Eszterhas Wraps Basic Instinct Reboot, Tramell Returns
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- Joe Eszterhas confirmed to Interview Magazine he finished the Basic Instinct reboot script for Amazon MGM's United Artists, with Catherine Tramell returning alongside a new character, her daughter Jezebel.
- Eszterhas trashed the 2006 sequel Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction, revealing studios paid him $1.5M to have nothing to do with it and calling it "a bland police procedural" lacking the original's "spice and earth and wit."
- The 1992 original directed by Paul Verhoeven, starring Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone, grossed $352M worldwide, while the 2006 sequel earned just $38M.
- Eszterhas said his condition for returning was that the reboot had to "be fun and enjoyable," describing the project as a "wild and orgasmic ride."
- Sharon Stone offered a lukewarm endorsement: "If it goes the way the one that I was in, I would just say, I don't know why you'd do it. I mean, go ahead. Good f*cking luck."
- The reboot is produced by United Artists' Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt, with Vault Entertainment's Craig Baumgarten and Adam Griffin executive producing.
Why it matters: Eszterhas's $1.5M pay-for-nothing history on the 2006 sequel underscores how badly that follow-up performed relative to the original ($38M vs. $352M worldwide), and Stone's tongue-in-cheek warning that it must outperform her own sequel sets a low but explicit creative bar for United Artists' first major franchise revival under Amazon MGM.
