Michael Douglas has refuted claims made by Sharon Stone that they had a blazing row prior to working together on their 1992 erotic thriller Basic Instinct.
Sharon claimed during a lengthy profile with Business Insider that she and Michael fought over a friend of hers in Cannes, and the argument allegedly led to the actor refusing to do a screen test with her for Basic Instinct.
The actress, 67, alleged Michael ‘screamed’ at her over the disagreement, though they smoothed things over and are now friends.
But Michael, 80, doesn’t remember things the same way, with a rep for the star claiming he doesn’t recall ‘any argument in that timeframe.’
Michael’s rep Allen Burry said in a statement obtained by People that the actor was ‘very surprised [by Sharon’s quotes]’ since ‘he doesn’t remember any argument in that timeframe.’
As Michael remembers it, he only recalls having high praise for Sharon when they first met.
Michael Douglas has refuted claims made by Sharon Stone that they had a blazing row prior to meeting on the set of their erotic thriller Basic Instinct; pictured in the 1992 film
‘He actually only remembers seeing and meeting Sharon for the first time when he saw [director] Paul Verhoeven’s screen test of her for Basic Instinct and [Michael] said, “Absolutely, she’s the one,”‘ Allen said.
While Allen acknowledged that Michael ‘definitely spent time with’ Sharon at Cannes, he added they were at the French film festival ‘later, when they were promoting Basic Instinct in 1992.’
‘And by the time they’d done the movie, they were friends’, he said.
DailyMail.com has contacted representatives for Michael for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Sharon claimed in her Business Insider interview that she had a rocky start in her friendship with Michael.
The actress described the alleged dispute as she opened up about her determination to land the Basic Instinct part, a role she said was turned down by ‘everyone’ approached.
‘Everyone they went out to would turn it down,’ she said. ‘But the thing was, Michael Douglas did not want to put his bare a** out on the screen with an unknown — and I understood that. He wouldn’t even test with me, but that was also for a different reason: We had an argument prior to that.’
Sharon claims the dispute stemmed over a person she knew well, who Michael was discussing with others before she stepped in to defend the person in question.
But things allegedly got heated, and Sharon suggested they ‘step outside’ to resolve the dispute.
A rep for Michael denied they ever had an argument in the ‘timeframe’ Sharon alleged, but acknowledged they did all go Cannes to promote Basic Instinct; Stone seen at the film festival with Douglas and co-star Jeanne Tripplehorn in 1992
The pair seen at a screening of their erotic thriller at Cannes in 1992
‘This was at Cannes. A bunch of us were all sitting, and he was talking about someone and their kids. I really, really knew this person he was talking about. So I said something and he responded to me, saying, “What the f**k do you know?” It was in regard to a father-child relationship. Clearly, it triggered him.
‘So he screams this at me across a whole group of people. And I’m not the person who goes, “Oh, excuse me, superstar.” I pushed back my chair and said to him, “Let’s step outside.” That’s how we first met.’
After stepping outside to hash things out, Sharon said they resolved the issue ‘amicably.’
‘I explained to him what the f**k I knew about this family he was speaking about, and that I was best friends with the children and the parent. And then we parted. I wouldn’t say as best friends, but amicably. So, fast forward to casting “Basic Instinct,” I don’t think he wanted me to be his costar,’ she added with a laugh.
Sharon said the tension was actually beneficial for their roles.
‘It worked great because I was not rattled if he yelled at me. That was interesting for the character because Michael has a temper, and I didn’t care. That worked very well in our dynamic. Eventually, we became the greatest of friends, to this day. I admire him tremendously,’ she said.
Despite their alleged rocky start, Sharon says she and Michael remained ‘the greatest of friends’; pictured 2009
Basic Instinct first hit screens in 1992 and sees Detective Nick (Michael) investigate the brutal murder of Johnny Boz (Bill Cable).
The blockbuster follows the police officer, who points suspicion towards Catherine Tramell (Sharon), the victim’s girlfriend.
Catherine manages to seduce Nick into falling in love with her.
Basic Instinct features a well-known scene where Catherine is being quizzed by police.
Amid the bombardment of questions, she distracts them when she uncrosses then recrosses her legs, leaving the men flustered seeing as she was underwear-free at the time.
The steamy film starring Douglas and Sharon was released in 1992
Sharon’s character distracts police by crossing and uncrossing her legs in an iconic moment from the film
Last year Sharon said that the iconic and controversial interrogation scene now seems ‘very ordinary’ compared to raunchy present-day films.
Appearing at the Taormina Film Festival, Sharon said – per Deadline -that while the scene was considered X-rated at the time, nowadays it would have lost its shock factor.
She said:'[at the time] it seemed like a scandal, and now it seems very, very ordinary.
‘I think that now that women are writing, directing, producing, filming and more and more a part of filmmaking, films are less about men writing films about their fantasies of the way women are
‘And actresses are less asked to portray the male fantasy, and then critics are less asked to tell us if we fulfilled the male fantasy or not. It’s more, are we fulfilling the human condition?’
