year’s best films, featuring a career-redefining performance from Anderson that earned her best actress nods at the Golden Globes and SAGs, among other nominations for the film.

Below, Gersten opens up about her reaction to Anderson’s casting, the meaning behind the purposefully ambiguous ending, Curtis’ memorable dance number, and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First, have you heard from any former Showgirls about the movie? 

KATE GERSTEN: A couple of weeks ago, there was a woman who was in Jubilee! in the ‘90s, at its heyday, who came to see the movie, and I got to meet her. She was really lovely and felt like it was a very truthful story, and that was so validating to me. I really loved meeting her.

What do you remember most from your time researching? 

I remember the backstage area so well, and the sort of choreography of how they moved and changed their costumes and how that process is so precise and so choreographed even though it's offstage choreography. That dance in and of itself is really glorious to me.

Related: How Pamela Anderson channeled her 'beautiful, messy life' in The Last Showgirl (exclusive)

What was your reaction when you learned that Pamela would be playing Shelly? 

I thought it was the most incredible stroke of genius I'd ever heard of. When her documentary came out, my husband, Matt Shire, saw it. He’s Gia’s cousin, and he told Gia, "You've got to see this; this is your Shelly." Gia saw it. She was like, “Kate, you've got to see this.” And I was like, “Wow, there are so many similarities.” But most of all, it is her ability to go through all this adversity and still be soft. That was what showed me immediately that Pamela was the right person to play this role. She still had that vulnerability and openness and wonder about the world. That was the thing that I really saw in her — nobody else that I've ever seen play the role [during the 10 years it was being workshopped] has had that.

Speaking of the play, what were some of the biggest changes from the stage to the movie?

Well, the play was 125 pages, and the movie is 70 pages, so a lot of it did fall away. We were really focused on Shelly's story as opposed to the arcs of every other character, but it is still just those five characters in the play and the movie. In my first attempt at writing the screenplay, I made it a much broader story. I had other characters, I had other locations, and Gia said, "I really love the play. I really wish it was as contained as the play so that we can make this in the time constraint and the financial constraints we're dealing with. And in order to maintain all of our artistic autonomy, let's just keep it closer to the play." And I really appreciated that. I thought that was great. I was like, you don't have to ask a playwright twice to make it more like a play.

After Shelly gets into an argument with her biological daughter, Hannah, she refuses to support her stage daughter, Jodie, in her time of need. Why does Shelly turn her away?

She has gotten so swept up in her life with her show family that she is finally realizing that she didn't do as right by her daughter as, in that moment, she wishes she had done. She's coming off the fight with Hannah backstage when she turns Jodie away at the door, and I think what’s going through her head is: I want to make things right with my daughter. I can't believe that I did this, but I also need to figure out what my next move is and what my next job is. So she's rehearsing for her audition when Jodie comes to the door, and one of the reasons why she turns her away is she's like, “I've just got to focus on getting my next job and doing the next thing that's right for me.”

Also, I think it's this combination of complicated feelings where she's also [thinking] I want to focus on the things that are important to me, which are my actual daughter and my passion. And I can't just be swept up with everyone who needs me because everybody needs a part of me. Jodie needs a part of me, Marianne needs a part of me, Annette needs a part of me, and I can't just be there for everyone the way I've always been. I need to protect myself. I think she's a great contradiction of somebody who is there for people and is also selfish. And I think we all know people like that. I think that's a classic narcissistic tendency, though I wouldn't call Shelly a narcissist. I don't love categorizing her like that and diagnosing her, but I do think that there is something about her that resonates with that idea.

Related: Pamela Anderson sparkles in poignant Las Vegas tale of The Last Showgirl

One of the most memorable moments in the film is Jamie Lee Curtis’ dance to “Total Eclipse of the Heart” on the casino floor. How was that scene described in the script? 

That was one of the only things that was not in the script. Jamie saw one of the cocktail waitresses in the casino that we were shooting in, and she was talking to her, and we found out that cocktail waitresses who sing and dance get paid on a different scale. They have to perform three times in a shift. And so that's what Jamie saw. She really reached out to this one gal and talked to her all about her experience. And then Gia said, “I got to get you up on one of those podiums to dance.” And Jamie said, “Well, if I go up there, it's got to be to ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart.’” And we did one take, and Jamie just improvised all of that dancing for the whole song one time, and it is all in the movie.

In another pivotal scene, Shelly and Eddie’s date goes sideways when he clumsily asks her why she didn’t stop dancing to raise their daughter. Eddie doesn’t have much tact, but does he have a point about Shelly’s decision to prioritize her career over raising Hannah? 

I don't think he has any ground to stand on. I don't think he should be asking her any of these questions. She has something she wants from him, which is to see if there's anything there between them because he has a stable future and is a little bit of a clueless guy. He's an unusual type of person. I think that he did not want to have a kid. Shelly wasn't particularly young when she had Hannah. She chose to have her because that's what she wanted to do. I don't think Shelly ever loved Eddie. I think they had a dalliance because they were working together, two attractive people working together. I'm like, I can see Dave Bautista 20 years ago! I think they made an agreement that he would never show up in Hannah’s life. And he was like, “Sure, that's not a job I'm capable of doing. I'm not capable of being a dad on any level. I don't want that in my life.” He probably doesn't even want to get married. I always imagined that Eddie was somebody who is really a loner. He works hard because that's what he knows how to do. I think there's almost something a little off in terms of just being not completely aware of other people.

