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Sharon Stone (Exclusive Interview)
A Lesson in CHIC

by Vera Brozzoni

There are beauties that never fade. Sharon Stone is one of those magical visages whose brilliance age cannot make dim, because they exude light from the within.

The diva is in Berlin to present her latest film in which she’s in as an actress and a producer: the independent drama When A Man Falls In The Forest by young American director Ryan Eslinger. Following the classical Sundance-indie aesthetics, the movie presents Karen, a desperate and masochistic wife who can’t cope with ageing and hides behind casual shoplifting; the role has similarities with that of Miriam, the cheated hairdresser in Bobby by Emilio Estevez.

Now, Sharon may appear seasoned and grim in her last films, but face-to-face she’s just stunning: the choice of her roles is a proof of intelligence and courage, and that’s what makes her unique and fascinating. She’s more than the sum of her parts, because her parts are held together by a spirit that defies time.

nuts4chic: In 1992 you did Basic Instinct and people still remember you for that film, but you’re not remembered for the many better films you have starred in. How do you find this?

Sharon Stone: Each actor has a film they are remembered for, even if it’s not important in their overall career, because that film propelled them forwards. When people ask me about the comparison between Basic Instinct and my other films, I always recall a quote by Rita Hayworth: “My men fall asleep with Gilda - and wake up with Rita”. But even if my career followed a different direction, I’m glad and grateful that Basic Instinct had such a great impact on the audience, because that allowed me to make other films.

n4c: Why have you recently started playing down your natural beauty? As a producer of When A Man Falls In The Forest, don’t you find it natural to protect your image as a star?

SS: All women, at a certain point, face the experience of feeling “downplayed”, but it’s not a question of physical appearance. We hit points in our life when we feel we’re fading, nobody is seeing us, but it’s not at all a matter of beauty, but of spirit. As for this film in particular, I didn’t feel the need to preserve my looks: I just did what was best for my character.

n4c: The film is entangled with sad, terrible emotions: after playing in such a demanding role, how do you feel as a person? Does the sadness onscreen affect you personally?

SS: Generally, when I do a film I try to be “in” the character, I’m not a method actor. This film helped me to understand feelings that I had never understood in my life, it was like a watershed. It might sound surprising, but to have these emotions and not to be judged was a freeing experience, it even made me feel good somehow. Normally we have social assignments on how we have to feel all the time, but during this film I felt I didn’t “have to” feel in a certain way. It was cathartic.

n4c: As you know, Martin Scorsese has been nominated for an Academy Award for The Departed. You have worked with him in Casino in 1995, what do you recall of that experience?

SS: Working with Marty was a high point in my career, it was wonderful! Ryan Eslinger, the director of my last film, has the most similar directing style with Marty: when a director has this certain grace, this ease of communicating with the actors, that’s when the actor is able to create a really nuanced performance. In When A Man Falls In The Forest there’s a very dramatic scene in a supermarket: in shooting that scene I found the same freedom I found working with Marty. In order to get this result, the director is required to create a zone where the actor is protected and encouraged and the two can communicate in a subtle way.

n4c: What meaning did you find in your character? Is there anything you want to say to our readers about this experience?

SS: Sometimes when we feel broken or pressed, or that we lost our sense of self, we can fall in the belief that it’s a men’s world. But it’s not really true, we’ve just lost the reality that our world belongs to us. It’s a difficult journey, when we fall down, to get back up; but the most important thing we can learn is that it doesn’t matter how hard you fall and who pushes you, but how you get up.

nuts4facts

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