Sharon Stone's Scream Method
Sharon Stone is determined to single-handedly return Hollywood to a bygone era: Not one of glamour and sophistication, per se, but rather that era that exists entirely in her own imagination, when manic, loopy movie stars were free to act on their every lunatic whim. Newsweek's interview with Stone is a virtual Encyclopedia of Bipolar Ramblings—choosing just one entry becomes a difficult task. Let's turn to the passage where her Basic Instinct 2 co-star David Morrissey describes what a typical shoot day was like:
"She used to scream before every take just absolutely scream at the top of her voice," says costar Morrissey, calling from a cab in London. "It was quite strange, to the point where it really freaked me out. I realized it was just to release the tension, and I thought it was very funny, but it's quite an un-British thing to do."
Even less British was her unusual post-shot ritual: Every time the director yelled "Cut," she handed her co-star a baseball bat (she's had the same lucky one since Casino) and demanded that he swing it at her skull with as much force as he could muster. It may seem extreme, and her insurance rates do end up being seven times greater than most other actresses, but Stone insists she can't go on with the next scene until she gets a good dose of what she refers to as her "Louisville emotional palate cleanser."
