(CNN)Sharon Stone has opened up about the "iconography" associated with Meryl Streep, adding that she feels she is a "much better" screen villain than the three-time Oscar-winner.
In an interview with the website Zoomer, Stone was asked a question about "finally" getting to work with Streep, whom she starred alongside in the 2019 film "The Laundromat."
Stone stopped the interviewer, Johanna Schneller, partway through her question, replying: "I like the way you phrase that, that I finally got to work with Meryl Streep," she says. "You didn't say, 'Meryl finally got to work with Sharon Stone.' Or we finally got to work together."
"Because that's the way her life went, she got built up to be, 'Everyone wants to work with Meryl,'" Stone continued. "I wonder if she likes that?"
The star questioned why women are so often pitted against each other in Hollywood.
"The business was set up that we should all envy and admire Meryl because only Meryl got to be the good one. And everyone should compete against Meryl. I think Meryl is an amazingly wonderful woman and actress. But in my opinion, quite frankly, there are other actresses equally as talented as Meryl Streep. The whole Meryl Streep iconography is part of what Hollywood does to women."
The star continued to list other actresses she believed were in the same league as Streep.
"Viola Davis is every bit the actress Meryl Streep is. Emma Thompson. Judy Davis. Olivia Colman. Kate Winslet, for f**k's sake. But you say Meryl and everybody falls on the floor," she said.
The "Basic Instinct star" continued: "I'm a much better villain than Meryl," adding "and I'm sure she'd say so. Meryl was not gonna be good in Basic Instinct or in Casino."
"I would be better. And I know it. And she knows it," Stone said.
While Stone's thoughts attracted some negative comments on Twitter, many agreed with her.
CNN has reached out to both actresses' representatives for comment.
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