NEED TO KNOW
Sharon Stone has always appreciated working with the greats.
Looking back at some of her biggest roles and the fanfare around them with Business Insider, the actress, 67, recalled working with Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci on the 1995 film Casino.
“Joey really, really fought for me to be seen and get the job. So I have a serious loyalty to Joey because he’s always backed me. It was always Joey and Jimmy Caan. They backed me since I was 19,” she explained.
With DeNiro, “I always wanted to work with Bob,” but it had never panned out in previous projects.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Universal Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis/Getty
“I had auditioned with him many times before Casino. It was my dream to work with De Niro and hold my own,” she admits.
Stone plays the glamorous and self-involved Ginger McKenna in the film, directed by Martin Scorsese. The beautiful and mysterious woman catches the eye of DeNiro’s Sam ‘Ace’ Rothstein. The role earned Stone a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
“There’s a scene in the movie where we’re sitting across a table arguing, and he says to me, ‘You’re a good actress, you know that?’ And I remember in that scene when he said it, how furious it made me because it was my dream to do it, and then he challenged me at the table.”
Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images
“I remember thinking, ‘Oh, buddy. Not today, pal,’ ” she continued. “He knew every button to go for with me because he is the greatest observational actor. He can crawl under your skin and get in there.”
DeNiro and Scorsese looked back at the film on the occasion of its 30th anniversary in June at the Tribeca Film Festival. Of the film’s take on a Las Vegas that’s evolved so much in the decades since, Scorcese said, “Now you can take your family there and find yourself in the heart of capitalism — the kind that’s replaced organized crime.”
“There used to be wiseguys in baggy suits. Now it’s Ralph Lauren polos and corporate managers,” the famed director laughed.
