Gina Gershon Was "Offended" by Controversial Showgirls Scene

Gina Gershon said on a podcast promoting her memoir AlphaPussy that one scene in Showgirls shocked her to the core: the brutal rape of Molly, Nomi Malone's roommate and a costumer for the "Goddess" show. In the film, Molly meets musician Andrew Carver, who takes her to his room where he and two security guards beat and rape her; she stumbles out with blood down her legs and is later hospitalized, and Nomi, played by Elizabeth Berkley, attacks Carver in retribution.

Gershon recalled arguing with director Paul Verhoeven, telling him, "Are you insane? You have to take this scene out," and that she was "so offended by it." A friend later told her, "No, you don't understand how great Showgirls is," and Gershon said she eventually understood the scene as a comment "on ugly America and on capitalism and power struggles and dynamics," though she wished Verhoeven had "clued me in" to his intentions.

She called making Showgirls a "good lesson" in making the best of a job and said her own vision of the role did not always match Verhoeven's.

gina gershon, showgirls, paul verhoeven, elizabeth berkley, alphapussy, nomi malone, andrew carver, rape scene, goddess show, capitalism