NEED TO KNOW
- Sharon Stone wants to portray Phyllis Diller in a biopic, she said in a recent interview
- Diller “made me practice her laugh,” Stone said of the late comedian, who was a “close” friend
- Diller died in 2012 at age 95
Sharon Stone wants to play Phyllis Diller — and she got training from the legendary comedian herself.
While promoting her latest film Nobody 2 in a chat with Business Insider, the actress, 67, was asked if she wants to play the late comedian. Her answer? A resounding yes: Stone not only said she wants to play Diller, whom she considered a “close” friend, but also revealed she learned to recreate the comedian’s laugh straight from the source.
“I do want to play Phyllis Diller very, very badly,” Stone told the outlet in the interview, which was published Friday, Aug. 1
“She and I were very close friends,” the actress and mom of three said of the comedian, who died in 2012 at age 95. “Phyllis made little paintings for all my kids. She cooked me dinner a lot of times — that woman could cook. I told her I wanted to play her, and she sat down and taught me her laugh.”
Diller wasn’t satisfied until Stone gave the iconic cackle plenty of tries, the actress said, adding, “She made me practice her laugh!”
As for whether Stone is “actively trying to get a biopic off the ground,” as Business Insider phrased it, she told the outlet: “I’m trying.”
“You know, she didn’t hit it big until she was 49,” the Basic Instinct star said of Diller. “She lived in a trailer park with five kids and her schizophrenic husband, and practiced her act on women at the laundromat. It’s unbelievable.”
With herself in the hypothetical lead role, Stone also began brainstorming the rest of the cast of a Diller biopic. “I think there are great actors who could play Bob Hope, Red Buttons, Johnny Carson,” she told Business Insider. “Sam Rockwell could play Johnny in his sleep. We were tight.”
“Yes, I’m desperate to play her,” she added of the late comic.
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Stone and Diller made a couple of public appearances together prior to the comedy legend’s death in 2012.
The comedian and actress were photographed together at the 1994 Comedy Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Beverly Hills. Years later, in 2000, they posed side by side once again, this time at the Seventh Annual Women in Film Lucy Awards. Both stars received honors at the awards show, which was also held in Beverly Hills.
Stone’s latest role is the crime boss Lendina in Nobody 2, which sees the villainous character send goons after retired assassin Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) and his family as they attempt to have a normal vacation.
Nobody 2 is in theaters Aug. 15.
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