Sharon Stone Refused to Audition for Scorsese Classic Among 3000 Actresses!

“When you love someone, you have to trust them. There’s no other way. You’ve got to give them the key to everything that’s yours. Otherwise, what’s the point? And for a while, I thought I had that kind of love…”

This reflection by Sam “Ace” Rothstein at the beginning of Casino still echoes in the minds of movie enthusiasts, nearly 30 years after its release in French theaters. Casino is a hypnotic, flamboyant film that many rightly consider the pinnacle of Martin Scorsese’s illustrious career.

In France, nearly 1.6 million viewers were captivated by the spectacular and tragic rise and fall of the characters in Scorsese’s film. Sharon Stone, portraying the stunningly beautiful and cunning Ginger McKenna, who spirals into degradation, delivered what many consider the performance of her lifetime. Her role was rightfully celebrated with a Golden Globe for Best Actress and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress, which remains her only Oscar nomination to date.

Thirteen years after the film’s release, Stone spoke about it with palpable emotion in an interview with The Guardian. “I’m not getting any younger. But you know, it couldn’t have come at a better time,” she recalled, referring to the film’s critical acclaim and her own performance.

Scorsese was full of praise for her, telling the New York Times that he cast her for her radiant, charismatic presence: “you can really believe she’s the most respected hustler in Las Vegas.”

“I’m not going to line up with 3000 other actresses”

Yet, Stone revealed in the 2024 Fly on the Wall podcast hosted by actors Dana Carvey and David Spade that she initially refused to audition for the role. “They saw [NDR: Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro] all the dancers in Las Vegas, they saw tons and tons of actresses, and when the Casino project came up, I thought: ‘I’m not going to line up with the dancers, and I’m not going to line up with the 3000 other actresses.'”

Stone and Scorsese played a sort of cat and mouse game. In the audio commentary of the film’s Blu-ray, she explained how her first two auditions were successively canceled by the filmmaker. Understandably frustrated, Stone thought Scorsese was not interested in her audition.

When he contacted her to try for a third audition, she declined and went out to dinner with a friend. Scorsese eventually found her at the restaurant and asked her to audition, showing remarkable persistence.

“It was a peak for me”

“I felt like I was in the right place, at the right time,” Stone explained in her interview with The Guardian. “For a long time, I thought people didn’t really know what to do with me. I looked like a Barbie doll, and I had this voice in my head as though I had spent my life in a bar, muttering things that made no sense. And then I ended up with Bob and Marty, who were like ‘Go ahead, give it all you’ve got, let her out [NDR: her character Ginger] of you, that’s what we want to see, let’s see what you can do!'”

Having the opportunity to play in Casino? “It’s deeply gratifying, for two reasons. First, because I watch the film and I realize… It’s real! I could really do it. I fought to be able to film with the people of my dreams. Fought to be able to film with the only actor I ever hoped to work with in my career, it was a peak for me… And then Marty… And then there’s that pat on the back from your peers, which is always gratifying. You know, you don’t get many compliments like that.” Rest assured, nearly 30 years later, her performance remains just as unforgettable.