The demise of Elizabeth Berkley's career. The story of Showgirls' failure

Elizabeth Berkeley was a rising star in the early 1990s she was ready to make the leap to the big screen after several years on television Showgirls was a fantastic opportunity the script was written by one of Hollywood's most successful screenwriters and the director was a list the last time Paul verhoven and Joe esterhaus worked together they made a hit but things went differently this time instead of becoming an enlist actress Berkeley's film career flamed out today we will try to find out why this is so Berkeley began dancing at an early age she auditioned for the lead role in the film adaptation of Annie when she was 10 years old although she did not get the part she began traveling to New York to train she had already appeared in several ballets and Stage musicals by 1983. as a teenager she began modeling until 1994. Elizabeth appeared mostly on television in various TV shows and series Berkeley made her movie debut in the film Molly and Gina 1995 was supposed to be the year Berkeley became a movie star but first she starred up as a Jeremy London and Justin Wellen in the nature movie white wolves the second legend of the wild and then came Showgirls Berkeley played Nomi Malone a girl who dreams of being a Vegas showgirl Gina Gershen played Crystal Connors Berkeley's Chief rival for topless stardom Showgirls started with Joe Esther Haas at the time Esther Hayes was the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood his previous collaboration with director Paul verhoven was a huge hit that made Sharon Stone an international star one day while they were having lunch in Beverly Hills verhoven told Esther Haas that he had always loved big musicals and wanted to make one Esther Haas suggested the Vegas setting he scribbled down the idea on a napkin and received an advance of 2 million dollars to write the script Esther Haas received an additional 1.7 million when the movie went into production verhoven was confident enough in showgirl's success that he deferred 70 percent of his six million dollar directing fees in exchange for complete creative control and the ability to release the movie with nnc 17 rating verhoven would receive the rest of his fee if the movie was a hit which it was not Berkeley was paid a paltry one hundred thousand dollars for starring in the movie which had a budget of around 45 million dollars obviously Berkeley was working for peanuts because she hoped Showgirls would make her a star but it should be noted that she was working up to 16 hours a day in high heels verhoven originally passed on the project as he didn't care for estherhas original script instead he hoped to make a crusade movie with Arnold with whom he had made Total Recall but the financing fell through when the studio ran out of money on the pirate movie Cutthroat Island by the time kuralco pulled the plug on Crusade it had already sunk 10 million dollars into the movie they had also paid nearly 4 million dollars for estherhas Showgirls script verhoven claims that he decided to make Showgirls to save kiralco from bankruptcy verhoven's intend was to make Showgirls a social satire about how women are exploited ironically the box office failure of Showgirls and Cutthroat Island contributed to the bankruptcy of kuralco several actresses were considered for the two lead roles the filmmakers originally wanted to cast Madonna and Drew Barrymore also at the casting were Charles Theron Angelina Jolie Pamela Anderson and Denise Richards were among the other actresses considered to play Nomi Sharon Stone and Sean Young were both considered for jurshen's role reportedly Berkeley and Gershon did not get along while filming in verhoven did his best to encourage the Rivalry conventional wisdom has it that Showgirls flopped at the box office that the movie did flop it actually had a pretty successful opening weekend it opened in the two spot behind seven which was also released that week it grossed just over 8 million dollars that weekend which isn't terrific for a movie that cost 45 million but when you consider the NC-17 rating it's actually pretty impressive lots of theaters wouldn't carry Showgirls because it was rated NC-17 nnc 17 results in fewer screens and no tickets being sold to miners the critic 6 blasted Showgirls and its box office tumbled in subsequent weeks it ended up grossing less than half of its production costs during its domestic run Showgirls developed a reputation for being one of the worst movies ever made the golden raspberries cemented that perception by nominating Showgirls in a record 13 categories Showgirls won a then record-breaking seven awards that record was tied by Battlefield Earth which also won seven Awards five years later in 2000. finally the record for most wins was broken in 2008 by Ino who killed me which took homemade trophies but showgirl's record for most nominations still stands Showgirls One For Worse picture worst director and worst screenplay Berkeley won worst actress and worst new star it went down in flames taking with it the Hollywood hopes and dreams of its leading lady but then something unexpected happened Showgirls performed really well on video