{"id":1571,"date":"2025-07-28T23:25:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T23:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/giantnews.us\/?p=1571"},"modified":"2025-07-28T23:25:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T23:25:00","slug":"13-stripped-down-facts-about-showgirls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/giantnews.us\/?p=1571","title":{"rendered":"13 Stripped-Down Facts About \u2018Showgirls\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 30 years ago, the semi-pornographic yet campy\u00a0Showgirls<\/em>\u00a0was released into theaters, starring\u00a0Saved by the Bell<\/em><\/a>‘s Elizabeth Berkley as an exotic dancer turned Vegas showgirl. The movie tanked at the box office, won\u00a0seven Razzies<\/a>, and was so poorly reviewed and received that it ended careers. But thanks to video rentals, the\u00a0midnight movie circuit<\/a>, and some hilarious\u00a0drag parodies<\/a>, this meant-to-be darkly-funny cult classic has finally found its audience. Below, discover more titillating facts about the flick that\u00a0Roger Ebert<\/a>\u00a0once called a \u201cwaste of a perfectly good NC-17 rating.\u201d<\/p>\n

1. Joe Eszterhas came up with the idea while he was on vacation.<\/h2>\n
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Joe Eszterhas was fresh off the success of 1992\u2019s\u00a0Basic<\/em>\u00a0Instinct<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>when he came up with the idea for\u00a0Showgirls\u00a0<\/em>while\u00a0on vacation<\/a>\u00a0in Maui. The screenwriter\u2014who also co-wrote the script for\u00a0Flashdance<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>(1983)\u2014sold the idea<\/a>\u00a0of a \u201crock musical about Las Vegas showgirls\u201d before it was even written. He reportedly just jotted down the premise on a napkin, then sold the concept for about $2 million.<\/p>\n

After the project was green-lit, he received an additional $1.7 million. But for Eszterhas, who was going through a messy divorce from his first wife at the time, it was bittersweet. He would\u00a0later claim<\/a>\u00a0that he \u201cwrote\u00a0Showgirls\u00a0<\/em>at the single most turbulent moment of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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2. Kyle MacLachlan was \u201cgobsmacked\u201d when he saw the movie for the first time.<\/h2>\n
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It was a far cry from “Blue Velvet,” that’s for sure. | Sunset Boulevard\/GettyImages<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a\u00a02012 interview<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0The A.V. Club<\/em>, Kyle MacLachlan (Zack Carey) talked about the first time he saw\u00a0Showgirls<\/em>. \u201cI was absolutely gobsmacked,\u201d he said. \u201cI said, \u2018This is horrible.\u00a0Horrible<\/em>!\u2019 And it\u2019s a very slow, sinking feeling when you\u2019re watching the movie, and the first scene comes out, and you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s a really bad scene.\u2019 But you say, \u2018Well, that\u2019s okay, the next one\u2019ll be better.\u2019 And you somehow try to convince yourself that it\u2019s going to get better \u2026 and it just gets worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacLachlan, who subsequently distanced himself from the film, went on to say he thinks that the movie is \u201cinadvertently funny\u201d but it didn\u2019t turn out the way he expected. He also thinks the wrong material was placed in the hands of the wrong cast and crew, and he accepts it for what it is. \u201cEven\u00a0Ishtar<\/em>\u00a0eventually disappeared. But this one keeps coming back!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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3. Quentin Tarantino loves it.<\/h2>\n
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Naturally, the patron saint of mainstream exploitation cinema approves. | Martyn Goodacre\/GettyImages<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the 1998 book\u00a0Quentin Tarantino: Interviews<\/em>,\u00a0Tarantino applauded<\/a>\u00a0Showgirls<\/em>\u2019s status as a mainstream exploitation film. \u201cThe thing that\u2019s great about\u00a0Showgirls<\/em>, and I mean great with a capital great, is that only one other time in the last 20 years has a major studio made a full-on, gigantic, big-budget exploitation movie,\u201d explained Tarantino. “Showgirls<\/em>\u00a0is the\u00a0Mandingo<\/em>\u00a0of the \u201990s.”<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0Tarantino<\/a>\u00a0did have one critique: \u201cThe only scene that didn\u2019t work for me at all was where Elizabeth Berkley and Kyle MacLachlan have sex in this pool. But the scene where she lap dances on him … that was a good scene, man!\u201d<\/p>\n

4. Feminist Gloria Steinem wanted to work with Joe Eszterhas.<\/h2>\n
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In his 752-page autobiography, Eszterhas claimed that, after\u00a0Showgirls<\/em>\u00a0came out,\u00a0Gloria Steinem<\/a>\u00a0approached him about a\u00a0film project<\/a>. \u201cGloria Steinem and I had a meeting about doing a movie about the young Marilyn Monroe,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI took the idea to Paul [Verhoeven] and he\u2019d turned it down. The media had a lot of fun with it, though: Gloria Steinem producing a movie done by the\u00a0Showgirls<\/em>\u00a0guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Elizabeth Berkley has finally made peace with the film.<\/h2>\n