Sharon Stone Footed Leonardo DiCaprio’s Paycheck for ‘The Quick and the Dead’—Here’s Why

Sharon Stone personally covered Leonardo DiCaprio’s salary for The Quick and the Dead, and the actor is still grateful decades later. DiCaprio told E! News that he has thanked Stone “many times” for stepping in when the studio refused to hire him for Sam Raimi’s 1995 Western.

At the time, DiCaprio was fresh off his Oscar-nominated role in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and Stone was determined to cast him. She also pushed for Russell Crowe to join the film. “She said, ‘These are the two actors I want to work with,’” DiCaprio recalled. “It’s incredible. She’s been a huge champion of cinema and giving other actors opportunities, so I’m very thankful.”

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

In The Quick and the Dead, Stone played a gunslinger who comes to a frontier town and faces off against its leader, played by Gene Hackman. In her 2021 memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice, Stone revealed that TriStar Pictures did not want to hire DiCaprio. “This kid named Leonardo DiCaprio was the only one who nailed the audition,” she wrote. “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.”

When the studio refused to pay him, they told Stone, “Why an unknown, Sharon, why are you always shooting yourself in the foot? If you want him so much, you can pay him out of your own salary.” Stone decided to do just that. “So I did,” she wrote.

Stone said the experience inspired her to become a producer, giving her the power to fight for actors she believed in. “Getting a producer credit as an actress is often thought of in my business as a ‘vanity deal,’ meaning they pay you for the job but shut the f*c* up and stay out of the way,” she explained.

“I won’t accept a vanity deal and let them know that upfront. This is illegal, I say, and I like to work within the law. That gets a lot of silence and not a lot of joy on the other end.”

The Quick and the Dead was released in 1995, the same year DiCaprio starred in The Basketball Diaries and Total Eclipse. His career skyrocketed the following year with Titanic. Today, DiCaprio continues to headline major films, including Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.

Stone’s decision to back a young DiCaprio shows her dedication to supporting talent she believes in, even when it means taking risks herself.

Do you think Sharon Stone’s move to pay Leonardo DiCaprio’s salary was a bold and generous choice? Share your thoughts in the comments.