Sharing his story. Sharon Stone said she was tricked into taking off her underwear for a famous Primal Instinct scene in an excerpt from her new book, The Beauty of Living Twice.
“After shooting Primary Instinct, I was called to see it. Not alone with the director… but with a room full of agents and lawyers, most of whom had nothing to do with the project,” Stone, 63, recalled in the excerpt published by Vanity Fair on Thursday. March 18.
"That's how I first saw my vagina photo, long after I was told, 'You can't see anything - I just need you to take your panties off, because the white is thinking light, so we know you have panties. Yes, there have been many views on this topic, but since I'm the one with the vagina in question, let me say: other views are bulls–t.
Stone said that after seeing the scene, she slapped director Paul Verhoeven across the face and called his attorney, who told her the 1992 film could not be released as is.
The lawyer also promised the Casino actress that she could fight to have the scene deleted. Stone was relieved…at first.
“Then I thought a little more. What if I was the director? What if I had this photo? What if I had done it on purpose? Or by accident? What if he just existed? It was a lot of thinking,” the Total Recall star wrote.
After explaining her attorney's words to Verhoeven, Stone was told she had no say in the matter after all. The manager disagreed.
“But I had choices. So I thought and thought and I chose to allow this scene in the film. Why? Because it was okay for the movie and for the character; and because, after all, I did,” the Pennsylvania native wrote.
In the excerpt, the iconic actress detailed other ways she's been let down throughout her career.
“I had acting endorsement in my contract. Nobody cared. They chose who they wanted. Much to my dismay sometimes. To the detriment of the image, sometimes,” she recalls. “I asked a producer to take me to his office… he told me why I should fuck my co-star so we could have on-screen chemistry.
After the producer told Stone he used the same technique early in his career with Ava Gardner, the actress noted that meeting made her realize how much women face the same kind of situation. .
“Now just the scary thought of him in the same room with Ava Gardner got me thinking. Then I realized that she also had to put up with it and pretend that it was somehow interesting.
The Oscar nominee fought against misogynistic treatment, which earned her being called “difficult” by her colleagues.
"I've had other producers on other movies just come up to my trailer and say, 'So are you gonna fuck it, or are you? …You know it would be better if you did,” she wrote. "I take my time and explain to them that I'm like the nice girl they grew up with, and ask them to remember that girl's name. It leaves us all with a bit of our dignity.
