Basic Instinct: 7 things you didn't know about the most erotic film of all time

Basic Instinct, in which Sharon Stone immortalised her leg-crossing scene, has recently been voted the most erotic film of all time. The 1992 thriller directed by Paul Verhoeven, in addition to tranforming Stone to every man's fantasy, scored exceptionally well at the Box Office, too, and was delcared one of the financially strongest films of the year. We gift you a trip down memory lane... here are seven facts about Basic Instinct that you might not have been aware of.

Sharon Stone in the leg-crossing scene in Basic Instinct

1. Sharon Stone's famous leg-crossing scene was filmed without the actress' knowledge. Stone was asked to take her underwear off, since director Verhoeven raised a point that the actress' underwear were too bright and reflected at the camera. After her initial hesitation, Stone took them off, and the leg-crossing was filmed. While Stone assumed that nothing substantial was visible in the shot that had been filmed, it was only at a preview that the actress found out the real story - that the scene turned out to be what we, as viewers later saw, too. Stone's initial anger at Verhoeven gradually cooled down, and the film turned out to be what it did.

Stone in a still from the film

2. Sharon Stone's leg-crossing scene, according to a poll for a movie subscription service, has been named the most-paused scene in the history of films. Blame the blink-and-miss flash for the same!

3. No body doubles were used for the sex scenes between Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone. It took the crew five days to film the main sex scene in Basic Instinct.

Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone in a still from the film

4. Basic Instinct glamourised smoking in a way that most films would be envious of. However, ten years after the release of the film, screenwriter Joe Eszterhas penned an op-ed in The New York Times to apologise his act of making smoking look so sexy in the film.

5. Sharon Stone, who was in her mid-thirties when Basic Instinct was filmed, was considering giving up acting altogether before the film was offered to her. She wanted to pursue a degree in law, when the role of Catherine Tramell landed in her kitty.

Douglas and Stone's sex scenes in the film were filmed without body doubles

6. While the movie was being filmed, Sharon Stone had serious issues with the fact that her character had killed someone on screen. However, it irked Stone no end when everyone kept asking her feelings about the nudity and the sex scenes in the film, while the real thing bothering Stone was the on-screen murder that she had commited.

7. Thirteen actresses had turned down the role of Catherine Tramell before it was finally offered to Sharon Stone. Director Paul Verhoeven thought that Stone would suit the character of Tramell after seeing her performance in the 1990 film, Total Recall.