Sharon Stone has shared her thoughts on how sex scenes are handled today — and she’s not exactly enjoying the direction they’ve taken.
The 68-year-old actor said she’s noticed a clear change in the way intimacy is shown on screen, arguing that something essential has been lost along the way — the tension and allure that used to make it feel powerful.
One of Stone’s most defining performances remains her role as crime novelist Catherine Trammel in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct.
Released in 1992, the film follows detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) as he investigates a violent killing. Catherine, the victim’s lover, quickly becomes a central focus of the case — and the suspicion.
The movie’s most talked-about moment came during an interrogation scene, when Catherine crosses and uncrosses her legs, briefly revealing she wasn’t wearing underwear. Decades later, it’s still referenced as one of cinema’s most controversial shots.
In a recent interview looking back at her career — including the scene that became inseparable from her public image — Stone connected that infamous moment to how she views modern portrayals of sex on screen.
“Sharon, when you look at your legendary career, what do you think about?” CBS anchor Gayle King asked. “I remember when Basic Instinct came out. Cross the legs, uncross the legs. And I remember, ‘Is she wearing panties?’ that’s how crazy it all became, right?”
“Right. It was a third of a frame,” Stone responded. “It wasn’t even an entire frame of film.
“And, so, people were desperately trying to figure it out. And I think that idea of, ‘Oh my God’, this hope, this wonder, this mystery, this intrigue, this yearning is something that is what all of our profound sexuality is based in.
“So often now, when sex scenes come on TV, I fast forward. I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to have to go through all of this blatant, harsh sexuality. For me, it steals from my own imagination. And I prefer my yearning, mystery, desire. I want to keep that alive inside myself.”
Stone also spoke about how much the film — and particularly that interrogation sequence — reshaped everything that came after.
“Oh my God, it changed everything,” she told King, who pointed out that the movie altered her ‘trajectory’.
She has addressed the scene before and has said she doesn’t regret it. In a newer interview, she also explained that she could have had the shot removed, but ultimately decided against it.
“I very much believe that none of us knew at the time what we were getting in regard to that shot, and when Paul [Verhoeven] got it, he didn’t want to lose it, and he was scared to show me. And I get that,” she told Business Insider.
“Once I had time to calm down, I didn’t make him take it out of the movie when I had the legal right to.
“So I did have the chance to do it differently, and I didn’t because once I had the chance to step back, I understood, as the director, not the girl in the film, that that made the movie better.”