Emerald Fennell ‘Not Involved in Any Way’ in ‘Basic Instinct’ Reboot, Contradicting Writer Joe Eszterhas Claims

Director Emerald Fennell won’t be dusting off the ice pick.

The “Promising Young Woman” and “Saltburn” filmmaker loves to push the envelope and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas insisted that her attraction for transgressive storytelling was leading her to… “Basic Instinct 3“? But a representative for the filmmaker commented that “there’s no truth in this. She is not involved in any way.”

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Eszterhas, who gave the world Catherine Tramell in 1992’s “Basic Instinct,” as well as Jennifer Beals’ steel worker/dancer in 1994’s “Flashdance,” claimed in a new interview with the Guardian that Fennell was in talks to board the project. Eszterhas announced last year that he was writing a “Basic Instinct” reboot.

“The producers are negotiating with a really interesting director — a Brit, Emerald Fennell — who did ‘Promising Young Woman’ and ‘Wuthering Heights,'” Eszterhas told the paper. “Her sensibility is exactly right. She’s someone who is not afraid of controversy and sexuality. So I’m thrilled by that. I hope it works out.”

Perhaps Eszterhas has his Brits confused?

Amazon MGM reportedly shelled out $4 million for Eszterhas’ script, and a spokesperson for the studio denies the claim Fennell is negotiating to direct, calling it “categorically false.” Earlier, Eszterhas, who established a reputation as a kind of Bard of smut with ’90s films like “Showgirls” and “Sliver,” said that his reboot of “Basic Instinct” would be “anti-woke.”

Fennell, as Eszterhas correctly states, most recently adapted “Wuthering Heights,” casting Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie as moor-torn lovers. The film was a hit, earning $239 million on its $80 million budget.

Sharon Stone, who starred in the first “Basic Instinct,” reprised her role as Tramell, a novelist with a kinky, possibly killer streak, in the doleful “Basic Instinct 2.” It was a massive bomb when it opened in 2006. That film was written by Leora Barish and Henry Bean, not Eszterhas. As the Guardian notes, Stone isn’t interested in returning for more psychosexual brinksmanship.

“There’s not going to be a ‘Basic Instinct’ reboot,” Stone told the outlet last summer. “I hate to break it to you, but Joe Eszterhas couldn’t write himself out of a Walgreens drug store.”

Sounds like Eszterhas has a fan!

(Updated: 11:30 am ET)