Sharon Stone was destined for stardom and exploded with it in the ‘90s with films like Basic Instinct. In 1995, she earned a much-deserved Oscar nomination for playing Ginger, the wife to Robert De Niro’s Sam “Ace” Rothstein. Thirty years after the release of Casino, Sharon Stone is remembering her time working with both De Niro and Joe Pesci on Martin Scorsese’s epic.
When asked by Business Insider how Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci compare on the set of Casino, Stone said, “It’s apples and oranges. Joey really, really fought for me to be seen and get the job. So I have a serious loyalty to Joey because he’s always backed me. It was always Joey and Jimmy Caan. They backed me since I was 19.” (Stone has an uncredited early role in Claude Lelouch’s Les Uns et les Autres in 1981, which starred Caan.)
As for Robert De Niro in particular, Sharon Stone said that they didn’t exactly have the best relationship while making Casino. “I always wanted to work with Bob. I had auditioned with him many times before Casino. It was my dream to work with De Niro and hold my own. There’s a scene in the movie where we’re sitting across a table arguing, and he says to me, ‘You’re a good actress, you know that?’ And I remember in that scene when he said it, how furious it made me because it was my dream to do it, and then he challenged me at the table. I remember thinking, ‘Oh, buddy. Not today, pal.’ He knew every button to go for with me because he is the greatest observational actor. He can crawl under your skin and get in there.”
Heading into the 68th Academy Awards, Sharon Stone looked to have a good amount of momentum to actually win Best Actress for Casino, having nabbed the Golden Globe. But it would be Susan Sarandon — who had the support of SAG on her side — who came out victorious for her performance in Dead Man Walking. While Sarandon gave a powerhouse performance and Leaving Las Vegas’ Elisabeth Shue would have made an excellent winner, Stone taking home Oscar gold would have been one hell of a victory for her in the industry, too many of whom saw her as anything but a good actress.
How do you think Sharon Stone would have been received as a Best Actress winner for Casino? Would she have been deserving?
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