Rod Pocowatchit weighs in on watching actors defy expectations and deliver performances we didn’t know they had in them.

In one way, “The Last Showgirl” comes across as a very personal production for its star. At the same time, there is a universality to the story that will reach a large audience. This duality makes for a production that is intimately touching while feeling emotionally massive.

Pamela Anderson was made for The Last Showgirl—even if not everyone thinks so. “No one else could play this role but Pamela,” the film’s director, Gia Coppola, recently told Harper’s Bazaar. And after reading the script—which sees Anderson play an aging Los Vegas dancer whose spectaculous career ends abruptly—the actor seemed to see herself in the role too.