You’ll Never Believe How Pam Grier Landed Her Role in John Carpenter’s ‘Escape from L.A.’

It’s no surprise that legendary actress Pam Grier has some stories to tell about her time in Hollywood. But even dedicated fans of the Golden Globe-nominated actress probably wouldn’t guess how Grier used something unexpected from the grocery store to win her role in John Carpenter’s 1996 film, Escape from L.A.
Grier appeared in the film as Hershe Las Palmas — a long-ago friend of Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken, who has transitioned from male to female in their time apart. But when Carpenter first called her about the role, “I thought somebody was punking me,” Grier told the crowd at the January 2025 Hollywood Show in Burbank, California. “[I said] ‘This ain’t John Carpenter!'”
But it was John Carpenter, and he had an unexpected request for Grier. “John says ‘Pam, I know this is a hard role for you. I want you to play a man,’” Grier recalled. “[Carpenter said] I know you’re a woman, but you’re gonna play a man. You are Snake Plissken’s best friend, and you were both guys, but Snake comes looking for you, and you’ve [transitioned].”

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Grier was nervous that she wouldn’t be up for the challenge: “I said, ‘John, I don’t want to disappoint you, how do I do this?’ [He said] ‘Well, you stay pretty, Pam, you just show me what you got.'”
As Grier began to prepare for her audition, she got nervous — “I don’t wanna disappoint John, what am I gonna do? I’m gonna fail in front of Kurt [Russell] and Warner Bros., everyone’s there.” But her approach to the audition was guided by one thought: “Men … you check each other’s johnson out all the time.”
With that in mind, Grier said that she “put a sock in my leggings. and stuffed it. [But] the leggings flattened it. So I had a … flattened penis … I looked and I said, ‘Oh my god, it’s flattened out, I have to take it out!’ So I thought, ‘Okay, what do I do, what do I do, I gotta put something [in there].'”
This line of thought led her to the grocery store across from the studio — more specifically, the produce department, where she began inspecting vegetables that might work as a reasonable substitute for the real thing. “I find the right zucchini and everyone in the store is watching me, saying ‘There’s a woman who’s holding up vegetables to her crotch,’” Grier recalled.
Grier dropped the zucchini down her leggings and returned to the studio waiting room, where she got the first hint that her plan might have been successful “Two crew members walk out and say, ‘Hey, that guy really looks like Pam Grier.’ I nailed it,” she said.

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When she entered the room for her audition, she also got a warm welcome from Carpenter: “I walked in and said, ‘Hey John, how ya doing,’ and he started laughing … He starts laughing and choking, I thought I was giving him a heart attack. He said, ‘Kurt, Kurt, come over here and meet Pam.’ And Kurt comes over, and the first thing he looks at IS my zucchini. And he starts laughing, and they gave me the job.”
The role proved to be crucial for Grier, who in the ’90s developed from a cult figure into a full-fledged Hollywood star. And to think … all of it was helped along by a little fresh produce.

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