{"id":570831,"date":"2026-07-06T01:47:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T01:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/570831\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T01:47:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T01:47:18","slug":"basic-instinct-screenwriter-joe-eszterhas-says-he-was-paid-1-5m-to-stay-away-from-the-films-really-bad-2006-sequel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/570831\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBasic Instinct\u201d Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas Says He Was Paid $1.5M to Stay Away from the Film\u2019s \u2018Really Bad\u2019 2006 Sequel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n<ul class=\"mb-4\">\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Joe Eszterhas said he was paid $1.5 million to \u201chave nothing to do with\u201d Basic Instinct&#8217;s \u201creally bad\u201d 2006 sequel<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cWhat they did was turn it into a bland police procedural. They set it in London and the whole piece was really boring,\u201d he said in a new interview<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The screenwriter has since announced that the 1992 film is being rebooted, teasing that it \u201cwill be controversial,\u201d much like the original was<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Joe Eszterhas said he was paid $1.5 million to \u201chave nothing to do\u201d with <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/sharon-stone-didnt-want-her-tits-on-a-platter-in-iconic-basic-instinct-11976282\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Basic Instinct;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Basic Instinct&quot;}\">Basic Instinct<\/a>&#8216;s 2006 sequel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The screenwriter of the original film, which was released in 1992, told <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.interviewmagazine.com\/film\/joe-eszterhass-tales-of-sex-money-and-hollywood-warfare\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Interview;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Interview&quot;}\">Interview<\/a> magazine that he didn&#8217;t have anything to do with the \u201creally bad\u201d \u201cso-called sequel\u201d that followed his cult classic erotic thriller starring <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/tag\/sharon-stone\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Sharon Stone;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Sharon Stone&quot;}\">Sharon Stone<\/a> and <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/tag\/michael-douglas\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Michael Douglas;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Michael Douglas&quot;}\">Michael Douglas<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThey paid me a million five to have nothing to do with it,\u201d Eszterhas, 81, admitted in a recent interview, published on June 29. \u201cIt&#8217;s easy money. Nobody said this to me, but I didn&#8217;t think they wanted to take the kind of creative chances the original did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"David Morrissey and Sharon Stone in 'Basic Instinct 2'Credit: Moviestore\/Shutterstock\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/53d17ad60b590d9aff52685be0fb36d2.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>David Morrissey and Sharon Stone in &#8216;Basic Instinct 2&#8217;<br \/>Credit: Moviestore\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThey didn&#8217;t want controversy,\u201d he continued. \u201cWhat they did was turn it into a bland police procedural. They set it in London and the whole piece was really boring. It didn&#8217;t have any humor. It didn&#8217;t have the spice and earth and wit of the original.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While he was ultimately left disappointed by the sequel \u2014 written by Leora Barish and Henry Bean \u2014 Eszterhas has signed on to <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/basic-instinct-is-getting-the-reboot-treatment-11774795\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:create an updated spin on the film in the form of a reboot;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;create an updated spin on the film in the form of a reboot&quot;}\">create an updated spin on the film in the form of a reboot<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/people-news-daily-newsletter-sign-up-8692701\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:PEOPLE&#039;s free daily newsletter;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;PEOPLE&#039;&quot;}\" class=\"link \">PEOPLE&#8217;s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He noted that, &#8220;in the 30 years since it came out,&#8221; he has gone &#8220;through a lot of Basic Instinct revivals&#8221; after seeing how audiences &#8220;just adored the f&#8212;ing movie.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">When Eszterhas met with producers to pitch his &#8220;bare bones&#8221; idea for a reboot, his one requirement was that the experience be \u201cfun and enjoyable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cSome people will laugh at some of the dialogue. Others will be pissed off by it,\u201d he teased of the upcoming reboot, which will be released with <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/who-is-scott-stuber-molly-sims-husband-8779929\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Scott Stuber;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Scott Stuber&quot;}\">Scott Stuber<\/a>&#8216;s United Artists banner and Amazon MGM Studios. \u201cBut even those who are pissed off will secretly enjoy it, even if they don&#8217;t publicly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cIt will be controversial,\u201d he continued. \u201cWith 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&#8217;m not afraid of controversy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"'Basic Instinct' posterCredit: Moviestore\/Shutterstock\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"689\" height=\"960\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/25e5867087f2e860bf65b8ba24bbc4ae.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Basic Instinct&#8217; poster<br \/>Credit: Moviestore\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Directed by Paul Verhoeven, Basic Instinct follows crime novelist Catherine Tramell (Stone) as she becomes implicated in the death of retired rock star Johnny Box (Bill Cable), while embarking on a complicated relationship with the detective on her case (Douglas).<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Eszterhas teased that Stone&#8217;s character is in the new project, &#8220;and so is a new character, her daughter, Jezebel,&#8221; but he didn&#8217;t want to &#8220;say too much about it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While the film courted controversy for its depiction of an LGBTQ+ character as a dangerous killer at the tail end of the HIV\/AIDS epidemic, as well as its onscreen female nudity, Eszterhas emphasized that his new script will be full of moments where the audience will inevitably ask themselves, \u201cHoly s&#8212;, did I hear that right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cOne of the things happening in filmmaking today is films have become more tepid and whitened,\u201d he added. \u201cMy script for the sequel is anything but that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read the original article on <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/screenwriter-joe-eszterhas-says-basic-instinct-sequel-was-really-bad-12008574\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:People;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;People&quot;}\" class=\"link \">People<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW Joe Eszterhas said he was paid $1.5 million to \u201chave nothing to do with\u201d Basic&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[10260,18,117,19,17,243340,327,243341,10259],"class_list":["post-570831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-basic-instinct","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-joe-eszterhas","tag-movies","tag-police-procedural","tag-sharon-stone"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116870515829183363","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}