Expect to see a lot of Sharon Stone — and not just because she's
on a publicity blitz to promote "Basic Instinct 2." Reprising the role of ice
pick-wielding seductress Catherine Tramell simply requires a lot of nudity, she
says.
It took 14 years for the sequel of the steamy thriller to reach
theaters, and the first cuts were so steamy, they nearly garnered an NC-17
rating. While some of the spicier moments have been cut out, Stone, now 48, says
the performance has to be sexy if she's to stay true to her character.
"It's like 'The Quick and the Dead," she says. "I was a gunslinger
[in that film] and guns were [that character's] weapon. In 'Basic Instinct' 1
and 2, nudity and sex is the weapon. She's kind of like a sex-slinger and that's
clear.
"It's clear in the writing. It's clear in the character. It's
clear in the breakdown."
It wasn't so clear back in 1992, when she filmed that infamous
interrogation scene, driving co-star Michael Douglas crazy with her short dress,
suggestive leg-crossing and apparent lack of underwear.
Stone still claims director Paul Verhoeven misled her, and it took
many years for her to come to peace with all the extra exposure.
'The Horizontal Fred and Ginger of the '90s'
As Stone recalls it, Verhoeven asked her to remove her underwear,
and assured her that shadows would prevent the camera from showing too much.
"The scene was supposed to have the illusion that I did not have
on underwear," she says. "I had on a white thong and he said that light was
reflecting."
While reluctant to do so, Stone says the director showed her shots
from the video monitor so she could see that she wasn't overexposed. Still, the
final results were not what she expected.
"When I went to the theater and saw the film, you could clearly
see I was naked," she says. "I was surprised because I was misled about what was
going to happen."
"Basic Instinct" nevertheless turned Stone into a major star, and
she subsequently earned an Oscar nomination for her turn in "Casino." But the
ensuing years hardly turned out as she expected, with a string of disastrous
projects, punctuated by such duds as "Sliver," "Sphere," and "Catwoman."