although the movie only grossed 20 million in theaters it has grossed over 100 million dollars on video and continues to add to that total today once Showgirls became one of mgm's top 20 best selling movies on home video they took notice the studio rereleased Showgirls for midnight screenings and the movie took on a second life as a cult movie it has become a Rocky Horror Picture Show style event gradually the movie has been reevaluated by critics and defended by filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino and Jim jarmish originally berhoven and Esther Haas expected to make a sequel to Showgirls the movie ends with a Los Angeles freeway sign this was intended as a tease for the sequel in which Berkeley's character would go to Hollywood but the movie's poor performance at the box office prevented that SQL from ever being made it was Berkeley's chance to shed her Kitty TV image and become a movie star when that didn't pan out Berkeley found herself in the middle of a major backlash worse than a child actor she had become a laughing stock you couldn't cast her in a leading role if you wanted to for nearly two decades Berkeley lived with the stain of Showgirls although she would talk about the movie's effect on her career she rarely ever mentioned the movie by name when she appeared on Dancing With the Stars she said that her experiences with Showgirls put her off Dancing for many years but in 2015 Berkeley appeared at a screening of the movie and finally seemed to come to terms with her place in cult Cinema in 1996 Berkeley bounced back with a supporting role in The Comedy the First Wives Club Goldie Hawn Diane Keaton and Betty Midler starred as three divorced women who seek revenge on their ex-husbands all of whom left them for younger women the First Wives Club has a very crowded cast of characters for Berkeley it was a chance to be seen on the screen with legitimate actresses it was a chance to be seen as a legitimate actress herself in a movie that didn't require her to be naked despite mixed reviews the first wife's Club turned out to be a surprise hit at the box office it opened in first place ahead of the action movie Last Man and standing with a budget of 26 million it grossed over 181 million and became the 11th highest grossing film of the Year Berkeley was desperately trying to put Showgirls behind her in 1997 Berkeley appeared in the directivity of Western a time to revenge or at least she appeared in the movie's trailer Berkeley played his other daughter who got cut from the movie even though Berkeley does not appear in the actual movie she did receive top billing on the trailer she probably didn't want to be in a movie in the late 90s Berkeley appeared in the third-rate film's last call random encounter Taxman tail lights fade these films almost nobody watched and all of them either failed at the box office or went straight to video toward the end of his career Berkeley had a small role in Oliver Stone's football drama Any Given Sunday she played a high-priced call girl it was basically a cameo that required nudity but it was a chance to appear in a big movie with a top crew in 2000 Berkeley was back on TV in 2001 Berkeley did something that not every actress gets to do she appeared in the curse of the Jade Scorpion in a Woody Allen movie The Curse of the Jade Scorpion is generally considered to be one of Allen's lesser films unfortunately it is also his most expensive with a budget of 33 million dollars Alan later confessed that it was one of his least favorite of his own movies and that he felt like he let down the rest of the cast by casting himself in the lead role Ellen has been known to reshoot movies when he feels like the casting isn't working but due to the cost of the period sets that wasn't an option this time in 2003 Berkeley start opposite Adam Baldwin in the control Factor Berkeley also appeared in an episode of the hit procedural CSI five years later Berkeley would be cast in a recurring role on CSI spin-off CSI Miami all further attempts of the actress to find the right roles ended in Failure the actress appeared in episodic roles in films that were released straight right to video and then she appeared on television in various projects usually these projects had low ratings and accordingly they were quickly shut down so what the hell happened well Showgirls obviously if Showgirls had been even half as big as Basic Instinct Berkeley's career would have gone in a completely different direction Showgirls had the potential to not only make her a movie star but to completely shatter her squeaky clean child actor image instead in her first major movie role she became a national laughingstock the movie That was supposed to open doors for her caused them to slam shut in her face she became unhirable as a lead actress things were so bad that it was considered something of a coup for Berkeley to land a small role in a major movie like The First Wives Club the following year it's impressive that she has continued to work in TV and movies as long as she has starring in one of the most notorious flops of the decade and being named the worst actress and worst new star in your first major movie has to be hard to bounce back from