Stone Shows Riviera A-Class Charm

CANNES, France — The Co^te d’Azur is crawling with A-list talent.

The tiny Winona Ryder, wearing miniature black jeans and sneakers, chats with the sleek, sad-eyed Rufus Sewell at a party at the Ho^tel du Cap. Ralph Fiennes and Liv Tyler show up in suits (his, linen; hers, pinstripe) at a seaside cocktail party to promote their drama, “Eugene Onegin.” Sigourney Weaver and Lena Olin, who like Ryder are jurors at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival, sip champagne at one of the Riviera’s best restaurants.

But over the past few days, one actress has shined brighter than the rest. Whether taking charge of a lively press conference to promote “The Mighty,” the Miramax film about a friendship between two misfit boys in which she stars, or hosting a ritzy charity auction to raise money for AIDS research, Sharon Stone has been every inch a movie star in the old-fashioned sense. It’s her job, and she takes it seriously.

Let Johnny Depp slouch and mumble. Let Farrah Fawcett fail to show up at a photo call. That’s not Stone’s style. While some other actors here treat the throngs of fans and media like irritants that must be endured, Stone embraces them.

“I feel I work for my fans. When I come down the stairs in my house, I think, ‘My fans bought this house for me,’ ” she says. And to make sure they keep on adoring her, she gives them what they want. In a single day here, she changes clothes four times, ensuring that the photographers who shadow her get several shots of her in outfits ranging from the elegant to the risque. When interviewers inquire, she gives as good as she gets.

At a huge press conference earlier this week, when asked what she did to earn her producing credit on “The Mighty,” she was frank: “I get the money. I have an ability to do that.” Asked if she and her new husband, San Francisco Examiner executive editor Phil Bronstein, have plans to have children, she was playful.

“You know,” she said, “we just have sex constantly.”

She is often funny. After a particularly cloying American reporter prefaced a question by announcing to the crowded room that he once met Stone and asked her to dance, she smiled politely. But when the next journalist, this one Scottish, introduced himself with a dry “We’ve never danced,” her eyes shone.

“Well, get up here then!” she said, coaxing the stunned Scotsman onto the stage for a little sashaying. Later, when she said her next challenge was to try acting in a comedy, it was not hard to imagine her pulling it off.

Watch her work the room at a benefit for the American Foundation for AIDS Research, whose campaign she chairs. Standing on the stage during an auction of Bulgari jewelry and other enormously expensive items, she charms the wealthy and beautiful guests into opening their checkbooks by playing off her sex-pot image.

She clips a pair of diamond-studded earrings to the decolletage of her spangly, spaghetti-strapped gown (“It’s going to take some big money to get them off here,” she purrs). They go for $80,000. When bidding on an 18-carat gold and sapphire ring stalls at $42,000, she puts it on and walks through the crowd.

“Don’t tell me no,” she coos. It sells for $90,000. “Pass some champagne. I think everybody’s looking a little parched,” she says, modeling a necklace that is encrusted with emeralds and rubies.

“If you have to be encrusted with something, I think this is the way to go,” she says flirtatiously. It goes for $100,000.

The most anticipated item is yet to come. Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein, a co-sponsor of the event, has persuaded Elton John and Ringo Starr to perform one song--for the right price, that is. Stone starts the bidding at $5,000. Weinstein trumps her with $25,000. Someone offers $40,000 if Weinstein will sing backup vocals. “For $50,000,” Stone says, “I’ll dance!”

The bidding tops out at $70,000. Elton and Ringo lead a spirited version of “Great Balls of Fire,” while Stone shimmies and Weinstein croons. The number is so well-received, someone ponies up $100,000 for an encore: “Twist and Shout.”

“I guess I’m still the go-go girl,” Stone says.

During dinner later, as she dutifully visits each of the 30 or so tables to say hello, she reveals that the event raised more than $1 million. She’s still looking luminous, though a little beat.

“I just took off my shoes,” she says, smiling looking down at her bare feet. “I really recommend it.”