Sharon Stone revealed how she was misled about the “Basic Instinct” scene released in 1992 and was asked to remove her underwear. The actress opened up about her career and challenges in her upcoming memoir, “The Beauty of Living Twice.”
In an excerpt from her memoir, Stone reflected on being a “difficult” woman in Hollywood, the predatory directors, and her most iconic role.
Stone recalled being called to see the finished movie, “Not on my own with the director, as one would anticipate…but with a room full of agents and lawyers, most of whom had nothing to do with the project.”
“That was how I saw my vagina-shot for the first time, long after I’d been told, ‘We can’t see anything — I just need you to remove your panties, as the white is reflecting the light, so we know you have panties on,'” she wrote. “Yes, there have been many points of view on this topic, but since I’m the one with the vagina, in question, let me say: The other points of view are bullsh-t.”
“Now, here is the issue. It didn’t matter anymore. It was me and my parts up there. I had decisions to make,” she continued. “I went to the projection booth, slapped [director] Paul [Verhoeven] across the face, left, went to my car, and called my lawyer, Marty Singer. Marty told me that they could not release this film as it was. That I could get an injunction.”
She claimed her lawyer told her that according to the Screen Actors Guild “it wasn’t legal to shoot up my dress in this fashion.”
“After the screening, I let Paul know of the options Marty had laid out for me. Of course, he vehemently denied that I had any choices at all,” she wrote. “I was just an actress, just a woman; what choices could I have?”
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Meanwhile, in another part of the excerpt, Stone also claimed how creators used to pressure her to have s-x with her co-stars.
“I’ve had other producers on other films just come to my trailer and ask, “So, are you going to fuck him, or aren’t you? … You know it would go better if you did.” I take my time and explain that I am like the nice girl they grew up with, and get them to recall that girl’s name. This leaves us all with a little bit of our dignity,” she explained.
“S-x, not just sexuality onscreen, has long been expected in my business. I do not in any way think that this is about my business, particularly. I have seen my mother in a rage because some man pushed her up against the filing cabinets at my dad’s factory,” she added. “I have heard her in the kitchen, saying, “I told that bastard to back the fuck up before I stick him in the neck.” Then we all laugh at her and with her. But I know how scared she felt.”
“My father used to call me back from playtime in our giant yard, take me aside, and, putting his hand on my shoulder, say, “You are letting those boys beat you so that they will like you. Now, go out there and win, and they will respect you,” she said.
“My work reflects the times when I did have the opportunity to collaborate with the good and great directors, and I sat at their feet, learning everything I could for the times ahead,” she concluded. “For I was not the chosen one, not the golden gal, just the sex symbol who could sometimes get the key part if she also happened to be sexy.”
