Sharon Stone has made some wild claims and angered 1993 erotic thriller “Sliver” co-star William Baldwin in the process. On The Louis Theroux podcast (via Entertainment Weekly), Stone alleged that legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans (“The Godfather”) attempted to convince her to sleep with Baldwin during the production of the film to get a better performance out of him. An obvious case of sexual misconduct/harassment by Evans, even if it was in jest, led to a dust-up with the actress, which she believes impacted future work.
“[Evans was] running around his office in his sunglasses explaining to me that he slept with Ava Gardner and I should sleep with Billy Baldwin,” she said on the podcast. “Because if I slept with Billy Baldwin, Billy Baldwin’s performance would get better. And we needed Billy to get better in the movie because that was the problem. And if I could sleep with Billy, then we would have chemistry on screen, and if I would just have sex with him, then that would save the movie.”
This wouldn’t be the first time Stone has told this story, as it goes back to her 2021 memoir where she told a similar narrative but kept names out of the book. Stone was labeled as “difficult” after telling off Evans, and in her eyes, that event inflicted major damage to her career, given the producer’s standing in the business.
The story highlights the awfulness of Hollywood that arguably was still occurring until the #MeToo reckoning. Baldwin, instead of potentially sympathizing with old Hollywood-guard-think, however, was having nothing of it and blasted Stone for her comments
“Not sure why Sharon Stone [keeps] talking about me all these years later,” Baldwin said on Twitter. “Does she still have a crush on me, or is she still hurt after all these years because I shunned her advances? I have so much dirt on her it would make her head spin but I’ve kept quiet. The story of the meeting I had with Bob Evans imploring him [to allow] me to choreograph the final sex scene in the photo below so I wouldn’t have to kiss Sharon is [an absolute] legend. Wonder if I should write a book and tell the many, many disturbing, kinky, and unprofessional tales about Sharon. That might be fun.”
It seems bizarre that Baldwin’s main takeaway from that story is the snipe about his acting abilities that allegedly came from the late Evans and from an interaction he likely wasn’t even present for. But who knows if their bad blood runs deeper or if the actor has been quietly fuming since Stone’s book was released.
You can listen to Stone’s full interview below.