‘I can’t thank him enough’: The day Sharon Stone paid Leonardo DiCaprio’s salary out of her own pocket

It’s 1995 and Leonardo DiCaprio has just starred in Gilbert Grape, a performance that earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. It was then that he auditioned for a Sam Raimi Western starring Sharon Stone, also producing the film. Based on his success after Basic Instinct (1992), it was he who decided and the actor absolutely insisted on Leonardo DiCaprio And Russell Crowe wants to be in the movie and is willing to pay for it.

In a recent interview with E! news, Leonardo DiCaprio He talked about this topic and the reasons why he is indebted to the actor.

He said, “Those are the two actors I want to work with.” It’s amazing. He was a great champion of cinema and gave opportunities to other actors, so I am very grateful to him. I thanked him several times. I don’t know if I sent a real thank you gift or not, but I can’t thank you enough.

“I would carry this guy on my back on set if I had to! I knew that he would become one of the best actors of recent decades. His talent, his talent is extraordinary“, he said Sharon Stonewho noticed the young man Gilbert Grape exactly

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He will pay for it out of pocket

dead or alive Sharon Stone Played the role of a bandit who visits a border town and collides with its leader (Gene Hackman). In his 2021 memoir, The beauty of living twiceThe actor revealed that he was paying the salary himself Leonardo DiCaprio After being turned down by studio TriStar Pictures (via Insider).

“This kid named Leonardo DiCaprio was the only one who passed the audition“, he wrote, adding that he auditioned several teenage actors for the role of the child. “I think she was the only one who came in and cried, begging her father to love her because he died on the spot.“

Sharon Stone He remembers that the studio told him:Why stranger, Sharon, why do you always shoot yourself in the foot?He adds:The studio told me that if I want that much, I can pay with my salary. That’s exactly what I did.“

His meeting with the studio and his decision to pay the young actor’s salary himself then motivated him to become a producer, a position where he could fight for the talent he felt deserved it.

“Being a producer as an actor in my line of work is often seen as a “nonsense deal” meaning they’re paying you to do the work, but shut up and stay away.– he writes in his memoirs. “I will not accept vanity and let them know this in advance. It’s illegal, I say, and I like to work within the law. This creates a lot of silence and little joy on the other end of the line.“

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Dead or alive Released in 1995 along with other feature films Leonardo DiCaprio such as The Basketball Diaries and Rimbaud Verlaine. The following year, her career exploded with the success of James Cameron’s Titanic.

The Oscar winner is currently playing the lead role Flower Moon Assassins from Martin Scorseseto see at your nearest cinema.