Sharon Stone reveals studio execs openly discussed if she was "f***able", and how she had to sit on a director's lap every day
Sharon Stone recently opened up about sexism in Hollywood and claimed that she was playing by her own rules long before the #MeToo movement began.
The 61-year-old actress became a "sex symbol" after her iconic scene in 'Basic Instinct' where her villainous character Catherine Tramell is seen uncrossing her legs in an attempt to distract an investigator. "I didn’t and I don’t [feel like a sex symbol],” the actress now says.
In an interview with Vogue, the 61-year-old also recalled a disturbing incident from when she was working on 'Basic Instinct 2'. "I worked with a director on 'Basic 2' who asked me to sit on his lap each day to receive his direction, and when I refused he wouldn’t shoot me. This went on for weeks. I had a two-week-old baby when this started. I can say we all hated that and I think the film reflects the quality of the atmosphere we all worked in."
Stone's recent photoshoot with Vogue comes around 27 years post the release of 'Basic Instinct'.
The actress has been in the industry long enough to know its attitude towards women and says, over the years, she's learned to play the game by her rules.
She says she knew and understood quite well what the industry, and the public, wanted from her — and she gave them exactly that. "When I entered the business the term ‘fuckable’ was used to see if you were employable. The studio executives sat around a large table and discussed whether or not each of us was in fact ‘fuckable’. They thought I was not. I gave this some hard thought as I wanted to work, so I did a strategically planned semi-naked Playboy shoot. Did I fit the part? Obviously not. Did I use my brain to figure out how to appear ‘fuckable’? You bet."
She also made a reference to the iconic Marilyn Monroe and said, "I’m pretty sure Marilyn Monroe really didn’t talk like that either in real life. But she learned how to play the game."
When asked if Hollywood has been neglecting women, Stone says, "Yes, they have. And demonstrating women as women, quite frankly, are not. Most films are written by men, directed by men, made by men, with the male mentality. Not at all considering how women actually are, how we do think and feel. That is why many of my characters are drunk or drug addicts or crazy, that is the only way I could support their behavior honestly."