Last month came the news that screenwriter Joe Eszterhas is writing an “anti-woke” reboot of his blockbuster 1992 erotic thriller Basic Instinct for Amazon MGM Studios, and while it wasn’t clear at the time what form this might take, it seems we can safely rule out a return from Sharon Stone to round out the Catherine Tramell trilogy.
Despite (or should that be because of?) being convinced to return for the lambasted 2006 sequel Basic Instinct 2, Stone flat out dismissed the prospect of returning to her breakout role when asked by Today (via Dark Horizons) about her potential involvement with the reboot:
“If it goes the way the one I was in went, then I would just say I do not know why you would do it,” said Stone, who can currently be seen as the villain opposite Bob Odenkirk in Nobody 2. “Go ahead. Good fucking luck!”
Directed by Paul Verhoeven from Eszterhas’ script, Basic Instinct saw Sharon Stone playing author and potential serial killer Catherine Tramell, who sets her sights on Michael Douglas’ Detective Nick Curran during an investigation into the murder of her rock star boyfriend. The film was a huge success, launching Stone to stardom and kickstarting a renewed interest in the erotic thriller genre. Douglas sat out the 2006 sequel, which was hammered by audiences and critics and tanked at the box office.
SEE ALSO: 10 Great Forgotten Erotic Thrillers You Need To See
With Stone ruling herself out and Michael Douglas having recently announced his retirement, it would seem that Eszterhas will need to start from scratch with this new reboot, for which he’s reportedly receiving a bumper $4 million payday from Amazon. Whether the audience appetite matches the streamer’s spend, we shall see…
