Sharon Stone Gets Into a Catfight With Catwoman

Enduring beauty Sharon Stone portrays supermodel Laurel Hedare, the megalomaniacal cosmetics magnate, and Catwoman's worthy nemesis, in Warner Bros.' new action-adventure "Catwoman."

Starring Halle Berry, "Catwoman" is the story of Patience Philips, a graphic artist who is murdered when she finds out a dark secret about the cosmetics company she works for, Hedarel Beauty, which is a front for criminal exploits of the husband (Lambert Wilson) and wife (Stone) team that run it. Patience is brought back to life, however, by an Egyptian Mao cat who is indebted to Patience for saving its life.

"Hedare represents those cosmetics companies that prey upon women's insecurities," says producer Denise Di Novi. "The message is that you have to look younger and you have to be perfect. Catwoman finds out that this company is planning something evil, and decides that she has to put a stop to it - by any means necessary."

However, Laurel Hedare is facing problems of her own. While she has been the iconic face of the company for many years, her husband and co-owner of the firm, has recently decided that she is getting too old to represent a business that hinges on making women believe that they need to look younger to be attractive. He has demanded that Laurel step down to make way for her 22-year-old replacement - in more ways than one. But Laurel isn't one to go quietly, and she knows a thing or two about revenge.

"Herself a former model, Sharon is so strong and has such a powerful persona," says Di Novi. "She's perfect in the role of a woman who represents the ideal beauty and also wields a lot of power in a corporate environment."

"I enjoyed playing this part because I get 'the joke' about Laurel," says Stone of her obsessively vain character. "I will not go around saying I'm 35, because I just don't believe in that. But Laurel does bow to the pressure from society to stay young at all costs,- 'to be more' as the Hedare slogan says. I really like what this movie has to say about finding out who you are and then giving yourself the power to just be yourself. No more, no less, just yourself."

Costume designer Angus Strathie's time was spent combing racks for designer clothes in which to wrap Sharon Stone for her role as the fanatically fashionable Laurel Hedare. "Sharon is as chic and stylish as her character is," says Strathie, "so it was a lot of fun shopping with her to find just the right clothes for her alter-ego. Luckily, Sharon is very knowledgeable about fashion, she knows what she likes to wear and she's incredibly creative. She loves to mix and match and brought a lot of her own fashion sense to the film, which serviced the character very effectively."

"I wanted Laurel to give the impression that she can't be too rich or too thin," says Stone, "so there's an almost surreal sort of void feel to my look. I've got some great Hermes bags, Jimmy Choo shoes and Fendi gave us some beautiful furs. Laurel has no conscience about anything, so she's wild about fur. She's just a big design slave and it was fabulous fun playing dress up with her!"

Opening on July 28 across the Philippines, "Catwoman" is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Entertainment Company.

Ref: Jay Gonzales, jaygonzaleswarner@hotmail.com

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