Sharon Stone, celebrated for her iconic role in Basic Instinct, recently shared a disturbing incident from her career. Known for her commanding screen presence, Stone’s journey to fame began with her role opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall in 1990.
Her career boasts an impressive lineup, including films like The Quick and the Dead, When a Man Falls, and Beauty. In 2021, she released her memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice, delving into pivotal moments of her life.
In her memoir, Stone described a troubling experience where a producer pressured her to sleep with a co-star but withheld the names involved. She later revealed the details on Louis Theroux’s podcast, identifying the 1993 film Sliver as the project in question.
Sliver starred Stone alongside Billy Baldwin, following the massive success of Basic Instinct. Expectations were sky-high for another hit, and Stone was granted casting approval and other creative controls.
However, Stone disclosed that the studio undermined her authority. “They gave me all these approvals, but then called it a vanity deal and said I couldn’t have them,” she explained, frustrated by the dismissal of her input.
The situation worsened when the studio began blaming her for their poor decisions. “They made terrible mistakes in hiring directors and cast,” Stone noted, highlighting the chaotic production environment.
The turning point came when Stone was summoned to the office of producer Robert Evans, who died in 2019. She recalled the outdated decor, describing “low seventies, eighties couches” that left her practically sitting on the floor.
During this meeting, Evans made a shocking suggestion. He urged Stone to sleep with Baldwin, claiming it would improve his lackluster performance and save the film.
Stone recounted Evans’ bizarre reasoning: “He said he slept with Ava Gardner, so I should sleep with Billy Baldwin to make his performance better.” He insisted that intimacy would create on-screen chemistry.
Evans even blamed Stone, calling her “uptight” and implying she wasn’t a “real actress” for refusing. “The real problem was I was such a tight a**e,” she recalled him saying.
Reflecting on her career, Stone contrasted this with her Basic Instinct experience, praising co-star Michael Douglas’s professionalism. “I didn’t have to f**k Michael Douglas. He knew how to hit his marks,” she said.
Stone’s memoir also captured her disbelief at the producer’s logic: “You think if I f**k him, he’ll become a fine actor? Nobody’s that good in bed.” Her revelation underscores the troubling pressures she faced in Hollywood.