The famous jacket sold to Austinite Milton Verret for $1.8 million.
Photo by Matt Sayles/AP
The iconic red "Thriller" jacket was actually one of two used during filming.The other more heavily worn jacket is owned by the Michael Jackson Estate.
Looks like one of the most iconic pieces of music video couture will be finding a new home deep in the heart of Texas.
The ever-recognizable red leather jacket worn by Michael Jackson in the famous "Thriller" video has been auctioned to Austinite Milton Verret, an entrepreneur, philanthropist and gold trader with a somewhat questionable past, for a cool $1.8 million.
According to the Los Angeles Times, a portion of the proceeds from the jacket will go towards Hitchcock blonde Tippi Hedren's Roar Foundation, which has provided sanctuary to Jackson's two Bengal tigers, Thriller and Sabu, since his passing two years ago.
Verret plans to use the jacket to raise funds for various children's charities across the country — much as he did with his Jay Leno autographed motorcycle — starting with its display at Dell Children's hospital in Austin. The proceeds of the motorcycle's sale went to New York-based Bailey's Café, a charity and community arts program for children.
What will be the next $1 million-plus music video costume to fly off the auction block? My money is on the Britney Spears "Toxic" rhinestone-encrusted unitard or maybe the simple black leotard donned by Beyoncé in "Single Ladies."
A variety of actors have had the good fortune of having career resurgences thanks to someone giving them a chance after they passed their prime, including John Travolta after Pulp Fiction, Keanu Reeves after John Wick, and Brendan Fraser after The Whale. Pamela Anderson is the latest actor hoping to be reclaimed thanks to her starring role in The Last Showgirl.
In the meta-story, the 57-year-old Anderson plays Shelly, an aging showgirl at a third tier Las Vegas casino. The show itself, called Le Razzle Dazzle, is on its last legs, and Shelly finds herself at a crossroads, with no other skills or financial means on which to fall back.
While younger showgirls like Jodie (Kiernan Shipka) and Mary-Anne (Brenda Song) are willing to move on to more sexually-suggestive shows, Shelly is only comfortable with the tried-and-true showgirl way. Three other people in her life — estranged daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd), best friend Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis), and stage manager Eddie (Dave Bautista) — seem to help and hurt her in equal measure.
The effectiveness of the film, directed by Gia Coppola and written by Kate Gersten, depends heavily on whether the viewer is willing to accept Anderson, who’s still best known for her role on Baywatch, as a serious actor. If Coppola and Gersten are trying to show a different side of Anderson, they fail; having her play a character with little-to-no makeup and a dramatic arc does not make up for her poor acting skills and a high voice that borders on shrill.
And because the story is so dependent on Anderson — she appears in literally every scene — it never has a chance of becoming interesting or involving. Her character has personal issues that are objectively sad, but any weight that might have resulted from those storylines are lost along the way. She’s not helped by an over-the-top performance by Curtis, who seems to be milking her Oscar from Everything Everywhere All at Oncefor all it’s worth.
Coppola seems to be going for an old-school feel for the film to match the storyline. The film has a weird, unfocused look to it at times, giving the audience visuals that are definitely not high-definition. Whether she’s actually using an old film stock or manipulating the image to make it look like an old film, the effect is the same, with imperfections appearing on the screen often.
Anderson — who earned a nomination for a Golden Globe for Best Female Actor for her role — and Curtis seem to take up most of the oxygen of the film, leaving little to remember from anyone else. Shipka had a breakout movie year thanks to appearances in Twisters and Longlegs, but her role here gives her little to do. The same goes for Bautista, although at least he gets to put on a grey wig and act in a way that doesn’t emphasize his bulky physique.
While actors should never be shunted aside simply because they’ve aged out of an accepted age range, you also have to have the ability to prove you still belong. Anderson can’t get out of her own way in The Last Showgirl, and consequently the film itself never has any dramatic depth, either.
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The Last Showgirl opens in theaters on January 10.