'Basic Instinct' screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, who is writing a new version of his 1992 movie, recently claimed that Emerald Fennell may direct the reboot
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NEED TO KNOW
- A rep for Emerald Fennell TELLS PEOPLE that the Wuthering Heights director “is not involved in any way” with a reboot of Basic Instinct
- The movie’s original screenwriter Joe Eszterhas claimed in an interview that Fennell was “negotiating” with producers on his remake to direct the film
- News first broke that Eszterhas, 81, was writing a rebooted Basic Instinct in July 2025
Wuthering Heights filmmaker Emerald Fennell is not in negotiations to direct a Basic Instinct reboot, per her rep.
Basic Instinct screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, 81, claimed to The Guardian, in an interview published Tuesday, April 7, that Fennell, 40, was in talks to direct a remake of his 1992 thriller, which was directed by Paul Verhoeven and starred Michael Douglas as a detective who embarks on a relationship with the prime suspect in a murder case he is investigating (famously played by Sharon Stone).
"The producers are negotiating with a really interesting director — a Brit, Emerald Fennell — who did Promising Young Woman and Wuthering Heights," he told The Guardian. "Her sensibility is exactly right. She’s someone who is not afraid of controversy and sexuality. So I’m thrilled by that. I hope it works out.”
On April 7, a rep for Fennell told PEOPLE "there's no truth to this" and stated that the Oscar winner "is not involved in any way" with the movie.
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News that Basic Instinct would be rebooted with Eszterhas writing a new version of his original screenplay broke back in July 2025. The Wrap reported at the time that Stone could potentially return for the movie. In an August 2025 interview with Today, Stone, 68, intimated that she was not interested in Basic Instinct being revived. "If it goes the way the one that I was in went, I will just say, I don't know why you'd do it," she said at the time. "I mean, go ahead, but good f—— luck."
In an interview Stone conducted with The Guardian that same month, she laughed when asked if she would participate in a remake. "There’s not going to be a Basic Instinct reboot," she told that outlet. "I hate to break it to you, but Joe Eszterhas couldn’t write himself out of a Walgreens drug store.”
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Credit: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty
The original Basic Instinct received two Academy Award nominations (Best Film Editing and Best Original Score) and was the subject of controversy upon its release for its depiction of an LGBTQ+ character as a dangerous killer, and for its onscreen female nudity during the famous interrogation scene.
Eszterhas most recently wrote the 2022 movie The Impact. Prior to that, he last received a screenplay credit with 2006's Children of Glory. Fennell, for her part, does not appear to have a new movie project in the works yet following Wuthering Heights' release in February.
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