The Complicated Life of Teen Sitcom Star Turned Film Actress Elizabeth Berkley

Around the same anniversary period, Paul Verhoeven publicly accepted blame for how Showgirls damaged Berkley’s career. He said that much of the criticized performance style had come from his direction, including his choice to push her into a bigger, more exaggerated approach.

He also acknowledged that Hollywood had turned its back on her after the film. That mattered because Berkley had been treated as the face of the failure for years, while the director’s role in shaping the performance was discussed much later. The film’s reputation was changing, but so was the story of who had paid the price.