Michael Douglas on long-rumored Paul Verhoeven feud: ‘Wanted to hit him’
Michael Douglas is setting the record straight on the long-running rumor he hit Basic Instinct director Paul Verhoeven during a heated argument—so what really went down?
It happened inside a trailer on the set of Basic Instinct: a screaming match, a door flung open, and director Paul Verhoeven rushing out with blood on his face. That image set off years of whisper campaigns that Michael Douglas had taken a swing at his director. In his new memoir, Douglas says the rumor got the most important part wrong.
“I might have wanted to hit him, but I swear I never touched him. I would never do such a thing to my director!”
Douglas writes in One Helluva Ride that as an A‑list star and seasoned producer, he was used to easing off while directors worked closely with less experienced actors. On this movie, he felt Verhoeven pushed that dynamic too far with co-star Sharon Stone, giving her what he saw as preferential attention. When Douglas confronted him, he recalls Verhoeven telling him he was completely out of line.
Douglas adds that fists were already a theme around the project.
“There had already been more than enough threats of fistfights around this film, ”
he writes, according to Entertainment Weekly, which first reported the excerpt.
Verhoeven’s side
After the memoir’s release, Verhoeven’s representative issued a statement to Entertainment Weekly downplaying any notion of a brawl. The director viewed the blow-up as “general tension on the set due to a difficult scene,” the statement said, and confirmed it never turned physical.
According to the statement, the stress of the exchange caused an artery in Verhoeven’s nose to burst. He left the trailer to find the on-set doctor, was taken to the hospital, and filming stopped for several days. When he returned, production kept him on a reduced schedule while he recovered — a rough stretch the director chalked up to making a provocative erotic thriller under heavy studio pressure.