HOT GALLERY: Basic Instinct—a Look Back at the Sexual Thriller on Its 20th Anniversary

Who knew this former McDonald’s counter-girl turned model would end up in one of the most famous controversial scenes in Hollywood history? She wasn’t an overnight success; she started in small roles in film (Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories in 1980 was her first credited film appearance) and television. It wasn’t until Stone played Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wife in Total Recall (1990) that she started truly making a name for herself in Hollywood. But it was the role of Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct that changed her career. Stone remembers, “When Basic Instinct came out on a Friday, I had one life, and by Tuesday I had another life.” This was the second time Stone worked with director Paul Verhoeven, who directed Total Recall. Watch the Basic Instinct trailer.

Sharon Stone’s personal life and career have been a roller coaster ride since Basic Instinct. She starred in such films as Sliver (1993), The Quick and the Dead (1995), and Casino (1995), for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and was nominated for an Oscar. Stone has faced personal, professional, and health challenges, including suffering a brain aneurysm in 2001; however, that hasn’t stopped her from working almost constantly. In 2006, she reprised the role of Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct 2, but the sequel was not nearly as successful. This year, Stone can be seen in two films that are currently in post-production: Gods Behaving Badly and The Mule. She’s currently filming Lovelace.

Before Denis Arndt was playing Michael Douglas’s tough but fair boss in Basic Instinct, he had already appeared in several hit television shows, such as Murder, She Wrote, The Wonder Years, Life Goes On, and L.A. Law. Douglas’s character continually tests Lieutenant Walker’s patience throughout the film, seemingly knowing what Stone’s character will do and how she’ll react. Walker’s question, “What is it with you and this broad, anyway?” sums up the smoldering connection Douglas has with his chief murder suspect.

Since his role in Basic Instinct, Arndt has gone on to appear in such films as S.W.A.T. (2003) and Bandidas (2006) alongside Penélope Cruz and Salma Hayek. He’s done a prolific amount of work in television, including recurring roles on Providence and The Practice. His most recent appearance is as Colonel Robbins in the episode “White Wedding” on Grey’s Anatomy.

Coincidentally, George Dzundza appeared in The Streets of San Francisco with future costar Michael Douglas back in 1977. By the time Dzundza landed the role of police detective Gus Moran in Basic Instinct (which is also set in San Francisco), he’d been a working actor for almost 20 years. In the film, Gus and Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) are partners, and Gus dislikes and distrusts Catherine Tramell for good reason. He warns Nick, “Everybody she plays with dies.” Wise words, especially for the grisly end poor Gus meets in the film.

George Dzundza is a very busy actor! If he isn’t working in films like Crimson Tide (1995), Dangerous Minds (1995), City by the Sea (2002), and The Chosen One (2010), he can be found all over the television. He’s had several recurring roles on shows such as Jesse and Hack, and most recently he played George O’Malley’s father on Grey’s Anatomy. That makes two Basic Instinct alums who've appeared on the ABC show!

Jeanne Tripplehorn attended the Juilliard School in New York City, then went on to act in John Patrick Shanley’s off-Broadway play The Big Funk in 1990. After that, she had a role in the 1991 TV movie The Tribute, about Abraham Lincoln. A far cry from her next role as the bicurious psychologist Dr. Beth Garner, who has hot, steamy sex with Michael Douglas in her first feature film performance. Too bad he accidentally shoots her. She forgives him as she’s dying, though; her last words said it all: “I loved you, Nick.”

After her breakout performance in Basic Instinct, Tripplehorn was a very busy lady in film throughout the 1990s, appearing in The Firm (1993), Waterworld (1995), Sliding Doors (1998), and Mickey Blue Eyes (1999), to name just a few. She’s been equally busy the last few years, appearing as Bill Paxton’s first wife in the HBO hit Big Love. She just keeps finding those polygamous relationships…

Before she was Roxy, Leilani Sarelle had worked in film and television for almost a decade, although this role was certainly her most memorable at the time—the overprotective lesbian love who threatens Michael Douglas’s character, “If you don’t leave her alone, I’ll kill you.” And boy, does she try. Unfortunately she dies in a blaze of glory—crashing her lover’s black Lotus in a car chase with Douglas.

Sarelle went on to work in television for a few years after Basic Instinct, then had two sons with then-husband Miguel Ferrer. She started back to work in 2005, appearing in Sleeper Cell, then The Unit, The Mentalist, and the series Femmes Fatales. Most recently, Sarelle starred in the horror film Night Claws alongside Frank Stallone.

This isn’t the first time Michael Douglas has seen the seedy side of San Francisco. He’s played a cop before, Inspector Steve Keller in The Streets of San Francisco. Twenty years later he’s Detective Nick Curran, a.k.a. “Shooter”—a name he earned when he accidentally gunned down two tourists while undercover and high on cocaine. Curran, we discover, is a liar as well as a murderer. But they don’t come any more appealing than Douglas. His greatest strength as a detective is that he is also a criminal, and identifies readily with his suspect, Catherine Tramell. He explains to his partner Gus, “I’m not afraid of her.” And he certainly couldn’t be, considering those steamy scenes where he almost begs to be ice-picked. Somebody has a death wish…

Douglas has had a prolific career as both an actor and a producer, his name almost synonymous with the sexual thriller genre after starring in Fatal Attraction (1987), Basic Instinct (1992), and Disclosure (1994). But he is equally compelling as a swashbuckling hero in Romancing the Stone (1984) or as an antihero in Falling Down (1993). In the last few years, he’s been in films such as You, Me and Dupree (2006), Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009) and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)—the sequel to his famous role as Gordon Gekko in the 1987 hit Wall Street. He’s been married to Catherine Zeta-Jones since 2000—they have two children together, and he has an older son by his first wife, Diandra. Recently, he’s had a very public battle with throat cancer but announced in January 2011 that the tumor was gone. He’s gearing up to play Liberace alongside Matt Damon in the upcoming film Behind the Candelabra, set for a 2013 release. We wish him well!

In his role as San Francisco assistant district attorney John Correli, he appears in one of the most famous interrogation scenes in cinematic history, asking Sharon Stone’s character, “You ever, uh, engage in any sadomasochistic activity?” and gets to watch as Stone flashes the world, him, and his associates, just to show she has "nothing to hide." He certainly looked like he enjoyed that interrogation!

If he isn’t remembered for that famous interrogation scene, he is probably best known for his role as Newman on the hit TV series Seinfeld. Knight works constantly, appearing in hit movies like Jurassic Park (1993) and lending his voice to films such as Toy Story 2 (1999) and Kung Fu Panda (2008) and to numerous animated TV shows. He repeatedly shows up on the latest television series, including The Good Guys, Bones, Hot in Cleveland, and Torchwood. Catch him in the 2012 movie She Wants Me, starring Hilary Duff and Charlie Sheen.