Gina Gershon Threw a Chair at 'Showgirls' Director: Biggest Revelations
Gina Gershon’s film Showgirls has gone down in history as one of the most beloved cult classics ever — and apparently making the film was just as wild as watching it.
In her new book, AlphaPussy (out now), Gershon, 63, acknowledges that she writes about Showgirls more than any of her other projects: not because Cristal Connors was her favorite role but because the experiences of making it “best capture” her evolution as what she calls an “AlphaPussy.”
Multiple chapters of the memoir are devoted to the 1995 film, but according to Gershon, plenty more stories didn’t make the cut. “I could write a whole damn book on that movie alone,” she joked.
Keep scrolling for Gershon’s recollections of filming Showgirls:
Prince Was Originally Supposed to Do the ‘Showgirls’ Soundtrack
According to Gershon, Prince was originally supposed to compose music for the Showgirls but was later replaced by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics. While only two Prince songs eventually made the cut, Gershon still got her moment with Prince almost a decade earlier when he flew her to Minnesota to see if she might be right for a role in Purple Rain. After reading the script, however, she turned him down because she “wasn’t sure about the sex scene.”
Gina Gershon Lied About Her Age to Land ‘Showgirls’
Gershon was 33 when Showgirls premiered, but before filming started, she told producers she was 34 or 35. “To me, Cristal had to be at the end of her career, closing in on 40, in order to feel threatened by Nomi, the ambitious newcomer,” she explained. “I worked hard to present myself as this reluctantly maturing showgirl. I stuffed my bra to look like I had fake double-D’s; I caked on pounds of makeup to age up a bit; I even changed the timbre of my voice and rhythm of my words to sound like a jaded Southerner — I really wanted this gig.”
Gina Gershon Injured Her Hamstring During Her ‘Showgirls’ Audition
Showgirls might seem like a ridiculous farce, but Gershon didn’t slouch when it came to prepping for the role. During her audition, she danced so hard she tore her hamstring, at which point she left the room and went to her car to cry. Elizabeth Berkley, who played Nomi, saw her and comforted her, and they “bonded immediately.”
After landing the role, Gershon researched the life of a showgirl by visiting strip clubs. “It brought me great glee to turn in my late-night receipts from all these places of ill repute to my business manager, because guess what? Now they were tax write-offs!” she quipped.
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The 1 Reason Gina Gershon Hates Watching ‘Showgirls’
Filming Showgirls was an emotional process for Gershon, but “the primary reason” she has trouble watching it today is her accent. “It is completely off at times,” she wrote. “Sometimes not even there.”
According to Gershon, she wanted to overemphasize Cristal’s Texas accent while the character was in public but then have her speak without the accent in private. Director Paul Verhoeven told her didn’t want her to use an accent at all, so she lied and told him she was from Tennessee and did the accent anyway. (Gershon was born and raised in California.)
Gina Gershon’s ‘Showgirls’ Makeup Artist Was in the Village People
Gershon worked closely with makeup artist David Forrest while filming Showgirls — and was shocked to learn that he was the cowboy in the Village People at one point. In a perfect Showgirls detail, Gershon noted that Forrest dropped this knowledge at 4 a.m. while gluing rhinestones to her nipples for a scene.
Gina Gershon Threw a Chair at ‘Showgirls’ Director Paul Verhoeven
Gershon and Verhoeven did not get along while making the film, to the point that the actress eventually threw a chair at her director while they were arguing in her makeup trailer.
“Fancy makeup chairs in nice movie trailers are heavy,” Gershon recalled. “So when I tried to throw it across the room, it landed with a pathetic thud only a few inches away.”
Gina Gershon Nearly Broke Tom Cruise's Nose Filming 'Cocktail' Sex Scene
The near-miss chair incident was far from their only issue. At another point, Gershon tried to get Verhoeven to cut the now-infamous lines where Cristal tells Nomi she loves eating dog food, because she saw it as “the dumbest conversation ever to occur between two sober characters.” As fans who’ve seen the movie know, Verhoeven refused.
Gershon, however, got her way when Verhoeven tried to convince her to do full-frontal nudity in one scene. Using some sort of twisted reverse psychology, Gershon told the director she thought the scene should instead be a shot from inside her vagina, telling him they could use a “microscopic probe lens.” Verhoeven didn’t take the bait and allowed her to do the scene without the full-frontal shot. “He never mentioned my vagina again,” Gershon noted.
‘Showgirls’ Costumes Were Wildly Expensive — And Painful
For the “Goddess” number in Showgirls, Gershon wore a costume that cost $7,000 and was originally a “naked mesh bodysuit.” Eventually, however, Verhoeven and costume designer Ellen Mirojnick trimmed it down to just a G-string, which Gershon agreed was “more effective” for the scene.
Gershon then worked with Forrest to craft a bejeweled — and ultimately painful — makeup look, which included rhinestones on her nipples. “Cut to many sweaty hours later, when a few precious jewels had been rubbed and ripped off my body, and my nipples were so raw and red they looked as though I had been nursing triplets,” she recalled. “It hurt like hell, but hey, the show must go on!”
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