Sharon Stone reveals Michael Douglas earned $13m more for ‘Basic Instinct’
Legendary actor Sharon Stone has revealed that her co-star Michael Douglas earned $13million more than her for his role in the 1992 movie Basic Instinct. The classic neo-noir movie was directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas and has been immortalised in pop culture thanks to Stone’s portrayal of the psychopathic Catherine Tramell.
Stone, whose filmography also boasts movies like Total Recall and Casino, has bemoaned her relatively tight salary for the 1992 blockbuster. Her role was just as central to the plot as Michael Douglas’, and hence, she suggested gender inequality was to blame for the wildly differing pay packets.
Speaking at the New York Women In Film & Television’s 43rd annual Muse Awards lunch on March 28th, Stone detailed: “Michael Douglas made $14million. Now, I was new. I was new, and he was a very big star. We should think a lot more about what women can do.”
Despite Douglas’ admittedly loftier status at the time, Stone called gender bias into question. Referring to other movies she’s worked on in the past, Stone continued: “When I would go to the set, there would be 300 men, and my hair and makeup and dressers were men when I was doing sex scenes. It was all men and me. And sometimes. I could ask the wardrobe supervisor, who may be a woman if she wouldn’t mind staying on set while I did that.”
Despite her lamentations, Stone admitted that things are starting to move in the right direction in the modern age. “Well, things have changed, and there are women in film now, and I am really grateful,” she added.
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