Why is Sharon Stone famous?

[Enright3]

I thought this had been asked before but didn't find anything when I searched for "Sharon Stone". My question is: Why is it that Sharon Stone seems to be regarded as such an 'A' List player in Hollywood?

I don't want to turn this into a pit thread (possibly it's more of a IMHO thread), but other than her well known part in Basic Instinct, she really hasn't done that much. Mostly I see on IMDB a bunch of tv appearances and voice overs.

What do you guys think?

[Faruiza]

Casino??
She was pretty good in that.

[Enright3]

Originally Posted by Faruiza

Casino??
She was pretty good in that.

I must confess that I've never seen Casino. However she was dreadful in Cat Woman.

E3

[Kalhoun]

She was nominated for an Academy Award for Casino. In addition, she was in a really good movie called The Mighty. She's also drop-dead gorgeous. The fact that she's obnoxious as all get-out in interviews does not detract from her acting ability.

[ISiddiqui]

Basically it is just about that scene in a movie called "Basic Instinct", where she uncrosses her legs... Yeah, that's probably about it.

[msmith537]

Total Recall?

"Cohnsidah that ah divorce!"


It's because:

a) She's pretty hot
b) Has kind of an old time larger than life movie star quality about her
c) She's a decent enough actress
d) She's in a lot of movies

[cmkeller]

As Jon Stewart said, she's a "noted vaginist."

Basically (pun not intended), that was her star-making role, maybe she acted well, but it was more remembered for its shock value than for thespianism. And she's milked it for all it's worth.

[JohnBckWLD]

Originally Posted by cmkeller

And she's milked it for all it's worth

Which is the more polite way of saying she's mastered the art of fellatio.

[Eve]

Originally Posted by msmith537

b) Has kind of an old time larger than life movie star quality about her

That alone is enough to make me worship at her feet. Somewhere, Joan Crawford is smiling . . .

[lissener]

Like her or not, no one has embodied the glamorous tough broad more effectively since, as Eve mentioned, Joan Crawford in her heyday. That Verhoeven brought out in her a post-seventies, pussy-with-teeth quality that out-fataled the fatale-est femmes certainly adds to her, um, mystique. Her Catherine Trammel is Rita Hayworth, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Jane Greer, and Gene Tierney, all rolled into one and wearing a Kali mask.

She's Tippi Hedren as the Vagina Dentata.

[Scissorjack]

She is willing to do clothed scenes providing they aren't gratuitous and are tasteful, dignified and serve a legitimate dramatic purpose.

[Otto]

She's 23 different kinds of crazy, and we seem to like our movie stars a little nuts.

[pinkfreud]

I never liked Sharon Stone very much until I saw her in Sam Raimi's oddball western The Quick and the Dead. By golly, Sharon Stone isn't just a life-support system for female genitalia. She can act.

[PunditLisa]

Anyone see her Letterman interview this week? She basically came out and said that she did Basic Instinct 2 for the money. She kept repeating that the plot was the same as BI.

I liked her when she first came onto the scene. She was smarter than the average bird. Now she just annoys me.

[Hey, It's That Guy!]

Originally Posted by pinkfreud

I never liked Sharon Stone very much until I saw her in Sam Raimi's oddball western The Quick and the Dead. By golly, Sharon Stone isn't just a life-support system for female genitalia. She can act.

That is an AWESOME movie, and it had Leonardo DiCaprio AND Russell Crowe before they were famous household names (plus the always-great Lance Hendricksen and Gene Hackman).

[Bryan Ekers]

Originally Posted by lissener

Like her or not, no one has embodied the glamorous tough broad more effectively since, as Eve mentioned, Joan Crawford in her heyday.

Well, we had Lauren Bacall in there as a stopgap.

[Revtim]

In her prime, she was luscious perfection. She's still pretty hot, IMHO. And as others have noted, she's delivered some good performances.


But Christ, she was so gorgeous.

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

Because Kim Basinger turned down "Basic Instinct."

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Earl Snake-Hips Tucker

Because Kim Basinger turned down "Basic Instinct."

Can you imagine how different that role would have turned out with that change?

Reportedly the role was also offered to Julia Roberts... now that could have changed a career..

