Pamela Anderson shone as she transformed into a faded Las Vegas performer in the gripping first trailer for The Last Showgirl.

The Baywatch star, 57, who has won the best reviews of her career for the Gia Coppola directed film, stars as Shelly, a glamorous aging showgirl who must plan for her future when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run.

The trailer begins with Shelly dressed up in her showgirl sequin-adorned finery as manager and ex-lover Eddie (Dave Bautista) says: ‘Places please for the final performance of the Razzle Dazzle.’

A teary Shelly forces a smile as the curtain goes up.

Off stage, Shelly reflects on her career, saying: ‘Las Vegas used to treat us like movie stars, the costumes the sets, we were ambᴀssadors for style and grace, the Las Vegas showgirl, iconic American showgirl.’

Pamela Anderson shone as she transformed into a faded Las Vegas performer in the gripping first trailer for The Last Showgirl

The Baywatch star, 57, who has won the best reviews of her career for the Gia Coppola directed film, stars as Shelly, a glamorous aging showgirl who must plan for her future when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run

Shelly is seen chatting with her waitress and former showgirl best friend Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis) and spending time with her daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd.)

Read More Pamela Anderson, 57, shows off her fresh-faced complexion as she goes makeup-free

Shelley ventures out to find new work and is seen being asked at an audition: ‘Do you have an act prepared?’ to which she responds: ‘I do, I’m a dancer.’

She reflects: ‘Feeling seen, feeling beautiful, that is powerful and I can’t imagine my life without it.

‘Doing a job that you don’t really love, that’s hard’ – before the scene ends with Shelly surrounded by dancers onstage as a new song from Miley Cyrus called Beautiful That Way plays.

The Last Showgirl, which was initially released on September 6, also stars Kiernan Shipka, Brenda Song and Jason Schwartzman.

The film will be given a  limited LA release on December 13 as an awards-qualifying run and premiere nationwide on January 10 2025.

Anderson has ignited speculation she will land a Best Actress Oscar nomination for the role with Curtis’ performance lauded as a ‘force of nature’ by Variety critic Peter Debruge.

ᴅᴇᴀᴅline’s Pete Hammond said: ‘Anderson is remarkable in this role, which fits her own natural optimism but also gives her the chance to play her emotions laid bare. She will break your heart. 

Jamie Lee Curtis plays Shelly’s waitress and former showgirl best friend Annette

The trailer begins with Shelly dressed up in her showgirl sequin-adorned finery as manager and ex-lover Eddie (Dave Bautista) says: ‘Places please for the final performance of the Razzle Dazzle’

A teary Shelly forces a smile as the curtain goes up

Off stage, Shelly reflects on her career, saying: ‘ Las Vegas used to treat us like movie stars, the costumes the sets, we were ambᴀssadors for style and grace, the Las Vegas showgirl, iconic American showgirl’

Shelley ventures out to find new work and is seen being asked at an audition: ‘Do you have an act prepared?’ to which she responds: ‘I do, I’m a dancer’

Shelly reflects on her three decade career ending 

She reflects: ‘Feeling seen, feeling beautiful, that is powerful and I can’t imagine my life without it’

Kiernan Shipka and Brenda Song play two showgirl colleagues 

Shipka and Song play Jodie and Marianne in the film

‘I have always thought she was an underrated comedic actress, based especially on her short-lived 2005 sitcom Stacked, but the dramatic chops have not been there before, certainly not on this scale. And she is all-in here. Curtis steals every scene she has with wicked wit.’

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has 81% of 52 critics’ reviews as positive.

Anderson last starred on screen in the 2017 film adaptation of Baywatch, briefly reprising her iconic role of CJ Parker. 

Once Anderson got her hands on Kate Gersten’s script, she said she was instantly drawn to the character, who takes her art form very seriously despite everyone reducing her to a Sєxual object.

‘I’ve never read a script that I responded to like that before — no one was sending me anything like this,’ she said. ‘I read it and I thought, I have to do this. It’s life or death. It’s really important.’

At the movie’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival back in September, she said she’s ‘been getting ready my whole life for this role.’

‘Having a beautiful, messy life is something incredible to draw from, and sometimes I’ll look back on my life and think, I could have done this differently, but you need the life experience to be able to look back and say those things,’ she said.

‘I do love the craft of acting and I have taken a lot of private lessons and, finally, I felt like this is an opportunity for me to put that into practice,’ she added.

Anderson added that she was able to have ‘a thousand percent focus’ on the project since she’s single and her two sons are grown.

Anderson is pictured with writer Kate Gersten, Song and Coppola last week

‘I have nothing to lose. And what if this is the last movie I ever do, or the only movie I ever do?’

She said she took the role as a chance to ‘see what I’m made of.’

‘I knew I was capable of more than I’d done in the past, and I kind of had given up and went home and thought, “Oh well, it’s too bad. I screwed up.” I didn’t work hard enough or people just see me a certain way because I fell into the trappings,’ she said.

‘I want to be defined by what I do and not what has been done to me.’