Paul Verhoeven has denied Sharon Stone’s claim she was tricked into not wearing underwear in her infamous ‘Basic Instinct’ scene.
Sharon Stone
The 63-year-old actress starred in the 1992 film as Catherine Tramell and can be seen in one scene exposing her private area as she crosses her legs in front of Michael Douglas' character Detective Nick Curran and other cops whilst she is interrogated.
And in March, Sharon claimed that a member of the production told her to remove her underwear during the scene, but reassured her that nothing would be seen on camera.
However, director Paul Verhoeven has now denied Sharon’s claims, insisting his “memory is radically different” from her account of events.
He told Variety magazine: “My memory is radically different from Sharon’s memory. That does not stand in the way and has nothing to do with the wonderful way that she portrayed Catherine Tramell. She is absolutely phenomenal.
“We still have a pleasant relationship and exchange text messages … but her version is impossible. She knew exactly what we were doing.”
Paul went on to say that he told Sharon ahead of time that the scene was based on a real-life woman who often used to cross her legs without underwear on “at parties”.
He added: “I told her it was based on a story of a woman that I knew when I was a student who did the crossing of her legs without panties regularly at parties. When my friend told her we could see her vagina, she said, ‘Of course, that’s why I do it’. Then Sharon and I decided to do a similar sequence.”
Sharon made her claims in March, when she also said she first saw the scene as she watched the movie "with a room full of agents and lawyers".
In an excerpt from her memoir 'The Beauty of Living Twice', she said: "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.'
“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 b****** ... it was me and my parts up there."
She also recalled slapping director Paul across the face before leaving and calling her lawyer Marty Singer to assess her options.
The 'Total Recall' star wrote: "It wasn't legal to shoot up my dress in this fashion.
"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. I was just an actress, just a woman; what choices could I have?
"But I did have the choices. So I thought and thought and I chose to allow this scene in the film. Why? Because it was correct for the film and for the character; and because after all, I did it."
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