LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 16: Leonardo DiCaprio attends Variety Power of Women Los Angeles presented by Lifetime at Mother Wolf on November 16, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Variety via Getty Images)

Leonardo DiCaprio expressed his gratitude for Sharon Stone in a recent interview with E! News. The Titanic actor commented on how Stone paid for him to star in the 1995 film The Quick and the Dead, after the studio refused to cast him in the film.

“She said, ‘These are the two actors I want to work with,’” DiCaprio told the outlet, referring to himself and Russell Crowe. “It’s incredible. She’s been a huge champion of cinema and giving other actors opportunities, so I’m very thankful.”

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

The Basic Instinct actor wrote about DiCaprio’s audition for the Western in her 2021 memoir titled The Beauty of Living Twice. “This kid named Leonardo DiCaprio was the only one who nailed the audition,” she wrote. “The studio said if I wanted him so much, I could pay him out of my own salary. So I did.”

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