Latest news with #ElizabethBerkley
Telegraph
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Men are punching the air at the prospect of a Basic Instinct remake
I wouldn't claim Basic Instinct made me who I am, but Joe Eszterhas exerted such powerful sway over Gen X movie-goers that a part of me will always long to be Sharon Stone circa 1992: glacially blonde, provocative and 10 steps ahead of Michael Douglas's impulsive detective. The screenplay writer rebooted the erotic noir genre, which had first been popularised by seminal films like The Maltese Falcon and Double Indemnity, with Basic Instinct going on to gross $400 million worldwide. There may be no scene more infamous in cinema than the police interrogation where Stone's crime novelist, Catherine Tramell, recrosses her sleek, bare legs to make it clear she's ditched her knickers. Eszterhas then went full throttle with kitsch sex extravaganza Showgirls, or what I think of as 42 nd Street without clothes. The latter proved a box office flop and tanked Elizabeth Berkley's acting career, but went on to make millions via home video rentals and is now viewed as a cult classic. These films were as key to the spirit of the wayward 1990s as grunge, waif chic, warehouse raves and the Young British Artists. Basic Instinct, in particular, was feted for its labyrinthian plotting of sexual intrigue. Tramell, who is bisexual, is suspected of murder after an icepick is used to stab her rockstar lover – although he's just one in a queue of many. In their wake came more sophisticated film noirs such as The Last Seduction, LA Confidential and Mulholland Drive, but it was Eszterhas and Stone who set the tone for the era, with Dutch-born Paul Verhoeven in the director's chair. Somehow, nothing since has quite hit that cinematic G-spot. This is almost certainly due to a prolonged backlash against the sexual free-for-all of that age, which birthed the Harvey Weinstein scandal and culminated in the MeToo movement in 2017. With them came woke warriors across Hollywood reigning in writers' and directors' lewder impulses. But we may be about to witness a dramatic shift in what's deemed acceptable on our screens. It's just been announced that the octogenarian Eszterhas has signed a $2million deal with Amazon MGM to reboot Basic Instinct with a new script (he will double his fee if the movie gets made). Judging from Eszterhas's public statement, he feels like he's ingested a giant dose of creative Viagra: 'To those who question what an 80-year-old man is doing writing a sexy, erotic thriller: the rumours of my cinematic impotence are exaggerated and ageist'. In red-blooded mode he continued, 'I call my writing partner the TWISTED LITTLE MAN and he lives somewhere deep inside me. He was born 29 and he will die 29 and he tells me his is 'sky high up' to write this piece and provide viewers with a wild and orgasmic ride. That makes me very happy.' It's a pronouncement that has led to frenzied speculation about what the reboot will involve. William Hill have already named British actress Florence Pugh as favourite to replace Stone in the lead role, with Margot Robbie just behind. But would a 'twisted little man' plot anything so obvious, when he can toy with the modern obsession with gender identity? Wouldn't it be more fun to make Douglas's detective a gay or bisexual woman (maybe even trans) who feels drawn against her principles to male swagger and danger? I've noted that recent literary offerings, such as Lilian Fishman's novel Acts of Service and Gillian Anderson's compilation of women's desires Want, involve gay women desiring unrepentantly heterosexual men as a sexual fantasy. The scenario also represents the ultimate breach of modern taboos: what do women want? Straight blokes, as it turns out. Or perhaps the twistiest part of it would be no character declaring themselves bisexual, or ADHD. Perhaps Stone could star once more, giving lie to the idea that older women aren't desirable. I have to report that several male writer friends confessed they punched the air when they read Eszterhas's statement. One told me he's on a male authors' WhatsApp group where there was jubilation at the idea men might be allowed to explore libido again. In the 1980s and 90s our artistic culture seemed dominated by straight men's exploration of sexual desire: Philip Roth, Nicholson Baker and Bret Easton Ellis let each of their twisted little men roam free, while Martin Amis's femme fatales, like Nicola Six, towered over the UK literary landscape. But then lads' mags with their escalating objectification of women, and advertising campaigns like 1994's Wonderbra 'hello boys' billboards featuring a pneumatic Eva Herzigova, led to a feminist push-back. It's worth noting that the first two series of Game of Thrones (2011-12) were praised as drama, but slated for often violent, coercive or just gratuitous sex-scenes. There was a growing 'back in your box!' mentality amongst commissioning editors and producers, many of whom were women. As a result, for the last two decades it's often seemed that only female writers and artists are licensed to explore their sexual imaginations in our great cultural spaces. Yet outside policed arts spaces, ever more extreme online pornography and rampant misogynist influencers – including Andrew Tate – flourish unabated. Which begs the question: can an old hand like Eszterhas make compelling, original drama from these contradictions? On paper he has undeniable form as both a storyteller and shock-jock. However, he hasn't written a solo-authored, box office smash since Basic Instinct; you wonder if the Amazon execs have looked closely at the plot and dire reviews for Burn Hollywood Burn (his satire on the movie business, starring Eric Idle). My experience of using ageing rogues to write on sex for the Erotic Review in the late 1990s wouldn't necessarily fill anyone with confidence. The co-producer of Beyond the Fringe, Willie Donaldson, wrote about living with a brothel madam on the Fulham Road, while the novelist and screenplay writer Simon Raven (author of Alms for Oblivion) – who in his day could have given bad-boy Eszterhas a run for his money – kept submitting short stories that focussed on intergenerational incest. I'm very broad-minded, but it's long felt to me that male erotic fantasies often have a shorter shelf-life than female ones. This helps explain why Anais Nin is still a feted writer, while Henry Miller isn't. I can't help fretting that Eszterhas's twisted little man (some would say 'perv') may not be as fresh and youthful as he fancies. Only time and a script will tell. Meanwhile, it's worth reflecting that – for me at least – the worst-taste aspect of Basic Instinct is Michael Douglas wearing a grey v-neck sweater with nothing underneath it.