[blondebear]

Well, she was married to probably the only person in Los Angeles to be attacked by a Komodo Dragon!

[handsomeharry]

Don't forget that she was in "Above the Law."
IIRC, right after BI, she started showing her age. Face took a hit. Thingies looked fairly saggy. She did retain some Primo, Primo legs.
Not bad for almost 50.
hh

[lissener]

Originally Posted by Bryan Ekers

Well, we had Lauren Bacall in there as a stopgap.

Yeah, no, YMMV, but nuh uh. Bacall never played a really bad person. She played goodgirls who played bad, for fun; but she never played the heartless sociopath that was the true femme fatale. One of the best of whom I forgot: Ann Savage.

[lissener]

The first paragraph of the NYTimes review reflects, pretty much, my expectations of Basic Instinct 2, which I have had zero desire to see since both Paul Verhoeven and David Cronenberg did NOT end up directing it:

It should come as no surprise that "Basic Instinct 2," the long-gestating follow-up to Paul Verhoeven's 1992 blip on the zeitgeist screen, is a disaster of the highest or perhaps lowest order. It is also no surprise that this joyless calculation, which was directed by Michael Caton-Jones and possesses neither the first film's sleek wit nor its madness, is such a prime object lesson in the degradation that can face Hollywood actresses, especially those over 40. Acting always involves a degree of self-abasement, but just watching trash like this is degrading.

. . . but then the last couple paragraphs of the same review makes me curious:

The last few decades have been calamitous for American film actresses (of any age), who have been increasingly marginalized by the very industry they helped build. It would be wrong to put all the blame for Ms. Stone's appearance and performance in "Basic Instinct 2" on the industry; greed and vanity surely played a part, as did behind-the-scenes wrangling. (Among the directors once expected to take the reins was David Cronenberg.) . . .

. . . The camp pleasures fleetingly promised by the crazy opener and the first few minutes of Ms. Stone's vamping soon give way to boredom and time to contemplate, yet once more, just how brutal it is to be an actress in Hollywood. Last year, Ms. Stone delivered a gem of a performance in Jim Jarmusch's "Broken Flowers," reconfirming that her work in films like "Casino" was not an aberration. She was luminous and touching in Mr. Jarmusch's film partly because the role called for her to act her age, and she happily complied.

The reviewer, Manohla Dargis, suggests that BI2 is an interesting essay on age and the Hollywood actress. Intriguing.

[Bryan Ekers]

Originally Posted by lissener

Bacall never played a really bad person. She played goodgirls who played bad, for fun; but she never played the heartless sociopath that was the true femme fatale.

She was good at playing good playing bad, though.

How's Kathleen (Body Heat) Turner grab you? Often, I hope.

[lissener]

Originally Posted by Bryan Ekers

She was good at playing good playing bad, though.

How's Kathleen (Body Heat) Turner grab you? Often, I hope.

Yeah, Turner's role was more in the true fatale tradition, but I think Verhoeven's brilliant use of her, um, privates as a kind of totem that hangs over the film raises her to an entirely unique level of fatale: she is a goddess of destruction; she's beyond human; she's Kali and Vagina dentata. I know I'm repeating myself here, but I can't watch BI without flashing on those sub-Freudian, archetypal concepts. Trammel isn't just a woman; she's the Fearsome Power of Female Rage Made Flesh. Way beyond any traditional femme fatale.

[Scissorjack]

Originally Posted by Big Bad Voodoo Lou

That is an AWESOME movie, and it had Leonardo DiCaprio AND Russell Crowe before they were famous household names (plus the always-great Lance Hendricksen and Gene Hackman).

My all-time favourite Leonardo Di Caprio movie, because

SPOILER:

Gene Hackman shoots him

"Shit, that was fast!"

[Beware of Doug]

Originally Posted by Eve

That alone is enough to make me worship at her feet.

And then there are her feet. Mmmm.

[lissener]

Um . . .

Originally Posted by lissener

. . . I think Verhoeven's brilliant use of her [Stone's], um, privates as a kind of totem . . .[/i]

[astorian]

My favorite memory of Sharon is still her performance as Scarlett O'Hara in the big budget musical of "Gone With the Wind."

"This... Civil War... aint gonna get... me dooooooooown!"

She's a beautiful woman and a decent actress who's made largely awful career choices.

