Sharon Stone claims a producer tried to pressure her into sex with a co-star
Years after delivering a powerhouse performance in Sliver, Sharon Stone has claimed that a producer once pressured her into sex with co-star Billy Baldwin.
When discussing her work on the film, Stone revealed that the late producer Robert Evans thought that her sleeping with Baldwin would increase their chemistry onscreen. Evans was most known for his productions in films such as The Godfather and Chinatown.
Speaking on a new episode of The Louis Theroux Podcast, Stone described the uncomfortable environment working with Evans, saying, “He’s running around his office in sunglasses explaining to me that he slept with Ava Gardner and I should sleep with Billy Baldwin because if I slept with Billy Baldwin, Billy Baldwin’s performance would get better, and we needed Billy to get better in the movie because that was the problem”.
From Stone’s perspective, she thought that there was no way to turn an actor’s charisma around through sex, recounting in her memoir, “Now you think if I (have sex with) him, he will become a fine actor? Nobody’s that good in bed. I felt they could have just hired a co-star with talent, someone who could deliver a scene and remember his lines”.
In the context of the film, Stone plays the role of Carly Norris, who begins to have a sexual relationship with Baldwin’s Zeke Hawkins before being told of his dangerous reputation. Due to its graphic depictions, the film initially received an NC-17 rating before making drastic recuts to the film.
By the time production started, Stone had been known for her role as the seductive killer Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct. For all of her scenes in her signature performance, though, Stone said that she felt much more comfortable with her co-star Michael Douglas using a body double and stimulating sexual intercourse.
Despite Evans’s advice, Stone rightly explained that she would have the final say on what she does with her body, arguing that it’s her job and that she would do what she intended. Of course, Stone would go on to enjoy a superb career in Hollywood, working on films such as The Disaster Artist. Evans’ last production job was on How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days in 2003 before his passing in 2019.
Baldwin has since responded to the claims. Taking to X, he wrote: ‘Not sure why Sharon Stone keep talking about me all these years later? Does she still have a crush on me or is she still hurt after all these years because I shunned her advances? Did she say to her gal pal Janice Dickinson the day after I screen tested and ran into them on our MGM Grand flight back to New York… ‘I’m gonna make him fall so hard for me, it’s gonna make his head spin.'”
The actor continued: “I have so much dirt on her it would make her head spin but I’ve kept quiet. The story of the meeting I had with Bob Evans imploring him allow me to choreograph the final sex scene in the photo below so I wouldn’t have to kiss Sharon is absolute legend. Wonder if I should write a book and tell the many, many disturbing, kinky and unprofessional tales about Sharon? That might be fun.”
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