Pamela Anderson has revealed she could not watch herself in 1996 action film ‘Barb Wire’ for 27 years because she felt like a living ‘Halloween costume” when she made it.
Pamela Anderson couldn’t watch her movie ‘Barb Wire’ for 27 years.
The 57-year-old actress starred as bounty hunter Barbara “Barb Wire” Kopetski in the 1996 action film – which was inspired by the Dark Horse Comics character of the same name.
The role came when Pamela was at the height of her blonde bombshell fame, which started with her role as lifeguard C.J. Parker in smash hit TV show ‘Baywatch’.
Although Anderson was playing a comic book character, she admits she felt like a living “Halloween costume” back then and it took almost three decades for her to actually sit and watch herself in director David Hogan’s box office flop.
In an interview with TimesRadio, she said: “I look back and I think, you know, even those characters, CJ, Barb Wire, even Vallery Irons on ‘VIP’, they’re Halloween costumes. I mean, because they’re not just about the costumes, it’s what’s in the costume.
“There’s a lot of heart in all of those roles. And it may not have been, you know, thespian in any way. But also, I was 27 years old when I did ‘Barb Wire’, and I didn’t see it until 27 years later, and I watched it in French with English subtitles. I could stomach it that way.”
Pamela – who has made a statement by going makeup free in recent months – has earned rave reviews and a Golden Globe nomination for her performance as middle aged Las Vegas dancer Shelley Gardner in ‘The Last Showgirl’.
The former Playboy model is proud that she has finally been able to show directors and producers in the movie industry that she can be more than a beautiful pin-up and can take on more in-depth roles.
She added: “I took an unorthodox route to get here. Being part of pop culture is a blessing, but it’s also a little bit of a deficit. You have to kind of convince people that you’re a human being and you have feelings and that there’s more to you than meets the eye, and then transform into character. So you kind of, you have to fight for it, and I believe in fighting for things.”
“This movie (‘The Last Showgirl’) was an opportunity for me to express myself in ways I haven’t been able to in the past. And I feel like every movie heals parts of yourself. I kind of thought I could never play Shelly the way I did, if I didn’t have the life experience that I had, starting from a very young girl. So I thought it was all worth it, that I could actually put all of that into this film and to really draw from that experience.
“I can imagine that Shelly had a similar life as I as I did, and finding her way, and finding some way to be seen and to feel beautiful and to express her talent, and she probably took dance lessons and all these things in her life, and put all of her life into this, and then to feel it being ripped away was such an interesting crossroads to explore, because life is about reinvention and chapters, and she’s hitting this crossroads.”
‘I didn’t see it until 27 years later…’ Pamela Anderson reveals ’90s film she couldn’t watch for decades
