Sharon Stone had a basic instinct to dispense life advice at the 9th Annual Astra Film Awards, presented on Friday, January 9. And she did so in a forceful, 9-minute, profanity-punctuated speech as she received the Hollywood Creative Alliance’s Timeless Award.
Stone took the mic after a montage showcased highlights from her onscreen roles. “To the kids at my table who wondered who the f*** took that chair, now you know.” she said. “Yeah, someone came over and said, ‘Who are you, and why are you sitting here?’ As [one of Stone’s characters] said, ‘F*** you.’”
Stone did impart wisdom to her younger counterparts, though. “I started my activism work when my fame kicked in. And I’d like to give you an opportunity to start your activism work now that your consciousness has kicked in,” she said. “Because fame without awareness, success without purpose is pointless.”
She told the audience she wasn’t the first person to be offered her role in the 1992 neo-noir film Basic Instinct, one of her best-known movies. “But I was the person who got her manager to break into the office and get her the script,” she quipped. “And I was the person who was prepared because I had that script for eight months. And I was the person who got her manager to call every single f***ing day because I wanted that part. And when you want something as an artist, you should go and get it because you know what’s meant for you and you know where you can fit and where you can make a change with your art.”
As her speech continued, Stone gave a resounding “f*** off” to people who are all talk: “All your hot air doesn’t mean anything, but all of your gifts and all of your opportunities mean everything. Shut the front door and get to work. Do something with what you have. Use your talent and become a purpose. The only thing that matters in this life is what you do with what you’ve got.”
Stone also regaled the audience with anecdotes about growing up in a hardscrabble family in an Amish area of northwestern Pennsylvania. “I got out, and I made a life for myself,” she said. “And then I went on to demonstrate what different lives could look like and what different lives could feel like because I felt a lot growing up in that environment. I felt a lot about the Amish people that I grew up with, the people who taught me how to raise a house, raise the sides, and then have a party when we put the roof on, OK? I felt a lot about my dad driving an hour work away to work in a factory swing shift. A guy I barely ever saw. A guy who then went hunting with my brothers so that we could eat the food he hunted and got. And then my mother grew a garden, and we ate the food that she canned in the heat of the of August so that we had fruit and vegetables to eat through the winter.”
And life as a screen actor isn’t always glamorous, Stone said. “It’s a lot of seasons of strikes and illnesses and no jobs and ‘How the f*** am I going to pay my bills?’” she explained.
As for what it means to be “timeless,” Stone said it’s not about likes on social media. “It is when you are on the road and you meet people and you are kind to them, and you see them, and you talk to them,” she said. “It is when you make more money than your crew, and you realize that you should not be eating off the craft service table because you are not carrying cable. You are not hauling electric. You are not dragging s*** through the rain and snow. What you should be doing is be putting better food on that craft service table because you make more money.”
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The Casino star said that everyone on a film set has dreams, not just the stars on the call sheet. “Every one of those teamsters, they’re working for you,” she said. “Clean up your trailer, hang up your clothes, and put your f***ing trash out at the end of the day. And on your day off, go to the hospital. Do something decent. Be decent.”
On that note, Stone gave props to Taylor Swift. “You know why you like Taylor Swift? Because she’s decent,” she told the crowd. “Be decent.”
And behavior on set sticks with a person, Stone said. “You carry it home in your consciousness, you carry it home to your family, and you carry it home to your friends,” she explained. “Carry home someone you’re proud of.”
