Billie Lourd says working on “The Last Showgirl ”made her feel closer to mom Carrie Fisher, grandma Debbie Reynolds
The actress plays Pamela Anderson's estranged daughter in the Gia Coppola drama.
An emotional Billie Lourd called her experience on Gia Coppola's The Last Showgirl "extremely cathartic," sharing that it made her feel closer to her late mother Carrie Fisher and grandmother Debbie Reynolds.
"I was just sobbing backstage so excuse me in advance," an overcome Lourd said after taking the stage with her collaborators, including costars Pamela Anderson and Jamie Lee Curtis, following the film's world premiere at the 2024 Toronto international Film Festival on Friday.
"This movie was deeply meaningful to me," she continued. "When I met with Gia, I spoke about my mom and grandma's relationship. Getting to play this character was extremely cathartic for me because it felt like [Anderson's character] Shelly was my grandma and I got to be my mom."
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"I got to understand my mom on a deeper level than I ever had and it was a beautiful experience," Lourd said. "And to do that with Pamela was an absolute gift. She is a wonderful mother and was also a beautiful mother to me on this film and I feel so lucky."
Anderson gave her costar a big hug on stage in response.
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Fisher died Dec. 27, 2016, from cardiac arrest at the age of 60. Reynolds died one day after the death of her daughter from an apparent stroke at 84. Speaking with grief therapist and New Day podcast host Claire Bidwell Smith in 2021, Lourd said it was "really, really brutal" to lose her mother and grandmother at the same time.
"I still hesitate and stutter because it’s really hard for me," she said. "I miss my mom every day."
At #TheLastShowgirl premiere at TIFF, Billie Lourd shares how the onscreen relationship with Pamela Anderson — as mother/daughter — was cathartic and made her feel closer to her own mom, Carrie Fisher, and grandma, Debbie Reynolds. pic.twitter.com/CEc2D5hVlV
— Gerrad Hall (@gerradhall) September 6, 2024
Lourd plays Hannah in The Last Showgirl, a drama centered on Anderson's Shelly, a Las Vegas showgirl of 30 years and the centerpiece of Sin City's last remaining traditional floor show. When Shelly's stage manager Eddie (played by Dave Bautista) announces that the show will permanently shutter in two weeks, she and her coworkers are forced to contend with their future — which "looks different when you're 50 rather than 20 and your sole job skill is dancing," per the synopsis.
Gareth Cattermole/Getty
Billie Lourd and 'The Last Showgirl' costars Pamela Anderson, Brenda Song, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Kiernan Shipka pose in the Getty Images Portrait Studio presented by IMDb at the 2024 Toronto International Film FestivalAll the while, a distraught Shelly tries to reconnect with her estranged daughter Hannah, "which proves just as difficult as losing the only job she has ever had." With best friend Annette (Curtis), a cocktail waitress "who laughs a little too loud and too often," by her side, Shelly must find her place in the world beyond the glittering lights and stage. Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka, and Jason Schwartzman also star.
With additional reporting by Mike Miller.
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