It’s time to get up, close and personal with another classic 90s movie: Paul Verhoeven’s 1992 erotic thriller, BASIC INSTINCT, starring Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas. Sharpen your ice pick and tighten your silk scarf, we’re driving down to the scene of the crime.
Molly and Chloe are joined by special guest, Amy Glass, an actor and intimacy coordinator, to uncover the film’s infamous scenes of sex, nudity and voyeurism from a 21st century perspective. What’s changed on modern film sets when it comes to actors and consent? How empowered is Sharon Stone’s ice-queen femme fatale – and what does the film say about queer women?
Plus we shine a blacklight over the movie’s best and most dated details, and lay out some recommendations for further neo-noir thrillers featuring dangerous dames and scenes of a sexual nature.
The quote at the start is from Peter Travers’ 1992 review for Rolling Stone.
Sharon Stone’s memoir covered the story of making Basic Instinct, an abridged excerpt can be read on Vanity Fair. Also check out Newsweek’s piece on Stone and Verhoeven’s differing recollections of filming the interrogation scene here, and watch Stone address it onstage at the GQ Germany awards.
Read Scott Tobias’ retrospective on 30 years of Basic Instinct for the Guardian.
Sharon Stone’s screen test can be seen here.
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