It seems that Sharon Stone’s basic instinct when she hears the name “Meryl Streep” is to praise other female actors. Including herself.
The 63-year-old “Casino” star went viral Tuesday thanks to a tangent about Streep in a resurfaced profile on Zoomer regarding her new memoir, “The Beauty of Living Twice.”
n the piece published last month, writer Johanna Schneller sparked what she describes as a “galactic wormhole” when she asked Stone about a part of her memoir in which she writes about working with the multi-Oscar winner on the 2019 film “The Laundromat.”
In Stone’s memoir, Schneller wrote, the actor writes that Hollywood and society in general pit women against one another.
“It was put to us that there could be room for only one,” Stone wrote in regards to Streep.
“I find that fascinating,” Schneller told Stone of this particular passage. “So when you finally got to work with Meryl Streep, you realized — ”
But Schneller said that Stone cut her off.
“I like the way you phrase that, that I finally got to work with Meryl Streep,” Stone said. “You didn’t say, ‘Meryl finally got to work with Sharon Stone.’ Or we finally got to work together.”
Stone continued, telling Schneller that the way she structured the question is part of the problem.
“The business was set up that we should all envy and admire Meryl because only Meryl got to be the good one,” Stone said. “And everyone should compete against Meryl. I think Meryl is an amazingly wonderful woman and actress. But in my opinion, quite frankly, there are other actresses equally as talented as Meryl Streep. The whole Meryl Streep iconography is part of what Hollywood does to women.”
Stone then begins naming female actors she thinks are on par with the celebrated 72-year-old actor.
“Viola Davis is every bit the actress Meryl Streep is. Emma Thompson. Judy Davis. Olivia Colman. Kate Winslet, for f**k’s sake. But you say Meryl and everybody falls on the floor.”
Stone, clearly on a roll, continued: “I’m a much better villain than Meryl. And I’m sure she’d say so. Meryl was not gonna be good in ‘Basic Instinct’ or in ‘Casino.’”
And Stone kept rolling.
“That’s how we’re set up to think,” Stone said, referring to Schneller’s initial question. “Because I could never ... touch the heights ... We’re all labelled the Queen of Something. I’m the Queen of Smut! She’s the Queen of That! We all have to sit in our assigned seats. Are you kidding me? If we worked in a supermarket, she can’t always be the No. 1 checkout girl. We’re all doing our jobs.”
“That phrasing has been taught,” she concluded. “We’ve been taught that everybody doesn’t get a seat at the table. Once one is chosen, nobody else can get in there.”
Sharon Stone Bashes Hollywood's Treatment Of Women: 'Only Meryl Got To Be The Good One'
"Quite frankly, there are other actresses equally as talented as Meryl Streep," Stone said in an interview published last month.
