The erotic thriller Basic Instinct (1992), with the lead roles filled by Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone, was another box-office hit and contains a notoriously provocative shot of Stone recrossing her legs. Verhoeven’s streak ended with the widely panned Showgirls (1995), set in Las Vegas.

Basic Instinct (1992), a film as controversial as it was successful, was in the same genre as Fatal Attraction and served to pigeonhole Douglas as an actor specializing in violent or sexual fare. Such films as Black Rain (1989), Falling Down (1993), and Disclosure (1994)…

Basic Instinct, starring Stone and Michael Douglas, was released in 1992. Almost overnight, the sensationalistic thriller turned Stone into an international sex symbol. Playing an icy, bisexual femme fatale suspected of murder, she had a memorable—and highly controversial—scene in which she uncrosses her legs during…