33 Years Later, Sharon Stone Reflects on Her Career's Most Scandalous Scene: "He Was Scared"
It's hard to find someone who hasn't seen or heard of the famous scene from Basic Instinct. Here's what Sharon Stone herself thinks about it three decades later.
Who is the danger on screen? Usually, men. However, in the early 1990s, Hollywood was swept by a wave of thrillers depicting insidious female villains.
Who started this trend? First, there was Fatal Attraction, starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close. Secondly, Basic Instinct by Paul Verhoeven, one of the most popular films of 1992, also starred Michael Douglas, this time alongside Sharon Stone.
Sharon Stone Had Regrets About the 'Basic Instinct' Interrogation Scene
The interrogation scene from Basic Instinct is one of the most explicit and controversial in Hollywood history. Stone said that Verhoeven asked her to take off her white underwear because it reflected the light. She did it because she trusted the director.
The scene made it into the final cut, bringing huge attention to the movie, while Stone has admitted in numerous interviews that she regrets it.
Later, Stone's Role in 'Basic Instinct' Was Used Against the Actress
The role was later used against Sharon Stone in her 2004 divorce case during her fight for custody of her son, Roan. Stone adopted Roan with her then-husband, Phil Bronstein, in 2000.
On the Table for Two podcast, Sharon shared:
“I lost custody of my child. When the judge asked my child – my tiny little boy: "Do you know your mother makes sex movies?" Like, this kind of abuse by the system – that I was considered what kind of parent I was, because I made that movie.”
Sharon Stone Has Let Go of All the Regret Surrounding Her Most Famous Scene
However, time has passed, and the actress is now more relaxed about the famous scene, and seems to have no regrets. In an interview with Business Insider, she said:
“I very much believe that none of us knew at the time what we were getting in regard to that shot, and when Paul got it, he didn't want to lose it, and he was scared to show me. And I get that.
Once I had time to calm down, I didn't make him take it out of the movie when I had the legal right to. [...] I understood, as the director, not the girl in the film, that that made the movie better.”
Additionally, Sharon Stone revealed that she has a wonderful relationship with director Paul Verhoeven, and that she would have starred in his project without hesitation. It seems that any conflict or feud between them is now over for good.
