Directed by Paul Verhoeven, the 1992 film, Basic Instinct, was one of the most controversial movies of the 90s due to its over-the-top s*xual scenes and violence. Despite the entire backlash, the film went on to be a huge hit at the box office bringing in a total of $352 million worldwide, and shot Sharon Stone to stardom.
More than a decade later, it was finally time to release the film’s sequel. Basic Instinct 2 was released in 2006, fourteen years later than its predecessor. The film saw Sharon Stone reprising her role as the seductive yet manipulative writer, Catherine Tramell. The sequel lived up to its reputation regarding s*xual scenes and Sharon Stone was all for it. In fact, she wanted to go all out this time around as she pushed deleted scenes back into the film.
Sharon Stone Pushed Raunchy Scenes Into Basic Instinct 2
After filming Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction, it was finally time for those involved to take a look at the final product. While others may have been satisfied with director Michael Caton-Jones’ work, Sharon Stone was not. She was wondering where all the “crazy stuff” was gone and why did the team decide to dial the tone down. She insisted on putting them back in and hence, they had to take some things out from the final cut of the film to put the explicit scenes back in. According to Female First, Stone stated,
“I was coming from a really kinky place. I wanted more nudity. When I saw the rough cut of the film they had taken a lot of stuff out and I asked, ‘Where’s all the crazy stuff I did? What are we toning it down for?’ I said, ‘Let’s go crazy.’ So we took some things out of the film and a lot of the kinky stuff and sex went back in – you’ll see it.”
The sequel did not impress the audience as much as the first film. Looking at the two films’ Rotten Tomatoes scores, Basic Instinct has a mediocre score of 57% whereas Basic Instinct 2 could only manage to get a single-digit rating of 6%. The sequel’s box office run also couldn’t compare to its predecessor as the film made only $38.6 million worldwide.
Sharon Stone Didn’t Mind Being Nude
In an interview with MovieWeb, Stone was asked if she ever felt hesitant when it came to nudity and explicit scenes. The Casino actress replied stating that she didn’t as that was what was needed for her character.
“I don’t, because it’s so appropriate to the character. It’s the way she chooses to be manipulative. It’s one of her ways to be incredibly irritating. She uses s*x and nudity as a weapon. She’s not a gunslinger. She’s a s*x -slinger. We’ve all seen these movies where the character is supposed to be nude and the actress refuses to do it. It’s all about, to me, being in the movie completely.”
Well, there you have it. Stone was the least bit bothered when it came to going all out for the film. Despite her dedication, the sequel found itself on the receiving end of many awards, albeit they weren’t praising the film. Basic Instinct 2 won the Hall of Shame at Women Film Critics Circle Awards and Stone won Worst Actress at the Golden Raspberry Awards, among others.
You can stream Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction on Paramount+.
Source: Female First
