Sharon Stone: Getting Stoned
Q: Do you know of anyone else who's given up their guns recently?
A: No, but someone should organize a day in every town to give up their guns. Make it July 5th. Be-Independent-of-Your-Guns Day!
Q: Let's talk about actors you like.
A: Judy Davis sends me. I've watched Impromptu a thousand times. Judi Dench. Lynn Redgrave. I was genuinely happy when she got the Golden Globe [for Gods and Monsters].
Q: What about Jim Carrey?
A: I had a mini-breakdown watching The Truman Show. I started to panic at a certain point and had a hard time being with the comedic aspect of it. I think Jim Carrey is a fucking genius. His performance at the Oscars this year was outstanding.
Q: Along with $20 million per picture.
A: That's another thing that isn't so good. Not just the fame, but the money changes everyone around you. For me, I wanted everybody to be in it with me, I wanted them to have it too, but then you have people turn into sycophants.
Q: What do you think of your The Quick and the Dead costar Leonardo DiCaprio, whom you once dubbed a genius?
A: I knew the second I saw that kid, he's just the one. Leonardo's like Mozart, there's not a lot of that. People don't know it really yet because of the kind of movies he's done, and because he looks like a kid. But, like the Magic 8 Ball says, "It Will Be Revealed." It will be revealed with Leonardo. If he makes it. It's such a hideous thing, what's happened to him. I can't think of anything worse.
Q: What do you mean?
A: For him to be so famous. It's just awful. Fame is an ugly thing.
Q: Which actresses do you think are worth watching?
A: Ashley Judd has a lot of talent and doesn't need to be doing that whole glamour trip. Angelina Jolie's lovely, really terrific. Charlize Theron has real talent.
Q: You haven't mentioned Gwyneth Paltrow. Is that because of the parody she did of you on Saturday Night Live?
A: I don't know yet what I think of her. She's very young and lives in rarefied air that's a little thin. It's like she's not getting quite enough oxygen. She's being guided, in some situations, by people who have bigger plans than her. I would like to think that she just doesn't know, that she's just young. I would like to think that she will eventually spend her fame valuably. The women in the generation before me cut the path for women like me to walk freely in the world. The women in this next generation don't really know what that cost. So they don't respect it. It's a lot easier for me to be an individual, to be self-employed, to make my own decisions as an actor than it has ever been in any generation before me, and those women before me worked very hard to change the way the game was played. These kids that are coming up don't understand why it's so easy now. When fame comes upon people who are really young they don't know that they're being eaten by it, they think they're being fed by it. But probably since the Oscars, that young lady [Paltrow] has a better understanding of what it is than ever before. I wish her a lot of luck and stability, because she's got a lot of talent.
Q: Is this your warm way of saying you didn't really appreciate her parody?
A: I didn't appreciate it. And I particularly didn't appreciate her being malicious about my husband.
Q: Which was?
A: She said something nasty about him. I don't want to believe she has any malicious intent, I want to imagine that she's just that naive.
Q: Are there any young actresses you think are a bit more self-aware?
A: Angelina Jolie intrigues me, because I think she gets it. She has a tattoo on her stomach that's so intense--it's in Latin and says, "That which nourishes me also destroys me." Can you imagine what you must know at that age to have done that to yourself?
Q: What actors do you feel close with?
A: The ones I like to hang out with are Faye [Dunaway] and Shirley MacLaine.
Q: And do you share MacLaine's concept of an afterlife?
A: Yeah. If you're not trapped in the idea that this is all there is, the concept of death is kind of exciting and terrific. My husband is not very keen on this.
Q: You always refrain from commenting about Steven Seagal, whom you worked with on Above the Law. What did he do to you?
A: I just think he's an individual who isn't worth the ink it would take to write about him.
Q: So you don't believe he's a reincarnation of a Tibetan holy man?
A: I don't believe that the Dalai Lama believes that.
Q: Is Bette Davis your favorite actress?
A: No, although Marty and Bob [De Niro] said that I would be the next Bette Davis if I don't do plastic surgery.
Q: Would you consider doing plastic surgery?
A: Yeah. My husband thinks it's awful. I think when your face doesn't go with your body, that looks really dumb. Like Goldie Hawn said in The First Wives Club, if you want to freshen up a little bit, that's OK. But that thing where you have a mask that stops at your jawline and you have this baggy old body underneath, I wouldn't do that to myself.
Q: What are you in need of now?
A: I have really good genes about aging. I'm lucky. I see women who are 31 that look older than me--and I'm 41. You shouldn't do bad things in excess but it's good to have a drink now and then, good to have a steak or smoke a cigarette.
Q: What about marijuana?
A: Terrific! It should be legalized. It's much better for you than alcohol and is a terrific medicine.
Q: Cocaine?
A: No, cocaine is an evil, horrible, awful thing.
Q: Mescaline or peyote?
A: I'm too fragile to take hallucinogenics. I would lose my mind.
Q: Have you ever?
A: I had someone put LSD in my drink when I was 19 and I had a very long trip.
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