With the next memories The beauty of living twice, Sharon Stone is revealing new details regarding the #MeToo moments in her legendary career.
In an exclusive excerpt shared with Vanity Fair on Thursday, the actress recalled a series of incidents, including a former businessman who said that no one would hire her because she was not “f *** capable”. She also mentioned working with an unidentified director who she referred to as a “#MeToo candidate”, who made life on the set difficult because she did not “sit on his lap and take the lead”. In this scenario, and in others, the powerful have done nothing to resolve Stone’s concerns.
One of the most striking revelations in the excerpt was the fact that a producer once approached the actress, suggesting that she sleep with her co-star. “He explained to me why I should f ** k my assistant so that we could have chemistry on the screen. Why, in his day, he made love to Ava Gardner on screen and it was so amazing! ”Stone wrote. “Now, just the scary thought of him in the same room with Ava Gardner gave me a break.”
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The actress recalled thinking at the time that inappropriate chemistry between her and her co-actor had nothing to do with her. “I thought they could just have hired a talented co-actor, someone who could make a scene and remember their lines. I also felt that they could f ** k it themselves and leave me out of it, ”she wrote. “It was my job to act and I said that.”
Although Stone did not mention the producer and actor involved, she said she was labeled “difficult” as a result of her actions – and therefore, this event had long-term implications for her career.
In addition, in her memoirs, the Golden Globe winner will tell her experience with Basic instinct, Paul Verhoeven’s thriller – in which she appeared alongside Michael Douglas – that put her on the map like a star.
While Stone had previously worked with Verhoeven on Total Recall, she says she had to fight hard to get the lead role of Catherine Tramell, because “Michael Douglas didn’t want to test with me”.
Eventually, of course, Stone got a test and, years later, the actress says that she and Douglas are “friends”. But her experience with Basic instinct was further hampered by an early screening of the film. It was at that moment that she first saw her infamous interrogation scene, in which she uncrossed her legs to reveal that she was not wearing panties.
“After filming Basic instinct, I was called to see. Not alone with the director, as expected … but with a room full of agents and lawyers, many of whom had nothing to do with the project, ”she recalled. “That’s how I saw my vagina shoot for the first time, long after they told me, ‘We can’t see anything – I just need you to take your panties off, because the white is reflecting the light, so we know you’re wearing your panties. ‘”
After the screening, Stone said he went into the screening booth, “slapped Paul in the face, got out, went to my car and called my lawyer, Marty Singer.” Singer warned her that the film could not be released in its current form – at the time, the interrogation scene would have landed Basic instinct an X rating – and if she wished, she could “get an injunction” to prevent her release.
After further reflection, Stone says he talked to Verhoeven about the discussion he had with his lawyer. “Of course, he vehemently denied that I had any choice,” she wrote. “I was just an actress, just a woman; what choices could i have?
“But I had choices. So I thought a lot and chose to allow this scene in the film ”, he added. “Why? Because it was correct for the film and for the character; and because, after all, I did it.”
In turn, Verhoeven denied Stone’s claims, suggesting that the actress was clear from the start about what the scene would entail.
On March 30, The beauty of living twice will be published through the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Among the experiences described above and others, the memoir will capture the actresses’ efforts to rebuild their lives and careers after a massive stroke.