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2 months ago
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Sharon Stone appeared at the Taormina Film Festival today, during a press conference held at the luxe San Domenico Palace (where season 2 of The White Lotus was partially filmed). Stone is in the hilltop Sicilian town to accept the Golden Cariddi for Lifetime Achievement later this evening.
In a wide-ranging discussion, the Oscar nominee addressed such topics as how the movie business has changed since her breakout performance in 1992’s Basic Instinct, and the difference between how sex was portrayed onscreen in those days versus today. She also commented that she’s considering a move to Europe.
Whether the latter is tied to her political views was not clear, but Stone did talk about the upcoming U.S. presidential election, saying, “Thank God I’m not a politician… I have always been a very proud American, and I love my country very much. Of course, I am deeply concerned with what’s happening in my country now. This is one of the first times in my life that I’ve actually seen anyone running for office on a platform of hate and oppression.”
She continued, “I would like to believe that my country has all of the qualities that we have always stood for — independence, courage, dignity — and that all of the other countries that we have stood for will stand by us as we go through this concerning time.”
Speaking of Basic Instinct, Stone commented that at the time, “it seemed like a scandal, and now it seems very, very ordinary.”
Since then, “Studio systems have changed dramatically, they’ve changed from making a variety of movies to making these gigantic $100 and $200 million films.” Thirty years ago, she recalled, “we had choices of what kind of films we could see.” Today, “Streamers are taking over our business, and I don’t think that’s a terrible thing. I think we’re coming back to making smaller films and a variety of films, and I think that’s a good thing.”
On her feelings about how sex is portrayed on screen today, Stone said, “I think that now that women are writing, directing, producing, filming and more and more a part of filmmaking, films are less about male-driven films about the fantasies… Actresses are less asked to portray the male fantasy and critics are less asked to tell us if we fulfilled the male fantasy or not. It’s more, ‘are we fulfilling the human condition?’”
The multi-hyphenate further announced she will be unveiling a one-woman show of her paintings in Rome this November. “It’s the most exciting thing that has happened to me as a painter. I’m so excited I could cry,” she enthused.
