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One of the biggest hits of 1992, Basic Instinct was sold as Michael Douglas’s return to Fatal Attraction territory, but its success owed to an alchemy of three other creatives: a writer (Joe Eszterhas) who was driven to become the highest-paid scribe in movies; a director (Paul Verhoeven) who was determined to redefine the amount of sex considered acceptable in a Hollywood movie; and a female lead (Sharon Stone) who had waited a long time for her breakout role, and finally found it in a bisexual murderess with the sheen of a Hitchcock blonde. We’ll talk about all of that, detailing the extremely messy production that was protested by LGBT activists – and its screenwriter – virtually from beginning to end, and examine Basic Instinct as a collision of toxicity and commerce that was emblematic of just-pre-Clinton era.
SHOW NOTES:
Sources:
“The Letter That’s Shaking Hollywood by Nina J. Easton, LA Times, Oct. 19, 1989
“Carolco Buys Joe Eszterhas Script for Record $3 Million” by Nina J. Easton, LA Times, June 26, 1990
“Scripters Win New Muscle With Old Formulas.” by Peter Bart, Variety, July 11, 1990
“Dishing with Sharon” by Marilyn Grabowski, Playboy, July 1990
“Eszterhas vs.Verhoeven” by Nina J. Easton, LA Times, August 23, 1990
“The Regal Rogue of Hollywood” by William R. Katovsky, Winter 1990/1991
“Women on Warpath Over ‘Base’ Instinct” NEW YORK Magazine, January 21, 1991
Sharon Stone / Pearl Jam on Saturday Night Live (S17 E17), April 11, 1992
“Gays Bashing ‘Basic Instinct’” by David J. Fox and Donna Rosenthal, LA Times, April 29, 1991
“31 Protestors Busted at SF Basic Location” by Jim Harwood, May 1, 1991
“20 Arrested for Protesting Instinct’” The Hollywood Reporter, May 1, 1991
“Basic Protest Poorly Attended” by Marc Berman, Variety, June 10, 1991
“Say it Aint So, Joe!” by Lynn Hirschberg, Vanity Fair, August 1991
“Sharon Stone: Wild Thing” Movieline via lebeauleblog, January, 1992
“Blood And Lust” by Kenneth Turan, LA Times, March 20, 1992
“Film: Sadomasochism and the Meaning of Life”’ Julie Salamon, Wall Street Journal, March 20, 1992
“Basic Instinct” by Rita Kempley, Washington Post, March 20, 1992
“The Sympathetic Sinner” by Nancy Griffin, Premiere, April 1992
“The Pleasure Principle” by Dan Zevin, Us Magazine, August 1992
From the US Weekly “Sex” issue, August 1992:“The Ratings Game” by Peter Travers; “Tales from the Sheets“ by Jeffrey Ressner; “Dirty Directing” by Lawrence Frascella; “The Pleasure Principle” by Dan Zevin
“Sharon Stone” by David Sheff, Playboy December 1992
“Stone Goddess” by Kevin Sessums, Vanity Fair, April 1993
“Sharon Stone, Untamed” by Stephen Rebello. Movieline, June 1993
“Not Your Average Joe” by Maureen Orth, Vanity Fair, April 1996
“Sharon Stone Readies ''Basic Instinct 2'' by Gary Susman, Entertainment Weekly, September 10, 2004
Hollywood Animal: A Memoir by Joe Eszterhas, January 27, 2004
The Beauty of Living Twice by Sharon Stone, March 30, 2021
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Sharon Stone, 1991
Music:
The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.
Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:
Ewa Valley - Cloud Harbor
Launch Code - Kittyhawk
Vengeful - Warmbody
Floating Whist - Aeronaut
Gaddy - Little Rock
Gusty Hollow - Migration
Jat Poure - The Sweet Hots
Mknt - Simple Machines
Our Only Lark - Bitters
Maisie Dreamer - Nursery
Lick Stick - Nursery
Four Cluster - Fornax
Junca - Orange Cat
Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, 1992
Credits:
This episode was written, narrated, and produced by Karina Longworth.
Our editor this season is Evan Viola.
Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.
Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.
Logo design: Teddy Blanks.
Activist Ada Bello protesting Basic Instinct's portrayal of LGBT characters