Sharon Stone clearly wasn’t in the mood for a polite, forgettable thank-you speech — and honestly, the room never stood a chance. Taking the stage at the Astra Awards on Friday night, the Hollywood icon
delivered a bold, unapologetic and profanity-heavy address that mixed career memories, hard truths about fame, and a surprising shout-out to Taylor Swift.
The actor was being honoured with a career achievement award at the ceremony held at the Sofitel hotel when she opened her speech by addressing an awkward moment from earlier in the evening. Stone recalled being questioned by younger attendees at her table about her presence there, before referencing a clip from her career montage.
“Someone came over and said, ‘Who are you and why are you sitting here?’” she told the audience, before quoting herself from the reel. “As she said, ‘Fuck you.’”
That set the tone for a speech that ran nearly nine minutes and featured candid reflections on ambition, activism and the reality of being an artist. Speaking about her determination early in her career, Stone revisited her fight to land Basic Instinct, describing the lengths she went to secure the role.
“Fame without awareness, success without purpose is pointless,” Stone said. “It’s really interesting because I wasn’t the first person they offered Basic Instinct to but I was the person who got her manager to break into the office and get her the script. And I was the person who was prepared because I had that script for eight months and I was the person who got her manager to call every single fucking day because I wanted that part. And when you want something as an artist, you should go and get it because you know what’s meant for you and you know where you can fit and where you can make a change with your art.”
She then turned her focus to the current climate around public discourse and activism, urging people to move beyond words and into action.
“There’s a lot of talk right now about what we think is right and what we think is wrong and how we feel about everything and how upsetting all these things can be. Fuck off. All of your hot air doesn’t mean anything, but all of your gifts and all of your opportunities mean everything. Shut the front door and get to work. Do something with what you have. Use your talent and become a purpose. The only thing that matters in this life is what you do with what you’ve got.”
Stone also reflected on her upbringing in a “port town in northwestern Pennsylvania,” describing the environment she grew up in and the people who shaped her outlook.
“I went on to demonstrate what different lives could look like and what different lives could feel like because I felt a lot growing up in that environment,” she said. “I felt a lot about the Amish people that I grew up with, the people who taught me how to raise a house, raise the sides, and then have a party when we put the roof on.”
Addressing inequality on film sets, Stone delivered one of her strongest messages of the night, calling on stars to show greater responsibility toward their crews.
“Everybody thinks that what we do is all sunglasses and flashbulbs but it isn’t. It’s a lot of seasons of strikes and illnesses and no jobs and how the fuck am I going to pay my bills? That’s what it really is to be an artist. What is it to be timeless? It is not a bunch of people pushing buttons on social media. It isn’t. It is when you are on the road and you meet people and you are kind to them and you see them and you talk to them. It is when you make more money than your crew and you realize that you should not be eating off the craft service table because you are not carrying cable. You are not hauling electric. You are not dragging shit through the rain and snow. What you should be doing is be putting better food on that craft service table because you make more money.”
She added that actors should clean up after themselves on set, put out their trash, and spend their time off doing something meaningful, including visiting hospitals. The speech ended with a clear takeaway — and a pop culture nod.
“You know why you like Taylor Swift? Because she’s decent. Be decent. That is what it means to be timeless. Be a decent person.”
Stone was honoured with the Timeless Award at the event. Other recipients during the evening included Timothée Chalamet, Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan, Wagner Moura, Mark Hamill, Park Chan-wook, Dylan O’Brien, Elle Fanning, Zoey Deutch, Ariana Grande, Adam Sandler, Amanda Seyfried, Amy Madigan, Stellan Skarsgård and Jessie Buckley.
