Sharon Stone’s Surprise Appearance during Sam Smith SNL performance
The inaugural broadcast of Saturday Night Live in 2023 aired last night, and it was packed with memorable guest stars. Aubrey Plaza, actress of The White Lotus, presented the evening with Sam Smith as the musical guest, reliving her days as an NBC page and even reuniting with Parks and Recreation co-star Amy Poehler. Poehler’s visit was understandable given her relationship to Plaza, but one other guest star left SNL viewers extremely delighted. Iconic actor Sharon Stone, famed for films including Basic Instinct and Casino, made a surprise appearance during Sam Smith’s performance of “Gloria.” It’s possible that this is completely unrelated, but it really makes sense…
In addition to being the name of the lead single from Smith’s next album, “Gloria” is also the name of a film from 1999 that was directed by Sidney Lumet and was a remake of John Cassavetes’ 1980 film of the same name. Stone was a star in Lumet’s adaptation, so it seems sense that Smith would have sought her for their performance. The new Gloria was mostly ignored by audiences. There are presently 14% negative critic reviews and 30% positive audience reviews for the film available on Rotten Tomatoes. In fact, Stone was nominated for a Razzie for his work on the picture. Stone received an Oscar nomination for her role in Casino, which was released a few years before Gloria. Stone made an additional appearance in a sketch with Plaza towards the conclusion of the performance, in addition to her cameo during Smith’s song. Some of the tweets on her SNL appearances are included here.
@alicentwaynes tweeted “Idk why but the Sam Smith SNL performance with Sharon Stone was the most surreal and satisfying thing I’ve seen all week. Was it camp? Was it insane? Who cares. It was memorable and that’s all that matters lol.”
“Wasn’t expecting Sam Smith to bring out Sharon Stone for a hymnal performance art moment that reminded me of Hereditary,” @jcav_ commented.