Paul Verhoeven (Dutch:[ˈpʌulvərˈɦuvə(n)]; born 18 July 1938) is a Dutch filmmaker, who has worked variously in the Netherlands, the United States, and in France.[1] He is known for directinggenre films with strongsatirical elements, often featuring graphic violence and sexual content.[1] Many of his films are considered provocative, and were controversial when released.[1]
In 1985, Verhoeven made his first Hollywood filmFlesh and Blood and later had a successful career in the United States, directing science fiction films such asRoboCop (1987),Total Recall (1990),Starship Troopers (1997) andHollow Man (2000), as well as the erotic thrillerBasic Instinct (1992). He also directed the 1995 filmShowgirls, which was critically panned on initial release but has developed acult following and undergone critical re-evaluation.[3][4][5][6]
Paul Verhoeven was born inAmsterdam on 18 July 1938,[8] the son of a schoolteacher, Wim Verhoeven, and ahatmaker, Nel van Schaardenburg. Despite what is sometimes reported, he is not related to German filmmakerMichael Verhoeven, whose father was also namedPaul Verhoeven.
In 1943, the family moved toThe Hague, the location of the German headquarters in the Netherlands duringWorld War II. The Verhoeven house was near a German military base withV1- and V2-rocket launchers, which was repeatedly bombed by Allied forces. Their neighbours' house was hit and Verhoeven's parents were almost killedwhen bombs fell on a street crossing. From this period, Verhoeven mentioned in interviews, he remembers images of violence, burning houses, dead bodies on the street, and continuous danger. As a small child, he experienced the war as an exciting adventure, and has compared himself with the character Bill Rowan inHope and Glory (1987).[9]
Verhoeven's father became headteacher at the Van Heutszschool in The Hague, and Paul attended this school.[10] Sometimes the two watched informative films at home with the school'sfilm projector.
Verhoeven and his father went to seeThe War of the Worlds (1953) ten times. Verhoeven was a fan of the Dutch comicDick Bos, a private detective who fights crime usingjujutsu. Verhoeven liked comic drawing; he createdThe Killer, a character in a detailed story of revenge. Other fiction he liked includedFrankenstein and theEdgar Rice BurroughsBarsoom series.[9]
Verhoeven made his first filmÉén hagedis teveel ("One Lizard Too Many") for the anniversary of his students' corps in 1960.[12] In his last years at university Verhoeven also attended classes at theNetherlands Film Academy. After this he made three more short films:Nothing Special (1961),The Hitchhikers (1962) andLet's Have a Party (1963).
Verhoeven has not professionally used his mathematics and physics degree, opting instead to invest his energies in a career in film. After his studies, he entered theRoyal Dutch Navy as a conscript. He made the documentaryHet Korps Mariniers ("The Marine Corps", 1965), which won the French 'Golden Sun' award for military films.[9]
Verhoeven on the set ofFloris (1968)
When he left the Navy, Verhoeven took his skills to Dutch television. First, he made a documentary aboutAnton Mussert titledMussert (1968). His first major success was the 1969 television seriesFloris, starringRutger Hauer in the title role. The concept ofFloris was inspired by foreign series such asIvanhoe andThierry La Fronde.
Verhoeven's first feature filmBusiness Is Business was released in 1971 and was not well received. His first national success came in 1973 withTurkish Delight, starring Rutger Hauer andMonique van de Ven. Based on a novel by bestselling Dutch authorJan Wolkers,Turkish Delight tells the passionate love story of an artist and a young liberal girl from a conservative background. It received anAcademy Award nomination forBest Foreign Language Film in 1974. In 1999, the film won aGolden Calf for Best Dutch Film of the Century.Katie Tippel (1975) again featured Hauer and van de Ven, but it did not match the success ofTurkish Delight.
Verhoeven (center) in 1983
Verhoeven built on his reputation and achieved international success with theGolden Globe-nominatedSoldier of Orange (1977),[13] starring Rutger Hauer andJeroen Krabbé. Based on a true story about the Dutch resistance inWorld War II, it was written byErik Hazelhoff Roelfzema.Soldier of Orange received the 1979 LA Film Critics Award for best foreign-language film, and it was also nominated for a Golden Globe in 1980.