I think she would have done well to star in a comedy- she CAN be hilarious (deliberately, I mean!).

[lissener]

Originally Posted by astorian

She's a beautiful woman and a decent actress who's made largely awful career choices.

Hm. I disagree. I'm more cynical than you, and I think her image as the tough blonde who used her, um, appeal, to play the Hollywood game, and win it, garnered a reaction that's largely misogynist in nature. Men, as a species, expect to be in power, and they expect women to respect that imbalance. When someone like Sharon Stone comes along and uses her, um, appeal as kryptonite--"You can take a man for half his money/If he thinks he'll see a taste of honey"--well, that upsets the apple cart.

[ftg]

Go see Broken Flowers and then try to convince me her career is over. Being in the most noted segment of a film that won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival (as well as a lot of other awards and nominations) is hardly the sign of a dead career.

If you haven't seen this movie, you really don't know what her current capabilities are.

[unwashed brain]

I think she went batsh!t crazy somewhere around the time she filmed Albert Brooks' The Muse, which, as far as I can tell, was only filmed so that the rather homely Brooks could spend time with her on the set.

[Krokodil]

She's an archetype, that being the "Hot Chick with Crazy Eyes who Gets Naked Easily." Some version of her has always existed in western culture.

[lissener]

Did anybody see her on The Daily Show last night? It looks like she's caught a severe case of retarded.

[Loopydude]

Man, I just don't get it. I thought BI was a crap movie, and her performance left me thinking of her as, at best, the classy Elizabeth Berkeley. It would pretty much take Berkeley to screw up the part they gave S.S. in Casino, given her supporting cast, and besides that, what I've seen Stone in hasn't impressed me one bit. Never saw Quick&Dead, though I doubt it would change my mind.

It's the Beaver Shot, plus the right kind of looks to back it up. Totally.

[ianzin]

I don't hold any special brief for Ms Stone. However, could those of you happily chuckling about her 'going crazy' at a certain point in recent years please bear in mind that this otherwise healthy and relatively young woman suffered a serious stroke that took her about a year to recover from? She was on a UK chat show a few weeks ago and discussed this with great dignity and no self-pity at all, even though it could have killed her and was definitely a major reason why her career stalled for a little while.

Not to get too pious or anything, and yeah, I can enjoy a pile-on as much as the next Doper, but sheesh, a little sensitivity goes a long way.

[LiveOnAPlane]

Originally Posted by ianzin

I don't hold any special brief for Ms Stone. However, could those of you happily chuckling about her 'going crazy' at a certain point in recent years please bear in mind that this otherwise healthy and relatively young woman suffered a serious stroke that took her about a year to recover from? She was on a UK chat show a few weeks ago and discussed this with great dignity and no self-pity at all, even though it could have killed her and was definitely a major reason why her career stalled for a little while.

Not to get too pious or anything, and yeah, I can enjoy a pile-on as much as the next Doper, but sheesh, a little sensitivity goes a long way.

MiGawsh, I did not know that! I don't know how I missed it, but what a frightening thing to have to deal with.

[hawthorne]

lissener
The reviewer, Manohla Dargis, suggests that BI2 is an interesting essay on age and the Hollywood actress. Intriguing.

Piffle. It doesn't say that. Thanks for posting the link.

Dargis
For amusement's sake, it is possible to read "Basic Instinct 2" as a metaphor [...]

Don't turn this into Verhoeven meets homeopathy.

[RickJay]

Originally Posted by astorian

My favorite memory of Sharon is still her performance as Scarlett O'Hara in the big budget musical of "Gone With the Wind."

"This... Civil War... aint gonna get... me dooooooooown!"

She's a beautiful woman and a decent actress who's made largely awful career choices.

If she'd made largely awful career choices, this thread would never have been started because you'd never have heard of her.

[astorian]

Originally Posted by RickJay

If she'd made largely awful career choices, this thread would never have been started because you'd never have heard of her.

I don't know about that. A lot of talented people have stayed famous despite making a lot of very bad career moves.

I mean, Sylvester Stallone has made LOADS of horrible movies, movies that practically nobody saw. And yet, we've all heard of him.

That doesn't mean "Stop or My Mom Will Shoot" and "Rhinestone" were good career choices.

