Verhoeven’s Apex is disputed: Starship Troopers is preferred for its later reputation, while Basic Instinct is defended for its cultural impact, commercial success and creation of a star. — Bill Simmons
Apex affirmatives are Stone, Eszterhas and erotic thrillers; Douglas and San Francisco films receive no, while ceiling sex mirrors are qualified by later MTV Cribs examples. — Bill Simmons
Freeze-frame moments are discussed with a Phoebe Cates counterexample; Tripplehorn’s peak is debated against The Firm, Coke and Jack Daniel’s receives assent, elevator murders loses to Dressed to Kill, and male-star nudity is proposed with Gibson, Costner and Willis comparisons.
The resumed Apex discussion endorses ice picks and women on top; sex with a therapist is proposed but compared with The Sopranos and The Prince of Tides.
Weak link: the harassment scheme is unnecessary to framing Tom for the failed CD-ROMs, although it is necessary to the movie's premise and marketing. — Bill Simmons
One participant names the wife as weak link, arguing that she adds little and inconsistently supports Tom; another participant had her under aged worst. The suggestion that Tom should instead partner with Meredith begins here. — Bill Simmons
The wife is criticized for insufficient anger and inconsistent characterization, unlike Jeanne Tripplehorn's Basic Instinct character, who continually exposes the protagonist's nature. — Bill Simmons
A defense reads the wife's doubt as showing how harassment victims are questioned even by loved ones. Dennis Miller's response is compared with victim-blaming arguments heard in the 1990s; the hosts explicitly reject those arguments as excuses. — Bill Simmons
The wife is still judged too forgiving, with a proposed scene of renewed anger over mundane requests such as coffee. — Bill Simmons
Moore is considered miscast, but that mismatch is defended as entertaining; a straighter Julianne Moore performance might make the film less fun. — Bill Simmons
Jo exemplifies an emotional-support female lead whose main function is to affirm the male protagonist, compared with Jeanne Tripplehorn in The Firm.
Moore and Cruise are considered watchable together but lacking sexual chemistry; Moore’s difficulty with Sorkin’s dialogue is contrasted with Cruise’s command of it.
Semen at Boz's crime scene; erection after death; Gus's survival in thrillers; slowest elevator; Manny Vasquez's killer; Jeanne Tripplehorn's career; how long Nick and Catherine lasted; Nick not reading her ending; Nick's calluses; silent traffic in the chase; Nick as a tail; unseen headlines; Catherine and Nick's wife; purpose of the Beth scene; ending with Nick's death; Catherine's writing speed
Director's cuts generally seem a rip-off, adding a few seconds of shots rather than crazy material. — Bill Simmons
The director's cut differs in three scenes: a more violent opening murder, a longer Nick-Beth rape scene, and different angles in the main sex scene including the oral sex. — Mallory Rubin
The main sex scene was reportedly filmed for five days of 10-hour shoots because Douglas feared edits; Verhoeven choreographed every movement with storyboards.
Per the research, no body doubles were used in any of the sex scenes. — Bill Simmons
Per the research, Verhoeven had a lesbian sex scene rewritten after the screenwriter called it exploitative; four rewrites followed before he was brought back. — Bill Simmons
The Douglas-Tripplehorn sex scene was reportedly filmed while the performers thought they were rehearsing and kept in the final cut; the far-back camera is noted. — Bill Simmons
The screenwriter said he based Catherine on a go-go dancer in Ohio who pulled a .22 on him in a hotel room. — Bill Simmons
The screenwriter wrote in his book Hollywood Animal that he had a one-nighter with Sharon Stone after release; the recounting is called ungentlemanly. — Bill Simmons
He also said Nick was based on a cop he knew from his newspaper days. — Mallory Rubin
The script was apparently written in 10 days with no outline. — Bill Simmons
Wilford Brimley is argued for, but the others put his peak in the Cocoon and The Natural era, since this is against-type Brimley rather than the quintessence.
Jeanne Tripplehorn is a yes: Basic Instinct, then Tom Cruise's wife in a huge hit, then Waterworld; Big Love is considered but rejected.
Holly Hunter is a yes for most, with this and The Piano out the same year, though one host prefers Broadcast News, which prompts a tangent on that film and William Hurt.
John Grisham is a yes: three of the top six bestseller spots, a Tom Cruise movie and seven more coming, although he has published a book every year since 1991; The Pelican Brief is called rough.
The take is that Tripplehorn was better than Holly Hunter in this film; the others agree she is very good in a part that is not easy and gives a real sense of who Abby is.
Hackman's name was left off the poster over Cruise's above-the-title deal; the ending differs from the book; Tripplehorn dated Ben Stiller for six years; Pollack voices the prison warden; a 2012 TV series continued the story; the Hyatt Regency Grand Cayman was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan; Hackman has not made a film since 2004
Gene Hackman's name did not appear on the release poster because Cruise's Paramount deal allowed only his name above the title; Hackman asked to be removed entirely and appears only in the end credits.
The ending differs significantly from the book, where Mitch swindles ten million from the firm and there is a manhunt; Jeanne Tripplehorn dated Ben Stiller for six years, and the hosts think she was a nineties face who had a better career than remembered, including Big Love, with one calling her better than Holly Hunter here.
Sidney Pollack voices the prison warden on the phone to Ed Harris's agent; a 2012 TV series picked up Mitch ten years later; the Cayman hotel was the Hyatt Regency Grand Cayman, destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and later demolished.
Hackman's last film was Welcome to Mooseport in 2004; Grantland accidentally made people think he had died through a headline Sean Fennessey wrote; Tarantino wanted him for the Robert Forster role in Jackie Brown; a 2018 bicycling article shows him at 88 riding an electric bike in New Mexico.
