Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) is a police officer who came under the supervision of Internal Affairs due to the accidental shooting of a man. During the investigation, Curran is assigned to the murder of a rock star who was stabbed with an ice pick in his own bed. It turns out that the last person he saw that day was famous crime writer Catherine Tramwell (Sharon Stone). Interestingly, one of her characters dies in exactly the same way, which means that she either killed the man or someone is trying to frame her. A dangerous game begins between Nick and Catherine.
“Naked Instinct”. Erotic neo-noir thriller inspired by cinema classics
“Naked Instinct” is an example of a nod to classic noir cinema, which was in its heyday in the 40s and 50s of the last century. The most characteristic of this genre is a strong female figure – femme fatale, who brings men to ruin; for this there must also be a dark, restless mood and a crime. Verhoeven’s film is spiced up by eroticism, which is very well realized, devoid of cheap vulgarity. A censored version was released to theaters, yet after the premiere of “Naked Instinct” it was perceived as scandalous and aroused a lot of controversy.
With his film, the director pays tribute not only to the classic genre – because he is inspired by a specific production. It’s about Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo from 1958. Like Verhoeven, the action takes place in San Francisco; here we can also follow the actions of a policeman and a mysterious woman who slowly becomes his obsession. The creation of Kim Novak alludes to the famous interrogation scene, where Catherine Tramwell strikingly resembles a famous actress.
Uneven start, uneven finish
Until “Naked Instinct”, Sharon Stone worked primarily as a model and was an occasional extra in movies. Her performances at that time could hardly be called a career, because sometimes she didn’t even say a word. Things gained momentum when she starred in the 1984 film “Irreconcilable Differences” – but she gathered a lot of favorable reviews, but unfortunately not good enough to get an engagement in, for example, “Fatal Attraction”, where she applied for the lead role.
The first film that Stone made with the Dutch director, “Absolute Recall”, was not the main reason for the later meeting on the set of “Naked Instinct”. Many actresses popular at the time were considered for the role of Catherine – the list included, among others, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Geena Davis and Kim Basinger, recommended by Michael Douglas.
They all rejected the offer that Stone, then 34, agreed to – perhaps for financial reasons, as her career was still waiting for some momentum. Her role in the film Verhoeven earned her worldwide fame and opened the way to roles in other productions, such as “Casino”, for which she won a Golden Globe. Let’s mention that in 2006, Sharon Stone reprized her role as Catherine Tramwell in the second installment of “Naked Instinct”. The production directed by Michael Caton-Jones turned out to be a flop.
Michael Douglas, who was 14 years older than his partner on the screen, in the early 90s was already a famous actor, winner of an Oscar for his role in “Wall Street”. His beginnings in the industry were different from those of Sharon Stone, mainly because of his father’s last name, Kirk Douglas. Just five years before his engagement in “Naked Instinct” Douglas starred in the aforementioned “Fatal Attraction” – there he was led astray by Glenn Close. For the daring role played by Dan Gallagher’s lawyer, the actor was nominated for an award from the British Film Academy. According to some critics, despite some analogies in both films, Douglas did not repeat his thriller success on another occasion and received a Golden Raspberry nomination for his performance in “Naked Instinct”.
“I was just an actress, just a woman – what choice could I have?”
Most viewers most likely associate the famous interrogation scene with “Naked Instinct”. Catherine, who has been invited to the police station to testify, talks to the police while sitting in a chair and puffing on her cigarette flirtatiously. At one point, the woman ostentatiously changes her position, thus revealing to the interlocutors that she does not have any underwear. On the one hand, this scene became a symbol of the entire film, but on the other hand, there were voices accusing the creators of pornography. For many years, both the director and the actress hid an outrageous story related to the audition.
In March 2021, Sharon Stone published the autobiography “The Beauty of Living Twice”, which will soon be published in Poland under the title “It is beautiful to live twice”. You can read there, among others about memories from the set of “Naked Instinct”. The interrogation scene hides a second bottom. It was a traumatic event for the young actress, which – as Stone recalls in an interview – “almost broke her”.
During the shooting, the woman was asked to remove her underwear – the director explained that the light was reflected in it. Additionally, Stone was reassured that the camera would not be able to capture the private parts of her body. Post factum, the actress was invited to watch the material, where not only the director was waiting, but also a crowd of lawyers and people not related to the production. “This was the first time I saw my crotch on the screen,” recalls Stone. “After watching this scene, I punched the director in the face, ran into my car, and immediately called my lawyer.”
The actress was assured that the scene could not legally be included in the film because she was misled during the shooting. However, the director achieved his goal. As Sharon Stone writes:
Later, I confronted Paul and told him about the strategy that Marty (lawyer – ed.) Had prepared for me. Of course, Paul tried to convince me that I had no choice, that I couldn’t help it. I was just an actress, just a woman – what choice could I have? But in fact I had it. I thought for a long time about what I should do. Ultimately, I agreed to include this scene in the film because it actually enriched the story and my character. That’s why I did it.
“I am against it, but I have no power to block the film”
After the book was released, the director was called to the board by journalists, which only exacerbated the ongoing conflict on the Stone-Verhoeven line. The Dutchman apparently has nothing to complain about: “Any actress who is asked on the set in front of the camera to take off her panties should know why she is doing it.” Sharon Stone did not decide to comment on his statement, but noted that thanks to the changes introduced by the Screen Actors Guild and the activities of the #MeToo movement, such an incident would not have happened today.
Not only the audition scene, but the entire production and the relationship with Verhoeven were toxic to the actress. The woman struggled with the nightmares that plagued her, even sleepwalked several times, waking up fully clothed at the wheel of her car. “During the filming of the initial stabbing sequence, at one point we made a cut and the actor didn’t respond. He was just lying there unconscious. I started to panic, thought the retractable fake skewer had failed to hide and that I actually killed him,” Stone relates.
The aggression of the scene itself combined with the director’s cries: “Hit him, harder, harder!” and “More blood, more blood!” and the guy under the bed who was actually pumping more and more fake blood … it all weakened me. I stood up, dazed, certain that I was about to pass out. It looked like I had hit the actor in the chest so many times that he passed out. I was scared, naked and stained with fake blood.
Despite the enormous stress that accompanied the actress on the set, the director did not show her support, but simply oppressed her. Stone recalls that one day, after filming was over, she heard Verhoeven while in the company of the producer, “You weren’t our first pick, Karen. No, you weren’t even the second or third. You were the thirteenth pick for this film.” “Karen” in American slang is an offensive term for a middle-aged woman who behaves in an arrogant, rude manner and expects special treatment (it can be compared to the term “Grażyna” once used in Poland). Verhoeven had called Stone that way throughout the collaboration.
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the premiere of “Naked Instinct”, the creators decided to release the director’s version of the film, which contains previously censored scenes. When asked about her attitude to the project, Stone replied, “I’m against it, but I don’t have the power to block the film.” She feels completely powerless.
***
Help Ukraine, join the collection. You deposit money on the website.
Source: Gazeta
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
