Sharon Stone Speaks Up About Infamous “Basic Instinct” Scene That Made Her a Legend

When reflecting on the now-infamous leg-crossing scene from the movie Basic Instinct, Sharon Stone stated that despite having the legal right to remove it from the film, she would not have done so. “It made me an icon, but it didn’t bring me respect,” she told in an interview when discussing the controversial and pivotal moment that defined her career. After so many years, Sharon decided to open up about her real feelings about the scene and stunned fans with a totally unexpected attitude to her iconic movie moment.

1. Sharon Stone opened up about the details of the famous movie scene.

When asked about the controversial scene, Stone told in her interview, “It made me an icon, but it didn’t bring me respect.”

Adding further context to her experience with the director, Sharon Stone elaborated on the situation. 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 [Verhoeven] got it, he didn’t want to lose it, and he was scared to show me. And I get that.”

2. The actress revealed some mind-stirring details about the iconic scene.

She said once she calmed down, “I didn’t make him take it out of the movie when I had the legal right to. So I did have the chance to do it differently, and I didn’t because once I had the chance to step back, I understood, as the director, not the girl in the film, that that made the movie better.”

Stone went into more detail about her reaction in her memoir, “The Beauty of Living Twice.”

“First, at that time, this would give the film an X rating,” Stone explained. “Remember, this was 1992, not now. And, Marty said, per the Screen Actors Guild, my union, it wasn’t legal to shoot up my dress in this fashion. Whew, I thought.
After the screening, I let Paul know of the options Marty had laid out for me. Of course, he vehemently denied that I had any choices at all. I was just an actress, just a woman; what choices could I have?”

3. A conflict with her co-star eventually led to a massive onscreen chemistry.

Stone wrote that she eventually decided to let it stay in because “it was correct for the film and for the character; and because, after all, I did it.”

In fact, Stone told in her interview that she almost didn’t get the part of villainess Catherine Tramell because Michael Douglas, who played the detective investigating her, didn’t want to work with an unknown.

“Everyone they went out to would turn it down,” she said. “But the thing was, Michael Douglas did not want to put his body out on the screen with an unknown — and I understood that. He wouldn’t even test with me, but that was also for a different reason: We had an argument prior to that.” Stone said at the Cannes Film Festival before she was cast in Basic Instinct, she called him out for talking about someone she knew.

“So I said something, and he responded to me, saying, ‘What do you know?’” she said. “So he screams this at me across a whole group of people. And I’m not the person who goes, ‘Oh, excuse me, superstar.’ I pushed back my chair and said to him, ‘Let’s step outside.’ That’s how we first met.” Stone claims the tension helped their onscreen chemistry.

In a recent Instagram video, Sharon Stone confidently steps out of the pool wearing ankle weights, leaving fans in awe of her incredible fitness and energy. The video quickly gained attention, with people admiring how she maintains her strong, toned physique.