Pamela Anderson on her movie comeback at TIFF in ‘The Last Showgirl’: ‘I underestimated myself’

“Oscar nominee Pamela Anderson.”
Stranger things have happened.
During a frenzied Toronto International Film Festival — the biggest, most electric TIFF in some time — few subplots have been tastier than the real-life one involving dearest Pam. The one-time “Baywatch” starlet and tabloid fixture, who kept the gossip mills fed for years (but whose vulnerability always had that endearing X-factor), has been on a redemptive path in recent years, as some might remember from her Netflix doc last year. Upping the ante further? Debuting “The Last Showgirl” in Toronto the other day.
Directed by Gia Coppola, no less (Francis Ford’s granddaughter), the gauzy, Vegas-set indie is like a Cassavetes film meets a feather-and-rhinestones “Rocky.” Yes, really. Taking the stage after the screening at the Princess of Wales Theatre, where co-star Jamie Lee Curtis not so quietly sobbed beside her, Anderson matter-of-factly said this about getting into the character of Shelley, a 57-year-old down-on-her-luck showgirl: “I’ve been getting ready for this role in my life.”
Dashed dreams. Roads not taken. The juice of the movie, for sure. And when her character exclaims, “I’m tired of defending myself” in one pivotal scene in the film — and that she has no regrets — it’s hard not to see the whole story as much as a parable about Pamela herself as it is about Shelley. Catnip for awards season voters, one would think.
Running into her during the big Road to the Golden Globes bash on Saturday night, held at the Four Seasons on Yorkville, I told her as much, adding, “You have always been underestimated.” To which, the Canadian had a pretty deft response: “I underestimated myself.”
That GG party, by the way — co-hosted with Robb Report — was chock-a-block with stars. Seemingly every big star in town that night!
Sitting in a circle in a banquette with Pamela, for instance, was another star experiencing a kind of cathartic comeback: Demi Moore. Jennifer Lopez ambled by at one point, crossing paths with Ana de Armas, who dated Ben Affleck before he and J.Lo rekindled and then went bust again. Andrew Garfield: incoming! In a leather bomber jacket. Amy Adams was seen catching up with her “Arrival” director Denis Villeneuve. Sydney Sweeney, too — looking every bit the bombshell. Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Jason Reitman, Mikey Madison, Mark Hamill: just some of the other names in the room. Held in the hotel’s big ballroom, it was a big production, with tons of food stations. Brisket, even! And “maple taffy on snow.”
There has been so much wattage, not to mention action, in town in recent days, that it has felt like a TikTok feed. One big, bottomless scroll.
There was Hugh Grant, for instance, on Sunday night, at the A24 post-premiere bash for his film “Heretic,” being serenaded with a rousing “Happy Birthday” by almost all of us at Soho House when the clock turned midnight. Turning 64: according to my friend, Google. And then Tom Hiddleston doing a solo dance routine that has now gone viral, complete with robot moves, and some moonwalking, at the party for his film “Life of Chuck” (which also brought Stephen King to the screening earlier, since the project is based on his book!). That party: at RBC House on Adelaide, where Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry had partied the night before.
Tilda Swinton, who arrived in town — even if her bag did not, as she mentioned! — joined Julianne Moore and their “The Room Next Door” director, Pedro Almodóvar, at the annual Sony Classics din-din at Morton’s. The movie had just rolled into Toronto, but it also doubled as a celebration for its triumph in Venice — winning the Golden Lion Prize, announced just that very day. Angelina Jolie, meanwhile, low-key dined at Daphne on Adelaide on Saturday night with Salma Hayek and Demián Bichir, the stars of her film “Without Blood.” Branzino was had.
“I keep waiting for RuPaul to ask me to go on ‘Drag Race,’” riffed Cate Blanchett at the Royal Alex at her special “In Conversation with …,” updating the audience on her bucket list. At Mister C, inside Bisha Hotel: Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby and the rest of the “Eden” cast, directed by Ron Howard. And then Jude again — this time with Nicholas Hoult — at the Don Julio-hosted party for his other film, “The Order,” at Pink Sky.
Check it: a “Saltburn” reunion when hunky Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan crossed paths inside the Variety Studio at the St Regis. And at Pearl, nights ago, for the Prime Video bash in celebration of the Tragically Hip documentary: an appearance by even the prime minister, JT making a late-night stop.