The cause of the friction? Apparent script changes. At one point, Eszterhas later claimed, he threatened to punch Verhoeven out. Months after screenwriter Joe Eszterhas had sold the script for $3m (£2.2m) after spending just 13 days writing it, he and director Paul Verhoeven embarked on a much-publicised bust-up. Basic Instinct was scandalous – and long before Sharon Stone sat down for questioning, uncrossed her legs, and made the sexually charged neo-noir the hottest movie of 1992.
