“He was the only one who came in and cried”: Sharon Stone Paid Titanic Star From Her Own Pocket As Studio Refused To Pay Him
One of the most outstanding actors, Sharon Stone, has played a variety of roles on screen and dazzled the audience with her femme fatale and women mystery characters. The actress rose to fame as one of the decade’s most well-known s*x icons.
In her memoir The Beauty of Living Twice, the actress is currently reminiscing about her time in the business. Sharon Stone describes a situation in her autobiography where she says she had to pay an actor’s salary out of her pocket because the studio was not interested in hiring him.
Sharon Stone paid Leonardo DiCaprio for The Quick and the Dead
In her memoir; The Beauty of Living Twice, actress Sharon Stone recalls and pens down the difficult casting for the 1995 movie The Quick and the Dead, which was directed by Sam Raimi and starred the actress alongside Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
DiCaprio appeared as a freewheeling character named The Kid in the movie who eventually befriends the actress’ character Ellen after she moves into a rural town in the Old West. The actress, who was also the co-producer of the movie, noted that the producers had auditioned many teen actors for the part of The Kid but it was DiCaprio who stood out the most.
She wrote,
“This kid named Leonardo DiCaprio was the only one who nailed the audition. In my opinion: he was the only one who came in and cried, begging his father to love him as he died on the scene.”
But the studio, TriStar Pictures, were not very keen on the idea to hire the actor who had appeared in movies like Poison Ivy, This Boy’s Life, and The Basketball Diaries. He was yet to star in movies like Romeo + Juliet and Titanic which made him the star he is today.
The actress continued by sharing the studio’s reply to her when she said that she wanted DiCaprio to play the role,
“‘Why an unknown, Sharon, why are you always shooting yourself in the foot?’ The studio said if I wanted him so much, I could pay him out of my salary. So I did.”
Read this: Leonardo DiCaprio Calls 3 of His Greatest Movies as Unofficial ‘American Wealth and Power’ Trilogy
Sharon Stone fought for director Sam Raimi’s involvement in the movie
The actress also noted that DiCaprio wasn’t the only one she had fought for at the studios, but it was also the director Sam Raimi, who eventually directed the movie at the time and was known as the ‘D-movie director’ because the movies he directed included The Evil Dead I, Army of Darkness.
She explained that it was because of the darkness, experimental horror, and low-budgeted movies he was a part of, the studios didn’t want to hire him. She stated that she told the studios that the director would work nearly for free as an enticement to get him to work on the movie.
The Quick and the Dead script was written by Simon Moore and was inspired by the Westerns of Sergio Leone. The movie was marked as Russell Crowe’s American Western movie debut, while the final performance of Woody Strode. In her memoir, the actress further shares that, over the years, she has also faced challenges as a producer; she writes,
“Getting a producer credit as an actress is often thought of in my business as a ‘vanity deal,’ meaning they pay you for the job but shut the f— up and stay out of the way. I won’t accept a vanity deal and let them know that upfront. This is illegal, I say, and I like to work within the law. That gets a lot of silence and not a lot of joy on the other end.”
Leonardo DiCaprio did not enjoy kissing Sharon Stone in The Quick and the Dead
The actor, during an interview with Digital Spy last year, mentioned that he was just 18 when he worked with Russell Crowe and they soon forged a friendship because they did not know how to fit in. DiCaprio added that they did not belong to the character actor group or the movie star group and he remembers talking to the actor about movies at the time, including what kind of actor he wanted to be.
The Titanic actor says that he is the same guy he met years ago who is funny, committed to his work, and great to be around and he has got nothing but great things to say about him. Talking about Stone, DiCaprio said that he expected her to be this big s*x vixen, seducing everyone, but instead, she was really sweet, noting that the kissing scene did not meet the perception he had of her.
He said,
“To tell you the truth, it wasn’t that great. She grabbed me by the back of my hair and pushed her lips on mine and then threw my head away. It didn’t feel like a real kiss.”
A source at the time said that the actor might have had a crush on her and he was so glad that she let him think that they could be friends.
The Beauty of Living Twice is available for buying on Amazon.
Source: Insider
