Sharon Stone Paid Leonardo DiCaprio’s Salary for One Movie

Sharon Stone once personally paid Leonardo DiCaprio’s salary for The Quick and the Dead, a move the actor says he will never forget. DiCaprio told E! News that he has thanked Stone “many times” for stepping in when the studio refused to hire him for the 1995 Western directed by Sam Raimi. At the time, DiCaprio had just earned an Oscar nomination for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and Stone was determined to work with him and Russell Crowe.

“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 film, Stone plays a gunslinger who arrives in a frontier town and faces off against its leader, played by Gene Hackman.

In her 2021 memoir The Beauty of Living Twice, Stone explained that she covered DiCaprio’s pay herself after TriStar Pictures refused to cast him. “This kid named Leonardo DiCaprio was the only one who nailed the audition,” Stone wrote, recalling how other teen actors failed to deliver the emotional depth the role required. “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 shared that the studio questioned her decision: “Why an unknown, Sharon, why are you always shooting yourself in the foot?” But when they offered that she could pay DiCaprio herself, she didn’t hesitate. “So I did,” she wrote.

Stone said the experience partly inspired her to become a producer, giving her more control to support the talent 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*ck up and stay out of the way. 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,” she wrote.

The Quick and the Dead opened in 1995 alongside other DiCaprio films, including The Basketball Diaries and Total Eclipse. The following year, DiCaprio’s career soared with Titanic. Today, he stars in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.

It’s remarkable to think a single act of faith from Sharon Stone helped shape the career of one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Her willingness to fight for DiCaprio highlights how influential actors can be behind the scenes in shaping casting decisions.

Do you think Sharon Stone’s choice to pay Leonardo DiCaprio herself was a bold move that changed cinema history, or just an unusual Hollywood story? Share your thoughts in the comments.