Sharon Stone’s Move To Television: ‘The Film Industry Has Kind Of Wiped Itself Out’

Agent X has been touted as the television version of James Bond, but for Sharon Stone, there’s much more action behind the cameras than on the screen. Before Ms. Stone gives us a glimpse behind the scenes, what is Agent X really about?

The series begins with a promise from Sharon’s character that she will do everything within her means to protect the American people from foreign and domestic threats, but Vice President Natalie Maccabee, played by Stone, soon comes to learn that pledge includes overseeing a secretive operative (Jeff Hephner), as he is sent out on missions deemed too sensitive for either the FBI or the CIA to handle.

Agent X Gives Sharon Stone The Opportunity To Make The Move To Television

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When asked why she chose to take on a television role, as opposed to continuing her career as a film actress, Ms. Stone says that television has more to offer and Sharon may be right in that assessment. Between traditional television, cable, and satellite services, and the increased popularity of online streaming, it seems that feature films are losing their appeal, especially when the cost of theater tickets and snacks are averaged into the monthly budget.

“Good film parts are less and less common, because the studios have less and less grip on how to bring people to film,” Ms. Stone told The Wrap. “They’ve used tentpole movies to such a degree that they’ve wiped out their own business. The film industry has kind of wiped itself out.”

Ms. Stone added that she was intrigued by Agent X, particularly because of the way it exposes the vice president to the public. Sharon commented that we don’t see much of the vice president, even in real life, except for the swearing in ceremony. Once he (or, in this case, she) vows to “protect the nation against enemies both foreign and domestic,” that’s generally the last that the American public sees of the second highest officer in the government.

“I like the idea of bringing politics and the current climate of so much crime into the home in this kind of family, popcorn way,” Stone says. “Particularly while having a woman in the White House.”

Basic Instinct Star Sharon Stone Cried For Equal Pay

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Sharon Stone has long been an advocate of women’s rights, whether those rights concerned female reproduction or fair treatment in the workplace, but Ms. Stone recently revealed she was much more than an advocate. Sharon is a victim. Stone says that no one wanted to pay her, following her Basic Instinct success.

“I remember sitting in my kitchen with my manager and just crying and saying I’m not going to work until I get paid,” Stone told People magazine. “I still got paid so much less than any men.”

The Agent X star added that change should be uniform across the country, not just in Hollywood, with women in all professions earning the same as their male counterparts. Before the Agent X actress made her way up the Hollywood ladder, Sharon says that she waited tables and scrubbed floors, so Stone speaks from experience, when she says that equal pay needs to be enforced.

“More than 50% of marriages end in divorce and the women are working and taking care of their kids and that’s how it goes and you have to say ‘Yes’ because you have to feed your children,” Ms. Stone says of women taking lesser pay. “It’s a sort of economic blackmail.”

Agent X, starring Jeff Hephner and John Shea, alongside Sharon Stone, airs Sundays on TNT.

[Featured image by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]