Sharon Stone ‘Goes Batshit Crazy’ As Nobody 2’s Novel Villain

After the explosive action delivered in Nobody, the sequel demanded a solemn foe for Bob Odenkirk’s Hutch. In Ilya Naishuller’s 2021 original, Odenkirk’s family man relished in unleashing the brutal government hitman he’d long buried inside him after a home invasion tapped his inner badass. Now, in Nobody 2, from cult Indonesian action director Timo Tjahjanto, Hutch simply wants to go on holiday with his wife and kids. Except – wouldn’t you know it! – their chosen resort is also a wretched hive of scum and villainy, one that brings Hutch’s violent tendencies back out to play. And his nemesis, this time, is a Hollywood legend.

Enter Sharon Stone as the lethal Lendina, ready to raise some hell. “She’s like a snake,” Tjahjanto tells Empire. “Sometimes she plays it calm and sometimes she just goes batshit crazy!” The director first had Stone in mind as a long-shot – but it turned out she was game to crank up the mayhem. “I thought we could never get Sharon Stone,” he explains. “We sent a script and a couple of days later I was sitting on her couch, telling her about this character. She was like, ‘Alright, Timo, I’m fucking in.’ It was surreal.”

For Stone herself, it was a chance to engage with the sort of role she hasn’t played in decades, coming 20 years after she experienced a life-changing stroke. “I literally did not know, ‘Do I still have her in me?’,” she admits. “‘Am I going to be able to come in here and make people believe that I can be this ass-kicking hyper-villain?’” As it turned out, the answer was a resounding yes – a worthy combatant for Odenkirk, himself no stranger to bouncing back from life-changing medical conditions. “She’s in great shape, and she can fight, and she can push you around,” he says of Stone. “And she’s powerful. She never stops thinking. She might as well be a 22-year-old comedy writer, for all the thoughts and ideas going through her head.” Buckle up: Sharon Stone is about to come roaring back.

Read Empire’s full Nobody 2 feature – speaking to Timo Tjahjanto, Bob Odenkirk, Sharon Stone and more – in the Tron: Ares issue, on sale Thursday 3 July. Pre-order a copy online here. Nobody 2 comes to UK cinemas from 15 August.