[Hilarity N. Suze]

Wasn't she the famous starlet who was supposedly so dumb she slept with the writer?

[lissener]

Originally Posted by hawthorne

Piffle. It doesn't say that. Thanks for posting the link.

Don't turn this into Verhoeven meets homeopathy.

I have no idea what that means.

In any case, you cut the Dargis quote in such a way that you suggest an entirely different meaning. The entire sentence is: "For amusement's sake, it is possible to read "Basic Instinct 2" as a metaphor for contemporary American-British political relations (a psychotic Yank lures a decent Brit into a web of deceit and murder), but this is a poor reward for two hours of drift and sludge." So, the metaphor that amused her was not the gender-issues metaphor, as you disingenuously suggest by way of "piffling" what I said; it was the political metaphor.

Instead, you might have quoted the parts of the review that I was referring to:

• It is also no surprise that [BI2]. . . is such a prime object lesson in the degradation that can face Hollywood actresses, especially those over 40.
• The last few decades have been calamitous for American film actresses (of any age), who have been increasingly marginalized by the very industry they helped build. It would be wrong to put all the blame for Ms. Stone's appearance and performance in "Basic Instinct 2" on the industry; greed and vanity surely played a part, as did behind-the-scenes wrangling.

--etc.

So, despite the searing insight of your argument--"Piffle. It doesn't say that."--it still reads to me as thought it does.

[Sage Rat]

"I get to see all the movies just how I want 'em; I get to read the all the reviews how I like; and neither the movie nor the review itself is gonna stop me!"

While I will admit that the existence of the movie speaks a lot on the horrors of an actress going old, I really doubt that inside it is there any submetaphor dealing with that beyond the actress herself really being there.

[Silentgoldfish]

Originally Posted by ianzin

I don't hold any special brief for Ms Stone. However, could those of you happily chuckling about her 'going crazy' at a certain point in recent years please bear in mind that this otherwise healthy and relatively young woman suffered a serious stroke that took her about a year to recover from? She was on a UK chat show a few weeks ago and discussed this with great dignity and no self-pity at all, even though it could have killed her and was definitely a major reason why her career stalled for a little while.

Not to get too pious or anything, and yeah, I can enjoy a pile-on as much as the next Doper, but sheesh, a little sensitivity goes a long way.

I don't want to take away from her experience, but if it was a serious stroke she wouldn't have recovered as well as she obviously has, and it shouldn't be used as an explanation for why she comes off as nutty in interviews.

[hawthorne]

lissener
Instead, you might have quoted the parts of the review that I was referring to:

* It is also no surprise that [BI2]. . . is such a prime object lesson in the degradation that can face Hollywood actresses, especially those over 40.
* The last few decades have been calamitous for American film actresses (of any age), who have been increasingly marginalized by the very industry they helped build. It would be wrong to put all the blame for Ms. Stone's appearance and performance in "Basic Instinct 2" on the industry; greed and vanity surely played a part, as did behind-the-scenes wrangling.

This doesn't support your argument that this is might be an "interesting essay on age" or that the reviewer thought it was. Over 40 actresses get discarded by the industry and appear in garbage films (and there are few decent roles for women of any age). Recognising this is not new and supposing that a rubbish film featuring a cash in by a fading star is more than crap just insults the great film that was such an essay - Sunset Blvd.

Which is pretty much what sage rat said.

[Rucksinator]

Because she's a hot chick who flashed her vag in Basic Instinct.

[RickJay]

Originally Posted by lissener

[*]It is also no surprise that [BI2]. . . is such a prime object lesson in the degradation that can face Hollywood actresses, especially those over 40.[*]The last few decades have been calamitous for American film actresses (of any age), who have been increasingly marginalized by the very industry they helped build. It would be wrong to put all the blame for Ms. Stone's appearance and performance in "Basic Instinct 2" on the industry; greed and vanity surely played a part, as did behind-the-scenes wrangling.[/list]--etc.

So, despite the searing insight of your argument--"Piffle. It doesn't say that."--it still reads to me as thought it does.

In no way is the reviewer saying what you claim - that the film is an essay on these things. She is saying it's an EXAMPLE of those things, a very different thing indeed. And a fair warning to stay away from the movie.