Basic Instinct writer Joe Eszterhas reveals massive amount he was paid to stay away from writing sequel
The original Basic Instinct screenwriter has revealed he accepted $1.5 million to stay away from the 2006 sequel, while promising the forthcoming reboot will embrace the controversy that helped make the first film a global hit.
Joe Eszterhas has revealed he was paid $1.5 million to have “nothing to do” with the 2006 sequel to Basic Instinct.
Describing the follow-up to his controversial thriller as a “really bad” film that abandoned the qualities which made the original a global hit, Joe, 81, made the comments while discussing his return to the franchise through an upcoming reboot, more than three decades after the erotic thriller starring Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas became one of Hollywood’s defining films of the 1990s.
The screenwriter reflected on the franchise during a chat with Interview magazine as work continues on a new Basic Instinct film being developed by Scott Stuber’s United Artists banner and Amazon MGM Studios.
Looking back at the 2006 sequel, Basic Instinct 2, Joe said: “They paid me a million five to have nothing to do with it.”
He continued: “It’s easy money. Nobody said this to me, but I didn’t think they wanted to take the kind of creative chances the original did.”
Joe added: “They didn’t want controversy.
“What they did was turn it into a bland police procedural. They set it in London and the whole piece was really boring. It didn’t have any humor. It didn’t have the spice and earth and wit of the original.”
The sequel, released in 2006, was instead written by Leora Barish and Henry Bean.
Despite Joe’s criticism of that film, he confirmed he has agreed to write the screenplay for a reboot, saying audiences have continued to embrace the original over the past three decades.
He said “in the 30 years since it came out” he has gone “through a lot of Basic Instinct revivals” because audiences “just adored the f****** movie.”
Joe wrote the screenplay for the original 1992 film, which was directed by Paul Verhoeven and became both a box office success and one of the most debated releases of its era.
The project shot Sharon Store to global stardom thanks to her career-defining performance as crime novelist Catherine Tramell – and her character’s infamous leg-crossing scene while she was being interrogated by cops.
Discussing the new Basic Instinct project, Joe said he insisted from the outset making the film should be enjoyable.
He added: “Some people will laugh at some of the dialogue. Others will be p***** off by it.
“But even those who are p***** off will secretly enjoy it, even if they don’t publicly.”
Joe added: “It will be controversial.
“With the original, people forget that one of the things that made it so successful when it opened commercially, right off the top, was that there had been controversy for months before its release. There were protests in New York and L.A. I’m not afraid of controversy.”
The original Basic Instinct followed detective Nick Curran, played by Michael Douglas, as he investigated the murder of retired rock musician Johnny Boz, portrayed by Bill Cable, before becoming entangled with Sharon’s enigmatic novelist Catherine Tramell.
The film became one of the decade’s highest-profile thrillers, although it also prompted protests over its portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters during the HIV/AIDS epidemic and debate over its explicit sexual content.
Joe confirmed Catherine will return in the reboot and revealed that the story will introduce her daughter.
He said Sharon’s character is in the new project, adding “and so is a new character, her daughter, Jezebel”.
Joe declined to reveal further details, but said the screenplay would continue to challenge audiences.
He said viewers would repeatedly find themselves asking: “Holy s***, did I hear that right?”
Joe added: “One of the things happening in filmmaking today is films have become more tepid and whitened.
“My script for the sequel is anything but that.”
