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Sharon Stone said her iconic and controversial interrogation scene from Basic Instinct now seems “very ordinary” compared to today’s racy films.
The 66-year-old actress played the seductive Catherine Tramell in the 1992 film. In the famous scene, the prime suspect is questioned by police, including Michael Douglas.
As Catherine peppers them with questions, she distracts them by spreading her legs and then crossing them again, confusing the men as she was not wearing any underwear at the time.
The star appeared at the Taormina Film Festival and said – per Deadline – that the scene was considered X-rated at the time, but that it wouldn’t be as shocking today.
She said:'[at the time] It seemed like a scandal, and now it seems very, very normal.
Sharon Stone said her iconic and controversial interrogation scene in Basic Instinct now seems “very ordinary” compared to today’s racy films
The 66-year-old actress played the seductive Catherine Tramell in the 1992 film. In the famous scene where the prime suspect is being questioned by police, Catherine distracts the officers when she spreads and recrosses her legs, confusing the men, as she was not wearing any underwear at the time.
‘I think now that women are writing, directing, producing, filming and increasingly playing a role in filmmaking, films are less about men writing films about their fantasies about the way women are.
“And actresses are less asked to act out the male fantasy, and critics are less asked to tell us whether we’ve fulfilled the male fantasy or not. It’s more, are we fulfilling the human condition?”
Looking back on the changes in cinema over the past 30 years, she said: ‘Studio systems have changed dramatically.
‘They’ve gone from making all sorts of movies to making huge $100 million and $200 million movies.
‘Thirty years ago we could choose from different types of films.
“Streamers are taking over our business, and I don’t think that’s a terrible thing. I think we’re going to start making smaller films and more diverse films again, and I think that’s a good thing.”
Despite the moment making Sharon an overnight sensation, the Academy Award nominee has maintained in the past that she was “tricked” into exposing herself for the cameras.
In her memoir The Beauty of Living Twice, Sharon described angrily slapping her director Paul Verhoeven and walking out of a preview of the erotic thriller after discovering that his assurances that the film would not make it to screens had been a lie and that audiences could watch — as she put it — “all the way to Nebraska.”
The 1992 film starred Michael Douglas as Nick Curran, a disgraced detective, and Stone as Catherine, a wealthy heiress who Curran believes murdered her ex.
During her appearance at the Taormina Film Festival, the star said – according to Deadline – that while the scene was considered X-rated at the time, it would have lost its shock factor today. She said: ‘[at the time] it seemed like a scandal, and now it seems very, very normal’
Verhoeven has strongly denied her claims that she was surprised by the crossed-legged scene.
He said, ‘Every actress knows what she’s going to see if you ask her to take off her underwear and point the camera at it.’
But the Hollywood veteran is also adamant that she has no regrets about making the film.