Paul Verhoeven, the director of "Basic Instinct," spoke out for the first time since Sharon Stone claimed in her memoir that she was misled about how the movie's famous leg-crossing scene would be filmed.
"My memory is radically different from Sharon's memory," Verhoeven told Variety at the Cannes Film Festival this week while promoting his new movie, "Benedetta."
In Stone's memoir, "The Beauty of Living Twice," released in March, she said she'd been reluctant to do the scene in which her character, Catherine Tramell, exposes her crotch while crossing her legs during an interrogation.
She wrote that Verhoeven had assured her that her crotch would not be visible on screen. But Stone said that after the movie was finished she was invited to a preview screening and saw that her crotch was indeed visible.
"Her version is impossible," Verhoeven told Variety. "She knew exactly what we were doing. I told her it was based on a story of a woman that I knew when I was a student who did the crossing of her legs without panties regularly at parties. When my friend told her we could see her vagina, she said, 'Of course, that's why I do it.' Then Sharon and I decided to do a similar sequence."
Insider contacted Stone's rep for comment but didn't get a response.
Stone's recollection in the book of seeing the scene made it sound as if she and Verhoeven were not simpatico.
"That was how I saw my vagina-shot for the first time, long after I'd been told, 'We can't see anything — I just need you to remove your panties, as the white is reflecting the light, so we know you have panties on,'" Stone wrote.
She continued: "I went to the projection booth, slapped Paul across the face, left, went to my car, and called my lawyer, Marty Singer."
Looking back on his experience working with Stone, Verhoeven had nothing but positive things to say. He said he thought what Stone had written about the scene didn't taint the movie they did together.
"That does not stand in the way and has nothing to do with the wonderful way that she portrayed Catherine Tramell," Verhoeven said. "She is absolutely phenomenal. We still have a pleasant relationship and exchange text messages."
