'Basic Instinct' turns 30: today you could not see that leg crossing in the cinema
In 1992, Paul Verhoeven's Basic Instinct caused a stir. One that would forever change the way of understanding female characters in Hollywood. Also, a long and extensive debate on the exploitation of s-xuality, provocation and scandal as an art form.
Thirty years after its premiere, Basic Instinct continues to be the center of an uncomfortable debate in the history of cinema. This is the movie that made Sharon Stone a star, and the great s-x symbol of the 1990s. For the same reason, the film opens an uncomfortable debate about exploitation, the direct use of scandal as publicity, and confrontation. Could such a film be released today? Could even the main points of the erotic thriller be debated without causing a scandal among today's great sensitive debates?
These are unavoidable questions, especially as Basic Instinct has gone from controversial to uncomfortable. From Sharon Stone's complaints about being virtually tricked by director Paul Verhoeven into filming explicit scenes to the backstory of the script. Everything seems designed to be a source of confrontation. Of course, it was the time when the erotic advanced steadily but steadily in commercial cinema. At the same time, Verhoeven, who had already shocked the audience with the brutal Robocop, was now reaching a new point in his provocation.
So Basic Instinct became more than just a controversial movie. With the crossing of legs of Sharon Stone for the story, and her perverse classic aura, it reaches three decades after its premiere in the midst of the debate. Why is Verhoeven's conception of female characters in Hollywood so attractive and harsh? How much is myth and how much is true in everything that surrounds the film? With its twisted debate stature, every element of Basic Instinct is a look at culture. Not just from the 1990s, but today.
The daring of an unknown actress
By 1992, director Paul Verhoeven was synonymous with a provocative and extreme type of cinema whose controversy preceded him. On the other hand, Michael Douglas had become a star with the harsh Fatal Attraction (1987) by Adrian Lyne. A project that included both became something of a challenge for Hollywood. Especially with a perverse, erotic and uncomfortable story that few studios were willing to produce.
Basic Instinct was a tricky script, which worried several industry executives. The story of a bis-xual writer who murdered with impunity and used her s-xuality to manipulate scandalized and interested in equal measure. The big question was whether a film that bordered on the explicit in more than one way could be turned into a commercial work.
After all, movies with adult ratings were still a challenge as an economic investment. On the other hand, there was the most complicated problem of all. What actress would be capable of playing the fearsome, violent and s-xually aggressive Catherine Tramell? It was not an easy role. In fact, it was one that required a complicated type of daring required of the highest-paid and most recognizable actresses in Hollywood. Years later, Verhoeven would admit that one of the most difficult points in the production of Basic Instinct was finding the right actress. "The n-dity was the problem," the Dutch director would say.
In the midst of such discussion Stone, with the ambition of a budding celebrity and determined to succeed, became the immediate choice.
In fact, the entire AAA list of the industry rejected the female role in the film. Kim Basinger, Melanie Griffith, Demi Moore, Michelle Pfeiffer, Julia Roberts and Debra Winger flatly refused to play the killer. So Verhoeven took an impossible risk. “What could happen if you hire an unknown actress?” He says that he suggested to the producers. Paul Verhoeven knew the ideal candidate. A very young Sharon Stone whom the director had directed in Total Challenge two years earlier.
In the midst of such discussion Stone, with the ambition of a budding celebrity and determined to succeed, became the immediate choice. Of course, it was a leap into the void. The role required frontal n-dity, explicit s-x scenes and the great taboo of the time: s-x scenes between women.
But Stone didn't seem shocked or worried. She seemed more uncomfortable because of the rejection that she immediately showed Michael Douglas, who insisted "she was not the actress he expected" for the role. In fact, the antipathy between the two was so direct and uncomfortable that she ended up becoming a central point of the film. The tension between both actors was evident on screen and an essential element to understand the relationship between their characters.
A daring risk that cost dearly
Basic Instinct became one of the highest-grossing films of 1992. It also opened the Cannes Film Festival and shocked the sophisticated audience. And the reason was not his bawdy argument or accusations of homophobia. It was one scene in particular: Sharon Stone's already iconic leg crossing in the movies.
The actress, dressed in a tube skirt, was n-ked under her clothes. The historic five minutes in the cinema baffled the public
Those were difficult times for cinema focused on a more adult audience than the one that usually interests Hollywood. According to Michael Douglas for the documentary Dismantling Instincts by Jacinto Carvalho, the industry had become "conservative." So Verhoeven's premise surprised and displeased in equal measure. Especially since Joe Eszterhas' script was bold and "lacked moral boundaries." Of course, such a production took time to find producers willing to take the risk. Finally it was Carolco (responsible for Terminator 2) who was responsible for bringing it to the screen.
But beyond the story, it was her emblematic scene that made her the subject of debate and discussion. In the sequence, Sharon Stone's character is in the middle of an interrogation with a group of police officers. That's when she crosses her legs slowly and noticeably. The actress, dressed in a tube skirt, was n-ked under her clothes. The historic five minutes in theaters baffled audiences, angered women's rights groups and made Stone a star.
Thirty years of Basic Instinct
After three decades, Basic Instinct continues to provoke debate. Sharon Stone now insists that Verhoeven tricked her into filming the scene. The film is considered misogynistic and homophobic. And especially, Verhoeven an abusive director capable of using his actress to foment the scandal. But beyond that, the discussion around Catherine Tramell and the film version of female characters is still relevant.
Could Basic Instinct be released today? Could it be part of something more complicated? It is probable that in the film at the present time it could not cross even the limit of the mere possibility of production. A look at the journey of cinema as an authorial act and as a reflection of pop culture.
