“Basic Instinct” was a landmark for erotic thrillers, and few of its kind have bested it since. Yet the true mystery remains just how intense the behind-the-scenes production for “Basic” really was.

Joe Eszterhas, the legendary screenwriter of “Basic Instinct,” the 1992 thriller that defined femme serial killers in film and made an icon of Sharon Stone, has closed a $4 million deal to write a ...