PRODUCTION THE LAST SHOWGIRL
Heralding the return of Baywatch star Pamela Anderson in her most impactful performance yet, the actor plays once- revered showgirl Shelly. Informed that her longstanding show Le Razzle Dazzle is coming to a close, Shelly rekindles her relationship with her daughter. What follows is a tender exploration of the choice women have to make between motherhood and their career. “Gia is now a mother, so it was nice to see her balance motherhood and filmmaking. I’ve done this for the past eight years and found it rewarding,” says Durald Arkapaw. Homing in on the cast’s female characters – with Kiernan Shipka and Brenda Song starring as fellow showgirls – was crucial to the decision to shoot on film. “It was important to have that nostalgia, saturation and density in the image,” explains Durald Arkapaw. “We wanted to capture all the magic that
WE SET OUT TO MAKE a certain type of intimate, personal film; THE RESULTS ARE EXACTLY THAT”
comes with shooting film – the unknown, bravery, excitement and depth. But most important for us was to shoot a small film where we had all the control: no monitors, no video village, no distractions. “The thing with film is that you can’t have fear. There’s no room for it. You’ll get lots of fear from producers, so you have to be confident in your choices and execution. That’s the beauty of film: you
have to trust and be brave. In that, you’ll find the beauty and emotion you want.” Bespoke anamorphic lenses were created specially for Durald Arkapaw by Dan Sasaki – senior vice president of optical engineering and lens strategy at Panavision. “Anamorphic 16mm options are slim or non-existent,” insists Durald Arkapaw. “Not many films are shot in anamorphic on Super 16. I wanted a close focus and fall-off, since we were staying with the women on a handheld camera to track all their emotional cues. Las Vegas can feel like a fishbowl when you visit or live there; I wanted a lens that would make these women look beautiful and help us focus on them. “The characteristics of these anamorphic lenses helped push that fishbowl idea forward. I did some early tests with Dan and AC Ethan McDonald; one round filming Ethan’s young son and the second featuring my mum as the subject. I showed Gia the resulting images and she loved them. “Dan knows all about my love for the perfect field
TEAM PLAYERS Durald Arkapaw and Coppola’s long-established working friendship means they have developed a real chemistry
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