Gina Gershon reveals why role in steamy cult movie left her 'traumatized'

Gina Gershon is reflecting on her role in an infamous cult movie that left her avoiding watching it ‘for years’.

The acclaimed star has a huge list of memorable films and TV shows on her list of credits, but one that is remembered the most is Showgirls.

The erotic drama, released in 1995, is set in the seedy world of Las Vegas, and follows an ambitious drifter played by Saved By the Bell star Elizabeth Berkley who claws her way from strip clubs to the top of a major casino stage show.

Directed by Paul Verhoeven, the film became notorious for its explicit sexual scenes, becoming the first major studio film in the US to receive an NC-17 rating. Critics savaged Showgirls upon release, and it was widely considered a box office flop, grossing less than its $45 million budget.

Gina Gershon couldn't watch Showgirls 'for years' (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

However, over the decades since it came out, Showgirls has been reclaimed by audiences for its outrageousness. It’s become a cult classic and is frequently referenced.

Gershon, who also stars in the film, avoided watching the film, however, in part because of her accent.

The Californian said she wanted to use a Tennessee accent n the film, so she lied and told the director she was from the state. But Verhoeven did not want her to use an accent, Gershon recalls.

Speaking on SiriusXM’s The Julia Cunningham Show, Gershon shared: “You know, I couldn't watch it 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.”

Showgirls has become a cult classic (MGM)

Gershon also shared how she thought the film would turn out "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."

She has now been able to appreciate the film more. "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 of course that rape 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 ass.”