Gina Gershon explains why she didn't like Paul Verhoeven's "Showgirls" (1995) at first, but learnt to appreciate it over the years:
"I couldn't watch "Showgirls" (1995) for years 'cause I was like, I was too, a little bit of PTSD, I think, in a very slight way, no disrespect to real PTSD, but I would get very tense and anxious when I thought about certain things and stories, and so I never really watched it again, and I would kind of use the excuse of like, 'Well,' and it was a real excuse, like, 'I can't deal with my accent, 'cause I had to lie about my accent.
I thought the movie would be closer to one of [Verhoeven's] Dutch films, which are a little bit seedier, a little bit darker, and I think his American films, now that I've kind of studied it and I've stepped out of it, I mean, they're really interesting comments on America and fascism.
Going 30 years later, 25 years later, a friend of mine, a writer friend, she said, 'No, you don't understand how great Showgirls is.' I'm like, 'I guess I really don't,' but when I saw it from afar, not being in it, and all of a sudden I'm like, 'Oh my god.' It was really a comment on ugly America and on capitalism and power struggles and dynamics and all those things. That r*** scene has to be there. It's the grossest thing in there and the powerful men, they're all protected and, you know, so that's why it's exciting when she kicks the guy's a$$.
I thought it was gonna be a different movie than it was, but you know what? It's also an interesting lesson in, you know, when you get to the set or any situation really, you know, in your mind, you think what it is, but when you go there and it's not, then you have to assess and... You gotta make it make sense, but then I just changed my approach to the whole character, so that was kind of interesting. It was a good lesson."
("Gina Gershon Says Watching Her Performance in Showgirls Left Her Feeling 'Tense and Anxious': 'Like a Little Bit of PTSD'", Virginia Chamlee, People, 2026)
P.S: Happy 64th birthday, Gina Gershon!