Sharon Stone Was The 13th Choice For Basic Instinct — And She Still Ran The Whole Decade

Total Recall Wasn't Supposed To Change Everything — But It Did

Stone's real breakout came playing Lori Quaid, the secretly lethal wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger's character, in Paul Verhoeven's 1990 sci-fi hit Total Recall. Verhoeven later explained he pushed to cast her because he sensed she'd been underestimated, saying he'd thought she'd been degraded and had lost her confidence, but that Total Recall proved <cite index="1-6">there was much more possible</cite>. The film's blockbuster success gave her career serious momentum — <cite index="4-6">it gave Stone's career a major boost, leading to her being cast in five feature films released throughout 1991</cite> — and convinced Verhoeven to fight for her on his very next movie.

Michael Douglas Didn't Even Want To Screen-Test With Her

Michelle Pfeiffer passed on Catherine Tramell first, and <cite index="4-12">several actresses at the time turned down the role, mostly because of the nudity required</cite>, before it ever reached Stone. Douglas wanted a bigger name across from him, so Verhoeven quietly ran every new hopeful's audition tape against Stone's until none of them could touch it: <cite index="10-17">"So they tested like 12, 13, 14 women, and no one beat my screen test,"</cite> Stone recalled. Douglas finally agreed to test opposite her — and the rest became one of the most talked-about castings of the '90s.

She Had To Talk Her Way Out Of A Guaranteed Oscar

When Casino came around, insiders told Stone she could run in Best Supporting Actress and probably win — but she refused to settle for the easier category. <cite index="16-9,16-10">Stone was encouraged to run in the Best Supporting Actress category for the 1995 Martin Scorsese film, but she was determined to earn her rightful place in the Best Actress lead category, even though it lowered her odds against a stacked field.</cite> <cite index="16-13">"But I am the leading lady in the film, so I want to run for leading lady,"</cite> she insisted — and it landed her the only Oscar nomination of her career.

Robert De Niro Told Her She'd Lose — Then Made It Sound Like An Honor

Stone's Casino nomination came with an asterisk: co-star Robert De Niro wasn't nominated that year at all. She's said he told her she wouldn't win, comparing it to his own loss for The Godfather and Scorsese's for Raging Bull, but adding, <cite index="20-4">"But your performance will stand the test of time."</cite> <cite index="20-11">She ultimately lost the Best Actress Oscar to Susan Sarandon for Dead Man Walking.</cite>

The Emmy You Probably Forgot She Won

Casino didn't just get Stone an Oscar nod — it kicked off a genuine awards run. <cite index="37-1">She was also nominated at the BAFTA Awards and SAG Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role</cite>, on top of the Golden Globe she actually won. Years later she quietly added a Primetime Emmy to the shelf, too, <cite index="24-44">for playing an attorney who believes she can communicate with God in The Practice, a role that earned her the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress</cite>.

The Same Year She Chased An Oscar, She Also Won A Razzie

Stone's résumé has a genuinely weird footnote: 1995, the year of her Oscar-nominated Casino performance, was also the year the Razzies came calling. <cite index="28-9">She won the award for Worst Actress in 1995 for her performances in Intersection and The Specialist, and for The Specialist she also won Worst Screen Couple for her pairing with Sylvester Stallone.</cite> <cite index="28-10">In 2006, Stone won Worst Actress again for reprising her role of Catherine Tramell in the unnecessary sequel, Basic Instinct 2.</cite>

Scorsese Wasn't Done With Her After Casino

Decades after Casino, Scorsese cast Stone again — this time playing an exaggerated version of herself in his 2019 Netflix release <cite index="32-31">Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, a pseudo-documentary film covering Bob Dylan's 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue concert tour</cite>. Two years earlier she'd popped up in The Disaster Artist, joining the ensemble retelling the making of cult flop The Room — proof she'd settled comfortably into scene-stealing supporting roles rather than chasing another Basic Instinct.

She's Still Getting The Call — 30-Plus Years Later

Stone is still very much in the casting conversation. In 2025 she officially joined the star-studded third season of Euphoria alongside Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, and Jacob Elordi, saying <cite index="4-7">she was "honored" to join the project and expressed enthusiasm about working with the series, creative team and cast</cite>. Around the same time she took on a splashy villain role in <cite index="21-5">Universal's Nobody 2, the Bob Odenkirk-starring action sequel that adds not just Stone, but also Colin Hanks and John Ortiz to its roster</cite> — so if you want to see where Catherine Tramell's energy landed next, fire up Flickle to find out where you can stream Sharon Stone's biggest roles right now.