“She was good and wanted the part”: Would ‘Showgirls’ have ruined Charlize Theron’s career?
Thought experiments might be most famously associated with Einstein’s theories on quantum mechanics, but for film nerds, the most enjoyable mental exercises are those that involve the ‘what ifs’ of Hollywood casting. What if, as intended, Frank Sinatra had played John McClane in the Die Hard movies instead of Bruce Willis? What if Al Pacino had played Han Solo in the Star Wars movies instead of Harrison Ford? And what if – clutches pearls – Molly Ringwald had played Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman instead of Julia Roberts?
Added to this endless list of mind-blowing parallel universes is this one: what if Charlize Theron had played Nomi in Showgirls instead of Elizabeth Berkley? If she had, we can assume that next to no one would be talking about her today, let alone remember who she was. Is this too harsh? Maybe a little, but suffice it to say that losing out on that role was one of the best things to ever happen to Theron’s career, as far as we outsiders know.
Bad movies tend to gain disproportionately terrible reputations over time, but Showgirls was every bit as disastrous as its legend attests. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, it follows a young woman named Nomi (Berkley) who shows up in Las Vegas with the goal of becoming the city’s greatest stripper. Its parallels to the 1950 masterpiece All About Eve are undeniable, but there is a lot more pubic hair, pole licking, and F-bombs than Bette Davis would ever have consented to.
Made right around the peak of the erotic thriller craze, Showgirls was fuelled by male hubris. Verhoeven and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas were hot off the success of Basic Instinct, and they seemed to think that they needed to up the ante. It’s hard to up the ante on a movie that famously featured Sharon Stone’s vulva, but they did their darndest and, unfortunately, succeeded.
When Showgirls was released, it was slammed by critics for being a tawdry, exploitative B-movie drowning in misogyny. Despite a flashy marketing campaign that promised lots of female nudity and an NC-17 rating, audiences largely ignored it, and the box office takings recouped less than half of the $45million budget. Not surprisingly, it did exceptionally well when it came out on home video. The online porn industry was pretty rudimentary at the time, after all.
Given the success that Verhoeven and Eszterhas had enjoyed with their previous collaboration, nearly every up-and-coming female actor in Hollywood had tried to land the part of Nomi during the casting process. Theron was one of them. She was just getting started in the industry and thought that Showgirls might be her big break. In remembering her audition, Verhoeven said, “She was good and wanted the part, but basically, she was not well known enough at the time and just did not fit the part, so we said ‘no.’” Ultimately, he acknowledged, “She was very lucky that she did not get the part.”
There has been a pretty concerted effort over the years to recast the film as one of the boldest satires ever made by a major studio. Some critics argue that it is a masterpiece, pure and simple, saying that Verhoeven was simply trying to plumb the depths of the rotten American psyche. And sure, you might have the distinct impression that your brain is rotting when you watch the film, but that doesn’t make all the leering any more palatable.
It’s also impossible to separate the real-world effects of Showgirls from its contrarian-driven afterlife. Berkley, who was, before the film, most known for playing Jessie Spano in the beloved high school sitcom Saved by the Bell, was ripped to shreds for it. Her agent dropped her, something which is usually reserved for a star who lands themselves in prison or has consistently failed to land roles, and she has never had another shot at stardom. In contrast, Charlize Theron is, well, Charlize Theron, one of the greatest and last movie stars in Hollywood.
