(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Fri 22 August 2025 2:30, UK
Sharon Stone is one of those actors who has gone through every facet of fame that you can possibly imagine.
From grafting for years in low-budget, low-quality flicks to skyrocketing to stardom after her turn in Basic Instinct and on to an Oscar nomination for her performance in Martin Scorsese’s Casino, she’s been around the block and then some. Of course, this high was turned into a snub after she missed out on the actual award and started to struggle to find more meaningful roles.
She spent much of her time starring in weak erotic thrillers, and after a few years of serious health issues, she was subsequently sidelined. Her notable roles since then include Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers, the drama Lovelace and most recently the Bob Odenkirk comedy action flick Nobody 2; although she’s still overdue for a real comeback like some of her contemporaries.
Regardless of the highs and lows of her career, it’s clear from the handful of great roles she’s been given that she has plenty of talent. After all, she is completely captivating in Casino and magnetic in Basic Instinct. With that level of talent and perseverance, it’s obvious she’s passionate about film and acting. And her four favourite films only confirm that.
She kicks the list off with a note on her favourite director, “I really loved [Bernardo] Bertolucci work. And really loved his film The Last Emperor so much”. Bertolucci’s 1987 biographical epic follows the life of, you guessed it, the last Emperor of China, from his birth and reign to imprisonment and political rehabilitation by the Chinese Communist Party. At the time, the film won all nine Academy Awards it was nominated for, including ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Picture’.
Then she moves on to Gilda, the 1946 film noir featuring Rita Hayworth as the titular character. Following a love triangle with Gilda at the centre, it’s beloved for its luxurious photography, glamorous settings and costuming and, of course, the fabulous Hayworth. For Stone, its enduring appeal is in the late actress and her captivating feminine expression, “It was at a time when women were glamorous and psychologically unkempt all at the same time. And you could be everything, you could be all of those things”.
Having played a few characters who were definitely glamorous and psychologically unkempt, or downright deranged, it’s no surprise that she enjoys cinema’s other complex female characters, which leads us to her next pick. While we’re only halfway there, it’s really just Barbara Stanwyck that Stone chooses for the final half of her list, praising her for the brinkmanship she demonstrated in her roles. Whether she’s “playing a dangerous woman, or when she was older, playing the head of the ranch”, Stone loves anything she had put her hand to.
The films being hinted at are of course Double Indemnity and Forty Guns, respectively. The former is the definitive noir, starring Stanwyck as a femme fatale plotting to kill her husband with the help of an insurance salesman to claim his life insurance; in the latter, she’s a domineering rancher who falls for a lawman.
Again, it’s Stanwyck’s ability to bring complexity to her characters that Stone values the most. “I think it is super important as women that we don’t become a surface act. Because not any of us are a surface act,” she explained. Hopefully she can once again prove to us that she’s not a surface act, but one thing’s for sure, she’s a real actor’s actor.
Sharon Stone’s four favourites:The Last Emperor (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1987)Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946)Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) Forty Guns (Samuel Fuller, 1957)
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