It’s been nearly 30 years since Sharon Stone had her breakthrough role in the 1992 thriller Basic Instinct, which launched her into superstardom… but certainly didn’t make her rich.
The 63-year-old actress is promoting her new memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice, which was published in late March, in an interview with CBC’s Q With Tom Power.
She revealed that Basic Instinct made her an overnight star, though she made just, ‘a little bit of money’ from the breakthrough role.
Not rich: It’s been nearly 30 years since Sharon Stone had her breakthrough role in the 1992 thriller Basic Instinct, which launched her into superstardom… but certainly didn’t make her rich
Breakthrough: She revealed that Basic Instinct made her an overnight star, though she made just, ‘a little bit of money’ from the breakthrough role
‘I didn’t get paid to do Basic Instinct. I made a little bit of money. Michael made $14 million and has points. I made not enough money to buy my dress to go to the Oscars the next year. I was in this weird limbo where I was suddenly famous, but didn’t have any money,’ Stone said.
While she didn’t reveal her exact salary for Basic Instinct, it’s been reported throughout the years that she was paid $500,000.
The salary is surely a paltry sum compared to co-star Michael Douglas’ $14 million, along with his first-dollar gross points, where he gets a percentage of the box office revenue starting from the first day of release.
Not paid: ‘I didn’t get paid to do Basic Instinct. I made a little bit of money. Michael made $14 million and has points. I made not enough money to buy my dress to go to the Oscars the next year. I was in this weird limbo where I was suddenly famous, but didn’t have any money,’ Stone said
When asked how her life changed when the movie came out, Stone revealed, ‘It’s Friday and you’re you. Tuesday, you’re the Beatles. People are climbing all over your car. You try to walk down the street and suddenly 30 people that were shopping are running, chasing you.’
When asked if she could afford to have private security, Stone said, ‘I didn’t have what I needed.’
She added when they went to the Cannes Film Festival in May 1992, just over a month after it hit theaters in the U.S., it was ‘insanity.’
No security: When asked if she could afford to have private security, Stone said, ‘I didn’t have what I needed’
‘I got back to the hotel and all of my belongings had been stolen except the clothes on my back. My contact lenses, my film out of my camera, my toothbrush — everything was gone,’ she added.
She continued that they had to find a way to get her out of the hotel without security, so the hotel staff had to improvise.
‘The bodyguards got all the kitchen staff and all the busboys to come up and they created this big circle that I and my two girlfriends were inside of and then they try to take me through the lobby,’ she addd.
Stolen: ‘I got back to the hotel and all of my belongings had been stolen except the clothes on my back. My contact lenses, my film out of my camera, my toothbrush — everything was gone,’ she added
‘There were so many people, hundreds of people, pulling at us and going berserk. So this was our introduction, “Hello, you’re famous.” We had no idea,’ she said.
Stone added that she got to the point where she asked her chiropractor if he knew anyone who was famous, and she got a call from Shirley MacLaine.
‘I drove out to Malibu, and we had dinner on trays sitting on the floor in front of her fireplace. I’ve never been so happy in my life to have someone understand that I needed to be on the floor,’ Stone said.
‘I needed that feeling of being grounded. I needed someone who understood that I needed to sit on the floor, and be in my bare feet, and just have someone talk to me like a human being,’ she added.
Berserk: ‘There were so many people, hundreds of people, pulling at us and going berserk. So this was our introduction, “Hello, you’re famous.” We had no idea,’ she said