A patriarchal society — and Hollywood for that matter — loves a good catfight between two women. And Sharon Stone isn’t about to play that tired game.
“To be clear; Meryl Streep is one of the greatest actors of all times,” Sharon tweeted on Wednesday. “Just not to the exclusion of others.”
The 63-year-old Casino star’s tweet was a clarification to comments she made about Meryl in a resurfaced Zoomer profile that went viral on Tuesday.
To some, Sharon’s comments read like she was jealous of or talking smack about the 72-year-old multi-Oscar winner.
“The business was set up that we should all envy and admire Meryl because only Meryl got to be the good one,” Sharon told Zoomer.
“And everyone should compete against Meryl. I think Meryl is an amazingly wonderful woman and actress. But in my opinion, quite frankly, there are other actresses equally as talented as Meryl Streep. The whole Meryl Streep iconography is part of what Hollywood does to women.”
She then pointed to several female actors she thinks are on par with The Devil Wears Prada star.
“Viola Davis is every bit the actress Meryl Streep is. Emma Thompson. Judy Davis. Olivia Colman. Kate Winslet, for fuck’s sake. But you say Meryl and everybody falls on the floor,” she said, before including herself.
“I’m a much better villain than Meryl. And I’m sure she’d say so. Meryl was not gonna be good in Basic Instinct or in Casino.”
Some on Twitter responded to Sharon’s quotes by saying she was “out there ending her own career ... ” or that “Trashing the greatest actress in history is pathetic.” Some even accused Sharon of trying to “cancel” Meryl.
But the greater context of Sharon’s comments in the profile were about how Hollywood and society in general pit women against one another — and that those in the film industry use Streep’s esteem against other equally talented female actors.
In a way, if one reads some of the comments rallying against Sharon in favour of Meryl, you can see her point.