Sharon Stone Clarifies Paying Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe’s Salaries For ‘The Quick & The Dead’ Film

Sharon Stone is making sure the facts are properly reported when it comes to the recent story about her paying Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe’s salaries while they were filming The Quick and the Dead. 

Taking to Instagram on Monday, Stone, 65, confirmed that she did pay for DiCaprio, 49, to work on their 1995 Western film after the studio said they weren’t interested in hiring an up-and-coming actor. At that time, DiCaprio had just a handful of credits under his belt, including his starring role in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. 

“To be clear about the Hollywood Reporter article: Yes, I paid @leonardodicaprio’s salary out of mine. No I didn’t pay @russellcrowe’s, but I did ask for the film to be delayed two weeks so we could get him here from Australia, and our producer @mikemedavoyup agreed to the delay. And to cover those expenses,” she wrote, signing off with a “thank you.” 

The actress had previously made headlines when she first divulged in her 2021 memoir, “The Beauty of Living Twice,” that she fought to keep the then 21-year-old newcomer on the movie. 

In the book, she said she thought DiCaprio was the only one to nail the part of The Kid and therefore was in his corner from day one. 

“This kid named Leonardo DiCaprio was the only one who nailed the audition, in my opinion: he was the only one who came in and cried, begging his father to love him as he died in the scene,” she wrote. “The studio said if I wanted him so much, I could pay him out of my own salary. So I did.”

The story was revived earlier this week after E! News asked DiCaprio about the situation, which prompted him to express his gratitude for his former co-star. 

“I’ve thanked her many times,” DiCaprio said. “I don’t know if I sent her an actual, physical thank-you gift, but I cannot thank her enough.”

He also described Stone — who was a producer on the movie — as “amazing” and claimed she did the same thing for Russell Crowe, which she of course provided clarity on in her Instagram post. 

DiCaprio would later go on to land starring roles in Romeo & Juliet and Titanic, launching him into a new stratosphere of fame and making him a household name. 

Most recently, the actor has been promoting his latest film, Killers of the Flower Moon, with co-star Lily Gladstone and director Martin Scorsese. 

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