For Sharon Stone, the ultimate dream come true was working with Robert De Niro in “Casino.” She told Business Insider that she auditioned for De Niro movies “many times” before she was cast in the 1994 Martin Scorsese classic. Stone had even told an acting teacher years prior that her career goal was to “work with De Niro and hold my own.”
But when Stone finally realized what she called “the apex,” De Niro ended up setting Stone off while shooting one of the movie’s most electric verbal sparring sessions. The “Basic Instinct” actress recalled, “There’s a scene in the movie where we’re sitting across a table arguing, and he says to me, ‘You’re a good actress, you know that?’ And I remember in that scene when he said it, how furious it made me because it was my dream to do it, and then he challenged me at the table. I remember thinking, ‘Oh, you crossed a line today, mister.’”
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The challenge, though, ended up bringing layers to the scene and the relationship between the characters. “He knew every button to go for with me because he is the greatest observational actor. He can crawl under your skin and get in there,” Stone said.
It all paid off for Stone, who landed a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her work in “Casino.”
Stone will next appear in Universal’s “Nobody 2,” the Bob Odenkirk-starring action sequel that adds not just Stone, but also Colin Hanks and John Ortiz to its roster. In discussing her role, described as the film‘s antagonist, she said she came close to turning it down. “I just don’t want to play a cookie-cutter villain, which is something that I really have a thing about,” she said.
The hesitation comes after what she felt was typecasting after her turn as a sultry femme fatale in “Basic Instinct.” “But that was not cookie-cutter; it was a villain that touched upon the zeitgeist of the moment,” Stone said. “That was why it was so specifically successful, and why it remains interesting to watch.”
“Basic Instinct,” too, has a follow-up (or a reboot? or a remake?) in development over at Amazon MGM Studios. In a statement to IndieWire, screenwriter Joe Eszterhas said, “To those who question what an 80-year-old man is doing writing a sexy, erotic thriller: The rumors of my cinematic impotence are exaggerated and ageist. I call my writing partner the TWISTED LITTLE MAN and he lives somewhere deep inside me. He was born 29 and he will die 29 and he tells me he is ‘sky high up’ to write this piece and provide viewers with a wild and orgasmic ride. That makes me very happy.”
Rumors suggest Stone might join for this new “anti-woke” “Basic Instinct,” as she did for its misbegotten 2006 sequel.
Meanwhile, “Nobody” will hit theaters August 15. Watch the trailer below.
