Sharon Stone wants to clear up a rumor about her, Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe.
The actress, 65, was credited with reaching into her own pocket to pay DiCaprio’s salary in order to have him cast in the 1995 Western The Quick and the Dead, something the Oscar winner, 49, said he’s thanked her for many times.
During the making of the film, Stone also insisted the Russell Crowe, a relatively unknown Australian actor, be cast in the revisionist Western drama.
She had to use some of her clout to do it, but the movie didn’t cost her financially.
The Hollywood icon laid out the facts in an emphatic post on social media Monday.
To be clear about the Hollywood Reporter article: Yes, I paid @leonardodicaprio’s salary out of mine,’ she stated, confirming previous reports.
‘No I didn’t pay @russellcrowe’s,’ she wrote, seeking to clear the air.
Stone, who was also a producer on the film said she ‘did ask for the film to be delayed two weeks so we could get him here from Australia.’
The determined actress credited fellow producer Mike Medavoy with agreeing to her request and he was the one who covered those expenses.
Crowe admitted that without Stone’s insistence on his joining the cast, it may have taken a lot longer for him to be cast in Hollywood.
‘If it wasn’t her for her strength of commitment, I don’t know how long it might have been before I got an American movie,’ he revealed on Late Night with Seth Meyers in August 2020.
‘I’ve got a lot to thank her for.’
The Aussie star said the actress who played a gunslinger in the movie ‘was in a sword fight with the male producers on the film, and she put her foot down and said, “I’m going to hire the person I want to hire as the love interest kind of thing,”‘ he explained.
The film didn’t fare well at the box office, earning only $47 million, but it did cover the $37 million it cost to make.
Two years later, Crowe was starring in the gritty police drama LA Confidential and on his way to starring in his Oscar winning performance in 2000’s Gladiator.
Although he was in his early 20s at the time, DiCaprio went on to establish himself as a leading man in Romeo + Juliet in 1996 and again in 1997’s megahit Titanic.
For her part, after The Quick and the Dead, Stone went on to receive her one and only Academy Award nomination for her work in Martin Scorsese’s 1995, Casino, which was released several months later.
The Quick and the Dead was her first experience as a producer, but she has gone on to use those skills in more than a dozen other projects.
Some are close to her heart, including the documentaries The Invocation and We The People.
DiCaprio is currently starring in Killers of the Flower Moon, which has been creating a lot of awards buzz.
The gritty drama is currently playing in theaters, but will begin streaming on Apple+ after its theatrical run.
