Interview: ‘The Last Showgirl’ Director Gia Coppola on Photography, the Timeless Pull of Las Vegas and the Surprising Inspiration of Michael Bay

The way our culture devalues art, especially in the digital age, isn’t necessarily a new thought but it’s one worth investigating as institutions continue to fall apart. One might not consider a Vegas Showgirl act to be art as we usually define it but, as Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl makes clear, what some may view as superficial titillation, its stars view as a direct through-line to classic cinema and Paris Burlesque. In following a Vegas staple, the Last of the Showgirls, in its last days, Coppola isn’t just giving a voice to the working class women of that city, she’s showing yet another way artistry is being completely subsumed by a culture defined by disposability.

Coppola’s films have a tactile, textured nature to them (no surprise, as Showgirl was shot on film) and that’s no mistake. Her inspirations come by way of photography and the lived experiences she’s had in a place with its people. Her Las Vegas doesn’t just contain the glitz and glam we’ve become used to, it has a scratchy, rugged patina swirling with pastel blues and pinks. Far afield from the shock of neon you usually see. It feels as much as a far off paradise where people migrate to attempt a dream of riches and fame as it does a very real home to real, blue collar people. It’s the perfect intersection to house a look at fading institutions. 

I recently caught up with Coppola to unpack just what draws her to this loss of art, the advice her grandmother Eleanor gave her that’s shaped her career and the surprising connection Michael Bay’s Transformers II has with The Last Showgirl.  

Brandon Streussnig: I know you’re drawn more to photography than any specific film when it comes to influences. Were there any photographers you were looking at when you were creating a look of this film?

Gia Coppola: Yeah, I mean, there was a lot of Nan Golden, who I love, and Lisa Eisner has a book that’s a collection of different photographers that have taken pictures in Las Vegas, it’s called ‘Las Vegas’. I love that photo book. And Louis Theroux did a documentary about Las Vegas and you really see the real characters, but also just how the energy of gambling is so addicting and how that sort of takes over a human. And I love the art critic, David Hickey, who was a professor in Nevada and how he sort depicts that world. So all of that was sort of my desire to convey Las Vegas in the way that I was seeing it and feeling it and felt like it hadn’t yet been showcased in a fictionalized feature-length film.

BS: I love the way you depict Vegas here. The city is so cinematic, but what draws you specifically to it?

GC: It’s such an unusual city. There’s nothing like it. I mean, it’s so visually stimulating with all the sort of neon twinkling lights, but it feels like such a metaphor for Americana and consumerism. And so there’s this underlying sadness behind the facade or sobering truth to it. And it’s so representative of how our culture just effortlessly discards anything that is old. Architecture, the Tropicana is being demolished. Even going to dinner there. There’s no restaurant that feels like it’s older than 1985, yet you hear about all of the Rat Pack in 1950s Vegas, and none of that exists anymore. And the Showgirl is such an icon and there are statues of showgirls everywhere, but that actual show doesn’t exist anymore. So it’s this kind of weird contradiction.

BC: You’ve said you felt a connection to your grandmother, Eleanor, when making this film. What about her inspired you?

GC: Well, she’s such an amazing woman and matriarch, and even though we have very different generational experiences, we had very shared experiences at the same time. And I remember when I was sort of griping about some job opportunity when I was younger, she would always remind me how fortunate I was that I got to have those opportunities and that I could express myself creatively. Where she was sort of … the stereotypical thing back then was that you just were a mother and a wife, and so she didn’t have time to express herself creatively. It was always sort of on a napkin on the side. But she’s always kind of also taught me that beauty and art is everywhere. It’s just how you choose to look at it and you don’t need tools to do that. It’s just your choice and your eye and how you observe. And I think we’ve all been kind of raised under that guide of observing and the openness and finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.

BS: Speaking of that observational skill, I like that this unintentionally or otherwise feels sort of a companion piece to Mainstream where you’re looking at where the idea of celebrity is moving with technology and TikTok and everything like that. And in The Last Showgirl, you’re looking at the end of a certain kind of art and celebrity. Both are sort of getting at the way we’re losing so much art, the cinema, classic cinema and things like that. Where do you see our appreciation of art going? I feel like these movies speak to that in a weird way, if that makes any sense at all.

GC: Yeah, that’s such a cool connection that I didn’t think about, but I think there is this natural gravitation for me to an interest of why does our culture discard like that and what is our antidote? And I feel like as we kind of forge modern paths, how do we integrate appreciation for the past and nostalgia? And I think it’s very relatable in every industry of how machines are taking over. And I think I kind of feel like the Miley [Cyrus] song and this movie in a sense is a bit of a symbol for how I’m trying to achieve blending these two worlds. Miley is a contemporary artist, but she has such a timeless, nostalgic-sounding voice. And I think as artists, can we do more of that? Can we try to pay tribute to an emboldened past artistries as we kind of keep doing modern medium? And this is my tribute to the showgirl art form and what that once was and how beautiful that was. Those were real big productions that our world just doesn’t want to foster anymore.

BS: What do you hope people take away from this about Pamela specifically? What do you hope they see that you saw?

GC: I think people see her as an artist and a talented artist, and that’s how I saw her. She’s filled to the brim with knowledge and life experience and she’s full of gratitude, and joyful. And so she’s a role model in a lot of ways. But I think in watching this movie, they’ll see her as a true artist.

BS: I just have to say as we wrap up, I read this years ago, but Michael Bay is someone who’s an endless fascination of mine. I don’t remember where I’d read it, but you were saying that a guilty pleasure movie for you was Transformers II. I have to say reading that, I knew you were one of my people because just seeing someone who makes the kind of films you make, shout that out, really made me happy. (laughs)

GC: Well, (laughs) there’s an amazing shot that Autumn and I referenced from Transformers II where … I think it’s Megan Fox, who’s in the second one, right? 

BS: Yeah, it’s Megan Fox.

GC: Well, she’s in the car, but he does this old fashioned light trick where you just spin the lights outside of the camera. But because it was this old fashioned trick, it had such an interesting quality and texture to it. That’s like, again, let’s foster some old school tricks into a new medium. And yeah, I like his stuff, yeah.

BS: That’s awesome. Thanks for taking the time, and congrats on the movie. I really loved it.

GC: Thank you.

The Last Showgirl will be in limited theaters December 13 with a wide run on January 10, 2025 from Roadside Attractions.