Assuring they are not involved in the project, a star of the originalBasic Instinctsays “good f—ing luck” on the thriller movie’s planned reboot.
The original was a huge hit back in 1992, grossing $117 million domestically ($318 million adjusted for inflation),but 2006’sBasic Instinct 2was a dud, making just $5.9 million domestically on a budget of $70 million.
19 years after the sequel flopped at the box office, someone else is taking a swing at bringing backBasic Instinct. Amazon MGM Studios’ United Artists imprinthas reportedly shelled out $2 million for the rights to the reboot, with the original movie’s screenwriter, Joe Ezsterhas, returning to pen the script.
Not returning for Amazon’sBasic Instinctreboot is Sharon Stone, who told theToday Showshe has no involvement in the movie, while mocking the notion of bringing back her character Catherine Tramell(viaThe Guardian):
If it goes the way the one that I was in went, I would just say, I don’t know why you’d do it. I mean, go ahead, but good fucking luck.
I’m at that stage where I already retired once, and I already died a couple of times. I’m like, ‘What are you gonna do? Kill me again? Go ahead.’
What This Means For The Basic Instinct Reboot
Stone has spoken extensivelyabout the controversialBasic Instinct. The most serious of her claims holds that director Paul Verhoeven used underhanded tactics in getting the movie’s famous leg-crossing shot, leading Stone to threaten legal action, as she recounts in her memoirThe Beauty of Living Twice:
After the screening, I let Paul know of the options Marty [her lawyer] 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?
Stone also claims the film’s erotic content, including the infamous interrogation scene, were used against her in a child custody fight (viaTable For Two With Bruce Bozzi):
I lost custody of my child when the judge asked my child, ‘Do you know your mother makes sex movies?’ Like this kind of abuse by the system that considered what kind of parent I was because I made that movie… people are walking around with no clothes on at all on regular tv now… maybe like 16th of a second of possible nudity of me and now I lost custody. I lost custody of my child.
Stone’s revelation that she won’t be back for theBasic Instinctreboot may be disappointing to those eager to see her play Catherine Tramell once more,but it is not surprising given her experiences working on the original movie.
Our Take On Stone Not Coming Back To Basic Instinct
Basic Instinctwould have been nothing without Stone’s unforgettable performance as novelist and suspected murderer Catherine Tramell.That director Verhoeven partially usedshady means to get that performance is regrettable, but does nothing to diminish its impact.
Stone may have been game to revisit Catherine whenBasic Instinct 2was made, in part because neither Verhoeven nor Ezsterhas were involved. That is not the case in 2025, however, as Ezsterhas returns to pen the reboot’s script.
Stone’s dismissal of the whole reboot project may mirror the feelings of the movie-going public in general, given that the originalnow ranks as something of a cult item known more for its surrounding controversy than its potential virtues as a film.
Basic Instinctwas protested by gay rights activists who objected to the film’s portrayal of a bisexual woman as a dangerous psychopath.
The originalBasic Instinctwas made at a time when an erotic thriller could gross over $100 million at the box office, especially when it starred Michael Douglas. That particular genre is no longer bankable, however, leading to inevitable skepticism over the wisdom of Amazon pursuing aBasic Instinctreboot.
Nothing about the project seems particularly appealing. Stone is therefore smart to avoid having anything to do with it. She took her pair of turns at playing Catherine Tramell, and wishes luck to whoever takes her place in a rebootedBasic Instinct.
