Michael Douglas is pushing back on Sharon Stone’s recent claim that the two had a tense confrontation before they were cast together in the 1992 thriller Basic Instinct.
In an interview published Friday by Business Insider, Stone, 67, reflected on her breakout role as the seductive and manipulative Catherine Tramell, and described an argument with Douglas at the Cannes Film Festival that she believes impacted his early reluctance to work with her.
“He wouldn’t even test with me, but that was also for a different reason: We had an argument prior to that,” Stone said. She claimed the dispute stemmed from a conversation about one of her acquaintances and their children. “So I said something and he responded to me, saying, ‘What the f— do you know?’ It was in regard to a father-child relationship.”
Sharon Stone recounted that they took the conversation outside, where she clarified her personal connection to the family involved. “Yeah, and I explained to him what the f— I knew about this family he was speaking about, and that I was best friends with the children and the parents. And then we parted. I wouldn’t say as best friends, but amicably.”
Stone went on to suggest that the confrontation may have contributed to Michael Douglas’s reluctance to work with her, saying, “I don’t think he wanted me to be his co-star.” However, Douglas, now 80, has denied Stone’s version of events.
Speaking through his representative Allen Burry to People magazine, the actor said he was “very surprised” by Stone’s comments and doesn’t recall any argument at all from that time period. “He doesn’t remember any argument in that timeframe,” Burry stated, adding that Douglas recalled first seeing Stone during director Paul Verhoeven’s screen test and immediately agreeing she was right for the role. “[Michael] said, ‘Absolutely, she’s the one.’”
Burry also clarified that the only time Douglas recalls spending time with Stone at Cannes was after the film was completed and they were promoting it together. “And by the time they’d done the movie, they were friends,” Burry said. Despite the conflicting memories, Stone emphasized that the two eventually became close.
“We became the greatest of friends, to this day,” she said. “I admire him tremendously.” Reflecting on the early tension, Stone added that it may have actually enhanced their on-screen dynamic. “It worked great because I was not rattled if he yelled at me,” she said. “That worked very well in our dynamic.”