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Hollywood has always had a way of putting women in boxes. While male directors and actors often enjoyed the freedom to make mistakes and rise again, women were mostly expected to shine early or disappear. Today, let us revisit one such journey through the story of legendary actress Sharon Stone, whose “last chance” became her biggest breakthrough.
The irony of women being put into boxes in Hollywood runs deep, as cinema’s first narrative film came from Alice Guy-Blaché, a woman. Yet filmmaking became a man’s world, and women were rarely trusted behind the camera for decades. They were cast more often in front of it, though even that came with rules about youth, beauty, and how long one could hold the spotlight. However, icons like Stone challenged the norms and carved their own decorated paths amidst the odds.
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Starting young has long been the safest bet for female actors, but nothing in this business comes easy. Sharon Stone spent years drifting through the margins before her breakthrough. Long before she became a ’90s icon, she was doing commercials and taking whatever roles she could get. She was there in films like Irreconcilable Differences and Total Recall, but nothing really stuck. Unfortunately, time wasn’t on her side either, and as everyone knows, Hollywood treats actresses’ age like ticking clocks.
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By the time Basic Instinct came along, Sharon Stone had already appeared in over a dozen films. But this one changed everything. It hit right in the middle of the erotic thriller boom, and Stone’s performance as Catherine Tramell burned itself into cinema history. The film’s most talked-about scene (where Sharon Stone infamously opens her legs) became a pop culture phenomenon, though controversial, and with it, she became the s*x symbol, for better or worse.
The actress later told Vanity Fair, “Basic Instinct was my 18th movie. For years, I had been getting pummeled doing a bunch of crap movies and so-so television, back in the day when TV wasn’t king. I was 32 years old when I got that job. I told my agent that if they got me in that door, I would get the job. I knew this was the last chance—I was aging out of the business I hadn’t really gotten into yet. I needed a break.”
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However, Sharon Stone’s fame didn’t come wrapped in silk. She stepped into stardom without the abundance of wealth or protection. She added, “It wasn’t until we took the movie to Cannes that Michael [Douglas] found out I had already done all those other sh*t movies. He stood up and made a beautiful toast to me. That moment was so amazing; I was wearing my beach cover-up as an evening gown; people had broken into my room to steal Sharon Stone’s belongings.”
“I was a star and one with no money to buy new clothes,” the actress said. “Welcome to Hollywood, honey bun. I went upstairs at this hotel/restaurant and had the dry heaves in the toilet. My friend Shep put my feet in a bathtub of cold water and told me the new rules of what it meant to be famous and gave me a Valium.”
Stone could’ve faded after that iconic role, but she didn’t. The success of Basic Instinct cracked open doors that had long been sealed. She earned an Oscar nomination for her role in Casino, held her own alongside Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, and picked up an Emmy for The Practice. Stone went from nearly quitting to carving out a legacy, but none of it came easy or fast.
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