Formative Performances: Sharon Stone in “Casino”

Yesterday, I wrote about a performance that was subtle and quiet. Today, it’s time for something completely different.

I’ve only watched Casino once because parts of it were too disturbing for me to see a second time. Most of these scenes involved Sharon Stone’s character Ginger. She terrified me. She has many scenes where she goes absolutely nuts, screeching and yelling and being destructive to herself and everyone sucked into her orbit.

It would be easy to dismiss her performance as being too over-the-top, but everything she did made me cower in fear. As I watched her, I reminded myself, “There are people like this in the world. People like her actually exist.”

This following scene is her first in the movie, when Robert DeNiro’s character sees her for the first time. Her actions give just a small hint of the person she would turn into later – the seeds were there from the beginning. Yet, you completely buy why DeNiro would find her irresistible.

I want to pull my eyes away from her, but I can’t.

Also, Scorsese, way to ruin my Dirty Dancing-related memories of “Mickey and Sylvia.” Yeesh.