KILLER INSTINCT

Blockbuster ‘90s Erotic Thriller Getting ‘Anti-Woke’ Reboot

Sharon Stone could star as a decidedly less transgressive version of her original femme fatale.

Basic Instinct, the 1992 erotic thriller that gave Sharon Stone her breakthrough role and started the modern trend of studios paying top-dollar for “spec” scripts, will be given new life. Joe Eszterhas, who penned the original script, has reportedly reached a $2 million deal with Amazon MGM Studios to write the screenplay for a reboot. Stone’s character, serial killer Catherine Tramell, reset the bounds of what a female protagonist could do in cinema—outsmarting the police officers investigating her, juggling multiple sexual partners, and using her killing spree as inspiration for her novels. While grossing more than $350 million at the box office and scoring two Oscar nominations, the original movie also moved one feminist scholar to call it a “neo-film noir masterpiece.” The proposed reboot seems unlikely to push boundaries in the same way, with an insider source telling TheWrap that the approach of the reboot will be “anti-woke.” It’s unclear if Stone will reprise her role as Tramell, whom she also played in a 2006 sequel that flopped at the box office. If she does return for the third installment in the series, she’ll be slated for a much bigger payday: she was paid just $500,000 for the original (compared to the $14 million payday Michael Douglas received as her co-star).