Stone reportedly has an IQ of 153, but, and to Mensa's apparent relief, a few years ago she finally admitted she isn't, in fact, a member. But who needs brains when you've got money?

She was paid $14 million US to reprise her role as Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct 2 in what was a "pay or play" arrangement, meaning she got paid whether the film was ultimately made or not. Sounds ingenious, anyway.

However, early buzz on the oft-delayed sequel to Stone's breakthrough 1992 film in which she co-starred alongside Michael Douglas hasn't been good. Newsweek has said it's on par with Showgirls on the badness scale and that Stone's performance is so over the top it turns the movie into a "must-see diva extravaganza."

BI2 has received poor promotion and few press screenings, which is almost always a sign the studio knows it's got a dog on its hands - the dog being the movie, not Stone, who's still pretty hot at 48.

But Stone has made some pretty bone-headed career choices. Among the more recent of which was her turn in 2004's Catwoman, which starred Halle Berry, who earned an Oscar as best actress in 2002 for Monster's Ball. Stone lost out on the best-actress Oscar for Casino in 1995 but she did win the Golden Globe.

Aside from working with esteemed director Martin Scorsese on Casino, much of Stone's resume from the 1990s plays out like a bunch of Basic Instinct knockoffs, including Sliver, Intersection and Diabolique. Another big payday awaited her in The Specialist (which co-starred Sylvester Stallone), along with more critical lambasting.

Stone couldn't seem to escape being typecast as a blonde bombshell. However, in recent years and with the onset of middle age, she seems more apt to take creative chances. Last year, she had a guest spot on TV's Will & Grace and she played against type in the Bill Murray-starring Broken Flowers --admirably, she portrayed a once-hot blonde who was past her prime.

It seems unlikely Basic Instinct 2 will do much to vindicate Stone's acting ability but, hopefully, after landing so much bank she'll be inclined to take smaller roles that don't hinge on her star power. But her completing the trilogy to King Solomon's Mines and Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold might be pretty cool. Her co-star in those films, Richard Chamberlain, could do with a big-screen comeback himself.

- She also recently paid a visit to Israel, offering to kiss "just about anybody" to end the Israel-Arab conflict. Her trip was sponsored by the Peres Center for Peace, founded by Nobel Peace laureate Shimon Peres in 1996 to improve relations with Arabs.

- Before Stone was offered the starring role, the part had been turned down by many Hollywood A-listers, including Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Kim Basinger, Emma Thompson, Michelle Pfeiffer and Greta Scacchi.

- Director Paul Verhoeven offered Stone the role, because he liked her performance in Total Recall (1990), in which she played an evil character pretending to be innocent.

- Stone claimed she had no idea Verhoeven was filming up her dress during the interrogation scene. She said when she saw the rushes, she slapped him across the face and ordered him to remove the shot. Verhoeven denies this.

- The sex scenes in the film were so choreographed, Stone began referring to herself and Douglas as the "horizontal Fred and Ginger of the '90s."

- Because of its explicit and supposedly negative portrayals of gays and lesbians, 50 San Francisco Police Department riot police had to be present at every filming location to deal with picketing activists.

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