It’s hard to believe Leonardo DiCaprio wasn’t always the acting powerhouse he is now, but it appears he owes some of his success to Sharon Stone.

Leonardo DiCaprio appears to have captured Sharon Stone’s attention after his breakout appearance in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?

She insisted on working with the young actor, as well as Russell Crowe, for her next leading role, Sam Raimi’s 1995 revisionist Western drama The Quick and the Dead.

The studio, however, declined to cast him, forcing Sharon to take matters into her own hands and decide to pay his salary so he could appear in the film.

“She said, ‘These are the two actors I want to work with,'” DiCaprio told E! about the story.

“It’s unbelievable. I’m grateful to her for championing cinema and giving other performers the opportunity.”

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

Stone remembered the incident in her 2021 memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice.

“This kid named Leonardo DiCaprio was the only one who nailed the audition,” Stone stated in an email.

She revealed that she auditioned several young actors for the role of The Kid and chose DiCaprio because he was the most likable.

“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.”

‘Why an unknown, Sharon, why are you constantly shooting yourself in the foot?’ said the studio.

“The studio said if I really wanted him, I could pay him out of my own salary.” So I did,” Stone went on.

Stone also stated that when it comes to producing films, she likes to be hands-on and will not settle for just getting out of the way.

“Getting 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**k up and stay out of the way,” she said in her autobiography.

“I’ll tell them right away that I’m not interested in a vanity deal.” This is unlawful, I say, and I like to work within the confines of the law. On the other end, you get a lot of stillness and not a lot of delight.”