I knew he was funny but I didn't think he could write comedy

Sharon Stone

He also recalls a former agent telling him: "We used to have a saying. 'Put Sharon Stone in the room alone with the director and she'll close the deal.'"

Stone, 42, hit back in a statement, saying: "I think it's hilarious. I knew he was funny but I didn't think he could write comedy."

Sensual massage

The book is also said to include revelations about Michael Douglas, Sylvester Stallone and Richard Gere, but the tales about Stone have created the most interest.

He tells how the actress straddled him while not wearing any underwear and gave him a sensual back massage in front of Sliver's director Phillip Noyce, to persuade him to re-write a sex scene.

Eszterhas also claims Stone disliked Sliver co-star William Baldwin so much she bit his tongue during a screen kiss, and would use mouthwash after kissing him.

The crew of one of her early films is said to have taken such a dislike to her that they urinated in a bath she was supposed to use in a scene.

But Eszterhas says he is out to celebrate Stone, not put her down, and also includes a lurid description of how they had sex "stoned out of our minds" after the release of Basic Instinct.

The screenwriter, whose career nose-dived after his 1995 film flop Showgirls, calls Stone "the greatest American sex symbol since Marilyn Monroe", and the "ripest of ripe peaches, the apotheosis of the curvy, beauty pageant blond."

Stone recently adopted a baby boy, Roan, with her husband, newspaper editor Phil Bronstein.

She has also signed up to appear in a sequel to Basic Instinct - which does not involve Eszterhas.