I thought it was heartbreaking to hear him denigrate the show when, up until that point in the movie, he’d seemed so supportive and respectful.

I know. And that's another thing: I think his denigration of the show in that regard isn't intentional. I think he is not an intentional person. Like he doesn't realize when he says “with your breasts hanging out,” that that's something that could be taken as like, oh, geez, man. But that's just Eddie. I think he's just kind of an insensitive character, but the way that Dave portrays him seems so sensitive. So when he has that turn, it really is surprising to the audience that he is so insensitive.

But we still care about Eddie. It's like I always wanted it to be. We still care about Eddie and we care about Eddie's relationship with Shelly only because they've known each other forever, and they may not have the best relationship or a deep relationship, but they've known each other; they've witnessed each other over the years.

After Shelly’s failed audition toward the end of the movie, we see her again wrestling with her relationship with her dance family when she lashes out at Marianne in the parking lot, blaming her for her own failings as a mother. But I loved that afterward, we see them crying together and supporting each other in the dressing room. Do you think Shelly ultimately embraces Marianne, Jodie, and Annette as her family? 

I think it makes them even more of a family that they have these fights and then can come back together and it just shows how deep their bonds really are that they're not shaken. Shelly is triggered by everything the director has said [in the audition], and she's triggered to examine her life in that moment. And I think that in the most heightened moments, we say things that we might not mean or that we especially mean that we've never wanted to say before but that people maybe can hear for the first time in a different way or in a way that is most affecting.

After that scene in the parking lot, there was a scene that was cut of dialogue between Marianne and Jodie and Shelly sort of moving on to what's next in their lives. I think at some point Shelly does say to Marianne in a very maternal way that the next chapter will be better. And so there is that reconciliatory familial aspect to their relationship that I think is very deep — deeper than with anyone else in her life. It's really Marianne and Annette; I think they are the two closest to her. And so yeah, I do think that's her family.

Related: Pamela Anderson says The Last Showgirl success is 'the best payback' after Pam & Tommy

Turning to the ending, what is your take on the reality of the events? There seem to be some hints (like the crowded audience) that we’re seeing Shelly’s dream or delusion. For starters, do you think Hannah really shows up? 

I always wanted it to be that Hannah was there for real, but I love Gia's interpretation of giving it to the audience and saying, “Do you think Hannah's there or not? Do we think Shelly's delusional or not? What do we think is in her head?” And that is something that is so subjective for every audience member, which I think is a very fun thought experiment. So I always imagined in my head, and I believe it says it in the script, that Hannah is there photographing the show and that she has decided to preserve it.

And it isn’t what is in the film, but that was always my original idea, that Hannah does come back and accepts her mom for what her mom's limitations are, how she can love her, and how she's just done the best she could do. And that is also my personal process with my parents. I love them despite whatever their shortcomings have been over the years. Some of them haven't been that bad, and some of them have been egregious. I think we all have that experience with our parents to whatever degree. And so I like the idea that Hannah does forgive her mom.

This is also the first time we actually get to see the show. Do you think we’re seeing the show as it is, or is it a more idealized version that lives in Shelly’s head? 

I do think that this show, what we're seeing in the end, is that everything she has said is true. It's not in her head. It's like the idea that the costumes, the lights, and the sets are exorbitant and extraordinary and make her feel beautiful — that is all really true. And I think that it's just the Hannah aspect that is potentially imagined, but that might not be the most satisfying answer.

Before she takes the stage for the last time, Shelly seems to make peace with Eddie, telling him that she’ll either move closer to her daughter or work with Annette as a cocktail waitress. Assuming this conversation is also real, which option do you think Shelly chooses?

Well, it's funny because I think the reality of it, which may not be my dream for her, is that she becomes a cocktail waitress with Annette. My dream for her would be that she, I don't know, maybe she finds another artistic pursuit that is also creative in a way. And then I know that Gia thinks that she and Annette do a casino heist, and that’s the sequel.

Related: Suite Life star Brenda Song thinks Disney fans might be 'scared' to hear her swear in The Last Showgirl

Where do you think Marianne and Jodie wind up? 

I think that Marianne changes careers. She's 35 years old. She retires from being a dancer and maybe goes back to school. I think she moves to California. There was a lot more backstory in the script for Marianne that, in order to stay focused on Shelly, we let go. But I think she really makes a big change in her personal life and finds happiness in a different chapter. And I think Jodie, who's naturally very talented and able to get another job, I think she gets another job. I just wonder if it's in Las Vegas or if she tests the waters in New York to see if she's talented.

Lastly, do you think we’ll ever see the return of the Vegas showgirl? 

I don't know. I think Vegas is getting more and more digital by the minute like with the Sphere. I don't know if it's coming back. It's so expensive and it’s all practical. It's dozens of performers and dozens of crew members and physical sets and expensive feathers. So I think it might be a relic of days gone by. But I'm going to Paris in April for my birthday, and I'm going to have a little Shelly tour. I'm going to go to Paris for Shelly. I think there are still some shows there, and I'm going to go see them.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly