Sharon Stone is listening to her instincts about the impending reboot of her biggest film.
The Oscar-nominated actor is well aware of the impending “Basic Instinct” remake, but learned only during an interview Wednesday about the age of its screenwriter, Joe Eszterhas, and quipped that his reboot of the erotic thriller couldn’t possibly surpass its original.
“How old is Joe Eszterhas?” Stone asked and then searched the question on Google, per Variety. “Oh, he’s 81. So I bet he’s really an expert on what’s sexy.””
The acclaimed screenwriter did pen the original, which centered on a femme fatale played by Stone named Catherine Tramell, an author who uses the same murder methods as the characters in her novels to claim as an alibi that she would be stupid to do so.
The reboot announced last summer is reportedly being planned as an “anti-woke” reimagining, according to an insider source who spoke to The Wrap. Eszterhas reportedly reached a $2 million deal with Amazon MGM Studios to write the remake.
He was apparently quite aware of the ageist backlash to his contract at the time.
“To those who question what an 80-year-old man is doing writing a sexy, erotic thriller: the rumors of my cinematic impotence are exaggerated and ageist,” he told The Wrap in July. “I call my writing partner the TWISTED LITTLE MAN, and he lives somewhere deep inside me.”
Eszterhas continued at the time, “He was born 29, and he will die 29, and he tells me he is ‘sky high up’ to write this piece and provide viewers with a wild and orgasmic ride. That makes me very happy.”
Columbia TriStar/Getty Images)
“Basic Instinct” made Stone a Hollywood star and cemented co-star Michael Douglas as the go-to leading man for erotic thrillers of its time. Stone went on to star opposite Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s “Casino” (1994), calling him “the best kisser in the business.”
Stone was essentially forced to halt her career in 2001 when she suffered a stroke and brain bleed that she said nearly ended her existence as an actor. She has also claimed that the lurid subject matter of “Basic Instinct” was responsible for her child custody loss in 2004.
The Paul Verhoeven film openly traffics in loose sex, rampant drug use and brutal murder, making the idea of an “anti-woke” version understandably difficult to interpret for fans of the original. Stone is currently promoting her new film “In Memoriam” opposite Marc Maron.
