The Flight Attendant's Kaley Cuoco Dishes On Getting Slapped By Sharon Stone

Kaley Cuoco may never totally escape the fame she earned from her role in "The Big Bang Theory," but she is certainly putting forth quite the effort at establishing herself in a role decidedly different from that of Penny Hofstadter. Three years after saying goodbye to Sheldon and the rest of the crew, Cuoco is the star and executive producer of "The Flight Attendant," a dark drama with a hint of comedy on HBO. In the series, Cuoco plays a boozy flight attendant whose partying ways get her into all sorts of trouble — and when we say "trouble," we mean "waking up next to a dead man in a fancy hotel and not knowing how he was murdered" kind of trouble.

During an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Cuoco told the story of how "Basic Instinct" star Sharon Stone requested to join the cast of the series in the role of her character's mother. According to Cuoco, her dedication to the craft and Stone's sixth sense for what makes a good scene led to some brilliant improvisation that stunned everyone on set.

According to Cuoco, it all started with Stone asking if it would be ok to add some physical contact during a particularly emotionally charged scene. Cuoco approved of the touching but probably wasn't entirely aware of what she had just agreed to. When Stone surprised her — and everyone else on set — by slapping her co-star hard across the face, the production crew reacted with stunned silence. But Cuoco was thrilled.

During the interview, Cuoco recalled thinking to herself, "We got the money take, that's [Stone's] Emmy win right there." However, it's not entirely clear which take wound up in the final product. According to Cuoco, she and Stone played the scene a total of three different times, each take accompanied by an equally hard slap from the legendary actress. Notably, Cuoco reported that Stone even fully committed to the slap in a final take where the camera wasn't focused on Cuoco's face, something that may seem unnecessary, but surely added a hefty dose of realism.

While we're still not sure this slap outranks this year's other much-talked-about slap, it certainly sounds like Stone and Cuoco made a meaningful connection nonetheless. The new season of "The Flight Attendant" premieres on HBO Max on Thursday, April 21.