The Guardian
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Showgirls review – Paul Verhoeven's kitsch-classic softcore erotic drama is pure bizarreness
Martin Scorsese's Casino wasn't the only Las Vegas movie of 1995, there was also Showgirls – now on rerelease for its 30th anniversary – whose pure bizarreness has over three decades achieved its own identity, like Dick Van Dyke's cockney accent in Mary Poppins. It is the softcore erotic drama from screenwriter Joe Eszterhas and director Paul Verhoeven that has made a slow ascent from critical flop to kitsch cult favourite and now to a supposed tongue-out-of-cheek classic melodrama. Maybe it's the last great mainstream exploitation picture, a film which owns and flaunts its crassness; a bi-curious catfight version of All About Eve or Pretty Woman. Elizabeth Berkley plays Nomi, a mysterious, beautiful, super-sexy drifter who arrives in Vegas, hoping to make it dancing in one of the hotel shows. She is befriended by Molly (Gina Ravera), a good-natured pal whose help gets Nomi a start in a low-grade strip joint called Cheetah's. Nomi soon upgrades to the supposedly classier Stardust where she is dazzled by the gorgeousness of leading lady Cristal Connors, played by Gina Gershon with an entirely ridiculous way of addressing everyone as 'darlin'' in a Texas accent. Nomi has a sexual frisson with the club's owner Zack, played by Kyle MacLachlan (whose presence helps give the film a mild and accidental Lynchian flavour) and also with Cristal herself, whose understudy she aspires to be. Throughout it all, Nomi shows she is a survivor with a streak of ruthlessness. The question has to be asked. Why? Why? Why the strange, clenched, maniacal acting and directing, which Verhoeven never actually demonstrated before or ever again, and which really doesn't resemble any other 90s erotic thriller. It looks more like an erotic horror with the horror removed. Berkley's baffling performance, abruptly switching back and forth between sultry pouting and pop-eyed badass defiance, is that of a Stepford sexbot; though it has to be said it is managed, like the rest of the film, with a fanatically focused consistency and Berkley's onscreen appearance is impressive, even awe-inspiring in her trance-like beauty. Everything is deeply strange: the angular, jolting choreography, the persistent, repeated and pedantic revelation of naked breasts, and the grotesque treatment of ageing stripper Mama Bazoom, played by Lin Tucci, who is portrayed with absolute misogyny, though arguably no more so than anyone or anything else. Then there is the rape scene, which is not really redeemed by the rape-revenge scene. There is one tiny touch which gives Showgirls a kind of human dimension: poor out-of-towner Nomi buys herself a fancy gown and mispronounces the word 'Versace' as 'Ver-sayss' and is mocked by the sneery Vegas insiders (although Zack rather gallantly glosses over it). That whole moment seems to come from another film entirely. Are we rushing to clothe the naked emperor by contriving emollient or contrarian explanations for all this? Perhaps. (The hip young cinephiles in Mia Hansen-Løve's 2014 film Eden are shown debating whether the awfulness of Showgirls is deliberate.) It remains weirdly innocent in its absurdity. Showgirls is in UK and Irish cinemas from 6 June.
The Sun
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Nineties TV legend looks unrecognisable 32 years after teen telly fame as she poses with controversial Doctor Who star
THIS nineties TV legend looks totally unrecognisable 32 years after reaching telly fame as a teen. The sitcom star posed alongside a controversial Doctor Who actor at a fan convention in Palm Springs. 5 The 51-year-old rose to fame as a child star in 1989, joining the cast of the High School comedy, Saved by The Bell, where she played Jessie Spano for four years. Now over three decades later, Elizabeth Berkley looks like she's barely aged a day. At a fan convention, Elizabeth posed alongside controversial Doctor Who star John Barrowman. The pair embraced whilst then comically posing in the pics uploaded to John's Instagram. He wrote: 'I had no idea @elizberkley knew who I was. 'She is iconic and an ally. We chatted, laughed and hit some poses. Then the B**** pushed me down the invisible stairs! A new friendship has erupted.' Controversial John was sacked from ITV's Dancing On Ice in 2021 when historical sexual misconduct claims surfaced. He was accused of flashing at the cast on Doctor Who and its spin-off Torchwood where he appeared as Captain Jack Harkness between 2005 and 2011. Elizabeth is no stranger to controversy herself, after leaving Saved By The Bell to try to break into film, she got the role of Nomi Malone in the problematic 1995 film Showgirls. The saucy film which featured extensive nudity was widely slammed by critics, but over the years has gone on to become a cult classic. Star of hit nineties sitcom looks unrecognisable in popular drama - but can you guess who it is? Elizabeth, who has a PhD, went on to become a bestselling author with her self-help book, as well as appearing on the West End and Broadway and in TV shows like CSI: Miami. Fans took to the comments gushing over the pair, one user said: 'Two of my favorite celebrities, this is the collaboration of talent I've always wanted to see' 'Jessie Spano X Captain Jack!' chimed another. 'Love her!! Awesome pictures,' added a third. Other TV shows Elizabeth has appeared on include Titus and most recently the hit Netflix show Cobra Kai starring Ralph Macchio. The mom-of-one shares son Sky with actor, fashion designer and painter Greg Lauren. He is also the the nephew of the world renown fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Greg and Elizabeth tied the knot in 2003 after the duo met at a dance class three years prior. 5 5 5
