'Nobody on set spoke English,' she had said: Kurtlar Vadisi screenwriter Bahadır Özdener responds to Sharon Stone's remarks

World-renowned U.S. actress Sharon Stone's remarks on the TRT World program 'Turkish Tea Talk' regarding her experience during the filming of the episode of the series 'Kurtlar Vadisi' where she and Andy Garcia appeared as guest stars have become a topic of public discussion.

The series' screenwriter, Bahadır Özdener, responded to Stone.

'LET ALONE NOT SPEAKING ENGLISH...'

Addressing Stone's claim that no one on the team spoke English, Bahadır Özdener emphasized that they worked with an American crew and that lead actor Necati Şaşmaz speaks "advanced English," stating the following:

"I wanted to provide some information: We had reached an agreement for Andy Garcia and Sharon Stone to act in the series for the final episodes of Kurtlar Vadisi, and we went to California-Los Angeles in December 2005 to carry out these shoots.

While this situation made headlines all over the world, the fact that a Turkish production company had achieved this—with two A-list stars acting in a TV series for the first time—also drew attention. While the relevant episodes of Kurtlar Vadisi received great interest, they also broke their own viewership records.

1) During the filming in Los Angeles-Beverly Hills, the entire crew, with the exception of director Serdar Akar (the cinematographer, gaffer, art director, production manager, etc.), were AMERICAN, let alone not speaking English. The best crews in Los Angeles were mobilized for this job.

2) Necati Şaşmaz speaks advanced English and lived abroad for many years.

3) When the contracts were made with Andy Garcia and Sharon Stone's agencies, the entire script text was included in the contract in English.

4) All three actors delivered superior performances in the scene. Those who are curious can open and watch episodes 96 and 97 of Kurtlar Vadisi.

5) Andy Garcia later came to Istanbul for Kurtlar Vadisi Pusu and took part in the series again..."

WHAT HAD SHE SAID?

Regarding her guest appearance on Kurtlar Vadisi in 2014, Stone had said, "Nobody spoke English, it was the most luxurious set I've ever seen. We didn't know what we were doing, I was looking at Andy. It was as if he had no idea what was going on either. Nobody understood us, we read the lines, and there was a response from the other side... But we didn't understand anything about what the story was."