Remember “Basic Instinct”? That’s the 1992 movie whose only memorable scene was the one in which Sharon Stone did a now-famous leg-crossing-and-uncrossing peep show in front of–Newman  from Seinfeld! Now, some 14 years and what’s known in Hollywood as “a lot of work” later, Ms. Stone will be soon be back among us in “Basic Instinct 2.” One hopes for her sake that the distinctly older and now nearly unrecognizable (from her former self) Ms. Stone won’t be reprising that particular scene as she reprises her role as the Stanford-educated icepick murderer Catherine Trammell who can’t afford to buy underwear despite her fancy degree–but, judging from the publicity for the film, she will! (Although Newman, along with original director Paul Verhoeven, seems to have had the sense to bow out.) Oh, no! Sort of like your mom showing up on TV in a Boobs Not Bombs parade in Berkeley. Except worse.


Here’s the news report, linked courtesy of The Anchoress:


“[Stone] said the film, which promises even more nudity and ‘kinky stuff’ than the 1992 original, proves that women over 40 can be sexy.


“‘In America we tend to erase women after 40, and it’s a period when women become their most interesting. They are sexual in a different and alluring way,” added the star, who recently became the face of Dior skincare.


“‘This film expresses that sexual allure in an unabashed and provocative way – in a way that is gritty and dangerous and quite presumptive.'”


Seems that Stone plans to do her bit for Dior by showing a lot of skin to care for. The Anchoress comments:


“Women in America are not ‘erased’ without their own acquiesence to it. Women who run for botox at the first wrinkle or who get their faces pulled so tight they can’t close their eyes, or who constantly have themselves ‘primed’ invalidate themselves. They signal to the world that the world’s obsession with youthful beauty is, in fact, a correct and legitimate obsession. They disown themselves and all the gifts and wisdom that come with age by obliterating any evidence of it.”


How true–if you really believe that women over 40 shouldn’t be “erased,” shouldn’t you start acting your age instead of trying to erase it with poison injections and hoping that people will think you’re still 20? tThe silver lining: Should “Basic Instinct 2” turn out to be more of a “Showgirls 2”–a risible bust that doesn’t even make good camp, its leading lady will have perfect street-cred in insisting that it was some other “Sharon Stone” who forgot her undies in front of the camera.