Paul Rudd is no Sharon Stone.
While filming Ant-Man, in theaters Friday, the actor tried—and failed—to recreate one of the actress' most iconic movie scenes while filming a scene of his own with their mutual co-star, Michael Douglas. Rudd, 46, recalled the embarrassing incident during an appearance on NBC's The Tonight Show Monday.
"He's the coolest. He's great. He's a legend. As great as he is, I could never, ever shake the fact that I was working with Michael Douglas. It's intimidating, and he's so nice," Rudd explained. "I didn't want him to think that I couldn't be myself, and I thought, 'I'm really going to try to be buddy-buddy with the guy.'"
"It was his last day and we were doing a close-up, and I thought, 'You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to Basic Instinct him.' When he's speaking I'm sitting in a chair across from him and I'm going to do the classic [leg crossover]. I didn't tell him. I didn't tell anybody! I get to set and they're getting ready. I'm wearing a T-shirt and jeans, so I unzip my pants and I get it over and out. I'm like, 'This is going to be great!'" Rudd told Jimmy Fallon. "So I had to pull my shirt down so I wasn't exposed. Then I figured I'm going to sit down and when the scene starts and I'm going to lift my shirt up and just be there like this."
"The one thing I didn't take into account is that when I sat down, the waistband of my boxers was just going to push it up and back in. So, I knew it. You couldn't see anything, so I'm trying to pull my shirt down, trying to get it out, and he's doing his lines, giving you nothing. Just really, a total pro. I'm really trying. I should have just stopped but it didn't and it looked like I was basically pleasuring myself to Michael Douglas giving a monologue. And I'm covering it and then he just stopped and he just looked at me and said, 'What are you, a f--cking pervert?' No smiles," Rudd said of his co-star's reaction. "I was like, 'Oh, I'm so sorry. I was trying to Basic Instinct you. I thought it'd be great.' He just went, 'Oh. OK.'"
Soon after, on NBC's Late Night, Douglas revealed that his 14-year-old son Dylan Douglas had actually watched the film Rudd was trying to reenact. "I said, what do you mean you saw Basic Instinct?"
"He realized once it slipped it out that somewhere, somehow—you know, Pay-Per-View, whatever you can do to see it—he backtracked very quickly," the 70-year-old Golden Globe winner told Seth Meyers. "He said, 'Well, maybe I didn't.' I said, 'Oh, yeah. You remember Sharon Stone?' 'Uh, no. No, I don't.'"
For his son, starring in Marvel's Ant-Man "was a tremendous deal," he explained. "My son turned into a 14-year-old agent. He was looking at me and he says, 'Dad, you don't understand. This is big in your career. This is a whole new audience for you. My friends may even want to go see one of your movies.'"
Douglas was eager to do the movie, even without his son's input.
"How often do you get the chance to talk to an ant on your shoulder?"
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