Stone stages a TV ‘Huff’
Sharon Stone, an Emmy winner last year for “The Practice,” has signed on to a new TV gig in the Showtime series “Huff.”
Stone will appear in at least two episodes of the series’ second season, which is scheduled to begin filming in the coming weeks for a 2006 premiere. She’ll be playing a powerful PR executive who retains lawyer Russell Tupper (Oliver Platt) after an audit uncovers questionable billing of some of her clients, all of whom have political beliefs counter to her own.
“Huff” stars Hank Azaria (“Spamalot,” “The Simpsons”) as Dr. Craig Huffstodt, a psychologist whose patients’ issues sometimes pale in comparison to his own. Platt plays his best friend; the show also stars Paget Brewster, Blythe Danner, Anton Yelchin and Andy Comeau.
Critics were mostly favorable to the series, and Showtime is giving it a substantial Emmy push. However, with a crowded field in the drama categories and not very wide exposure – the show’s first season averaged less than a million viewers – it could be an uphill push.
Stone won an Emmy for outstanding guest actress last year for her work as an unbalanced attorney on “The Practice.” She also has an Oscar nomination, for “Casino,” to her credit. She’ll next be seen in the Jim Jarmusch movie “Broken Flowers,” which stars Bill Murray, and is at work on a sequel to “Basic Instinct.”