Sharon Stone has said the opening scene of new film Basic Instinct 2, where she is trapped underwater in a car, was the hardest stunt of her career.
The actress, 47, refused to have a stand-in for dangerous scenes, she told a press conference ahead of the film's London premiere.
Disaster almost struck when Stone's heel became caught in the submerged vehicle as she tried to escape.
"It was physically very difficult to be underwater for so long," said Stone.
"It's psychologically very oppressive."
She said that she and co-star, ex-footballer Stan Collymore, put their lives in each other's hands while recording the scene.
"We were each other's life support to make that scene work and to literally survive what was a really dangerous stunt."
A follow-up to the original Basic Instinct of 1992, it also stars UK actor David Morrissey.
Like the 1992 film, it contains a great deal of raunchy content.
'Unabashed and provocative'
Stone, who is 48, said she thought the movie proved women aged over 40 could be sexy.
"I think it's so different in Europe where you have only to walk down the street and remember you're a woman," she said.
"In America we tend to erase women after 40, and it's a period when women become their most interesting. They are sexual in a different and alluring way.
"This film expresses that sexual allure in an unabashed and provocative way, in a way that is gritty and dangerous and quite presumptive."
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