Pamela Anderson’s Son Brandon on Her ‘Last Showgirl’ SAG Nomination: ‘I Don’t Know if People Know How Hard She Works’ – Variety

Brandon Thomas Lee on “The Last Showgirl,” Pamela Anderson’s journey, what’s next and running the family business.
By

Jazz Tangcay
Artisans Editor
This Sunday, Pamela Anderson heads to the Screen Actors Guild Awards as a nominee for best actress in “The Last Showgirl.”
Anderson faces competition from Demi Moore, Mikey Madison, Cynthia Erivo and Karla Sofia Gascon.
It’s a huge moment, coming on the heels of a Golden Globe nomination.
Anderson’s son Brandon Thomas Lee says the recognition is an honor and symbolizes a shift in both public and most importantly peer group perception.
For most of her career, Anderson has “been an industry outsider.” But both Anderson and Lee have been working to shatter Hollywood’s perception of her. Lee says Anderson has been an “industry outsider.” He says, “She doesn’t have many friends in the industry, and it’s been great to see her make those connections. She’s meeting a lot of incredible people and making new friends, which makes me very happy.” He continues, “To see her get the respect from her peers, and to see the hard work and dedication she put into that performance, whether there were awards, nominations or not, just to see the reaction from the community around her, is incredible.”

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Here Lee sits down with Variety to talk about Hollywood’s biggest misconception about Anderson, running the family business and reclaiming the narrative.

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Pamela said it best, “The win is in the work.” She’s already won the fans and her colleagues’ hearts.
We didn’t go into this thinking that that was ever even a possibility. It starts to become crazy when you’re being thrown into these conversations, and all of a sudden, you’re on an awards campaign, and people are resonating with the message. I think everyone gets caught up in the Oscars –  which would have been an incredible honor – but Pamela is very happy with how the film has been received. If anything, it makes you hungry for the next opportunity.

It’s been pretty interesting. I like to stay behind the scenes, especially with my mom. It’s her moment to shine. The beautiful thing about being able to be behind the scenes is I get to watch the general tide turn around her in the industry, and the impact she’s had across pop culture. From the business perspective, I’m incredibly blessed to be able to work for my family and do all these incredible things. I’ve always known her the way that everyone’s seeing her now. So it’s been a great experience to help deliver that in a way that’s being understood by audiences, fans and by the industry.
I still have a lot of ambitions about reclaiming some things that were in the past that I think could be done better. There are tons of incredible projects at our doorstep. I think it’s going to be so incredible to see the next level of wherever this goes with Pamela and me as partners.
I can’t talk about them yet, but I feel like everybody knows what they are. Pamela is such an incredible storyteller and has so much to offer, especially as a tastemaker. There are so many possibilities in terms of the entertainment industry and what we can do next, and what she can be doing on top of also acting again.
I wanted to plant the flag for my family and get everything to where it is. I look around and think, “There may be room to do something and get excited about that.” I have plenty of ideas about what that can be. I’m always looking for interesting projects and working on a few potential ones right now. But, at the same time, I’m focused on this next chapter for my family. Success is short-lived, right? So I think you have to take your moment and run with it. I want to figure out how she wants to spend this next chapter of her career in life, and make sure that I do my duty as a son, and make sure she’s set up for success later in life, and that she’s taken care of and doing the things she wants to do.

What you don’t realize at a young age is the value of connections and relationships. My family’s been Hollywood adjacent, so now it’s really interesting to meet a lot of these people that I grew up around but didn’t really know, but now know, and make those genuine connections with. I underestimated the value of relationships. I think you can only do so much under your little umbrella, and meeting people and broadening your horizons is so important. You’ll be talking about something in your little circle, and it can only go so far. But when you’re speaking to a network of people, any idea is possible. For me, and for other young producers, I think having those connections is important. I never really had a mentor in this industry, you just learn from mistakes. It’s great to be making relationships and navigating the industry that way, you meet one person, and they want you to meet another person and it kind of takes you down this journey.
It’s going to be great. We are very fortunate to have “The Naked Gun” and a couple of other projects that have wrapped. I think this year is going to be a year of big decisions, and I think it’s going to be interesting to see what Pamela wants to do from here. At this point, the world is her oyster, and the next move is very important. She’s got a lot of options. I know whatever she’s going to do is going to be great, and we’ll all be a part of that journey. I’m really hoping that we continue on this path that “Showgirl” has set up for her and continue that momentum because she’s so talented.
Pamela thrives best when she’s given challenges, and I think what she has done and the role she has taken in these last two years have reflected that, and I hope that the audience continues to see that, and if they do, I think it’ll be a fantastic year for her.
People don’t realize that Pamela is incredibly funny. She is a total comedian. “Showgirl” is very heavy and profound. This project is a totally different outlet for Pamela, it’s fun, and it’s going to be an incredible film.
Pamela’s dream as an actress is to collaborate with auteurs, real artists.  She has a deep love for old Hollywood projects like Bergman films and aspires to make films that capture that timeless glamour.
It’s been an incredible journey to jump into this. To go from Pamela not wanting to work again, and maybe retiring, to supercharging everything.  That has a lot to do with the message from the documentary and book, and people understanding her.
We’re just getting started.

I’ve got so many different ideas about where we want to go. The business is booming and it’s got many different arms. We have our Sonsie Skincare – that we’re very focused on, and EarthDay 365. I’m producing, and Pamela is acting and writing. We are essentially a multimedia company, and I kind of sit at the top of all these different arms.
My brother (Dylan) gives me a lot of support and help. Pamela has this incredible opportunity to be not only an actress, but an incredible cultural figure, and that can bleed into many arms, whether it’s lifestyle, writing, acting, producing, and the different things that we’re doing,  all led by her authentic message. We’re very focused on Pamela’s acting career right now.
Working with your family is an incredible honor, but it can be complicated sometimes. It’s just about having strict boundaries on who does what, and what decisions are left up to whom. Pamela is very much in control of herself. I’m not pretending to be this overlord who is telling her exactly what to do. She is driving the ship and the best way to handle that, it’s really just about communication. I run the business because that is my strength. Pamela is out front because that is her strength, and we largely stay in our lanes. There’s not a lot of conflict.I think we’re in a good group, and we’re all very happy, which is the number one priority.
I don’t know if people know how hard she works. I would say we’ve dealt with so many of the misconceptions. I think people now know that she’s smarter than they thought, and she has talent and all these different things. One of the things I admire most about her work ethic – is it is incredible. I think everyone gets put to the test on these award circuits and how much they can do, and how much they’re saying yes to. Pamela wants to go, go, go, go, go, and she is happiest when she’s on the move. She works incredibly hard and is dedicated to what she’s doing.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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Source: https://variety.com/2025/film/news/pamela-anderson-son-brandon-last-showgirl-oscar-snub-1236312926/