In 1980, Verhoeven madeSpetters withRenée Soutendijk and Rutger Hauer. The story is sometimes compared toSaturday Night Fever, but it has more explicit violence and sexuality (in this case also homosexuality), which are sometimes seen as the director's trademarks.The Fourth Man (1983) is a horror film starring Jeroen Krabbé and Renée Soutendijk. It was written byGerard Soeteman from a novel by the Dutch writerGerard Reve, and was Verhoeven's last Dutch production untilBlack Book (2006).The Seattle Times praised Verhoeven by saying he "often appears to be a one-man Dutch movie industry".[14]The San Diego Union-Tribune called Verhoeven "a busy bee whose movies pollinate the festival circuit".[15]
Gerard Soeteman also wrote the script for Verhoeven's first English-language film,Flesh and Blood (1985), which starred Rutger Hauer andJennifer Jason Leigh. Verhoeven moved to Hollywood for a wider range of opportunities in filmmaking. Working in the U.S., he made a serious change in style, directing big-budget, violent, special-effects-heavy hitsRoboCop (1987) andTotal Recall (1990) — each of which won anAcademy Special Achievement Award:RoboCop for Sound Effects Editing andTotal Recall for Visual Effects.
Verhoeven followed those successes withBasic Instinct (1992), an erotic thriller. The film's most notorious scene showsSharon Stone's character in a police interrogation, where she uncrosses her legs, briefly revealing her vulva (she does not wear underwear underneath her skirt). The film received two Academy Award nominations, for Film Editing and for Original Music, and was the ninth-highest-grossing film of the year.[16]
During this time, Verhoeven also worked on creating an historical epic based around theCrusades that would have starredArnold Schwarzenegger. It went into pre-production in 1993, but a year later the studio backing it,Carolco, pulled funding for the project. Verhoeven would continue to discuss it throughout the 1990s.[17][18][19]
Verhoeven's next film was the poorly received,NC-17-ratedShowgirls (1995), about a stripper inLas Vegas trying to make a career as a showgirl. It won sevenGolden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Film and Worst Director; Verhoeven became the first director to accept his award in person. To date, he is one of the few people to haveaccepted their Golden Raspberry awards in person, and the first to directly attend the ceremony to receive it.Showgirls enjoyed a large amount of success on thehome video market, generating more than $100 million from video rentals,[20] and became one ofMGM's top twenty all-time bestsellers.[21]
AfterBasic Instinct andShowgirls, Verhoeven returned to the science fiction genre, utilizing the graphic violence and special-effects tropes that had marked his earlier films, makingStarship Troopers (1997), loosely based on the novel of the same name byRobert A. Heinlein,[22] as well asHollow Man (2000). Each film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects. He also served as an executive producer on an animated TV series calledRoughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles, which was based on the movie and novel ofStarship Troopers.[23] The series only ran for a single season, from August 1999 until April 2000.
After about twenty years of working and living in the United States, Verhoeven returned to the Netherlands for the shooting of a new film. Together with his screenwriterGerard Soeteman, Verhoeven madeBlack Book (2006). The director was hailed by the host of theNetherlands Film Festival with the words "The return of a hero".[24]Black Book won sixGolden Calves at this festival, including Best Director.[25] When the shooting ofBlack Book was delayed due to financial issues, there was speculation about a new production.Beast of Bataan had been announced, but once the shooting forBlack Book resumed, the other film was not made.
SinceBlack Book, Verhoeven has been connected to a large number of projects, but in the first decade after his return, none came to fruition. Some of those titles were produced with other directors at the helm, such asThe Paperboy. In 2016, however, Verhoeven followedBlack Book by directing a French film:Elle, an adaptation of a novel byPhilippe Djian. A psychological thriller in whichIsabelle Huppert plays a rape victim,Elle was selected for the Official Competition at the Cannes International Film Festival, where it obtained very favourable reviews.
In December 2016, it was announced that Verhoeven would be the president of the jury for the67th Berlin International Film Festival, scheduled to take place in February 2017.[27]
Verhoeven is currently preparing his next film,Young Sinner, which reunites him withRoboCop screenwriterEdward Neumeier. An erotic political thriller, it is set in Washington DC and is about a "young staffer who works for a powerful Senator [and] is drawn into a web of international intrigue and danger."[33] Verhoeven hoped to begin shootingYoung Sinner in 2024.[34]
Verhoeven was a member of theJesus Seminar,[35] and he was the only member who does not have a degree inbiblical studies.[36] He graduated with a degree in mathematics and physics from the University of Leiden.[37][38] Since he is not a professional biblicalexegete, his membership in the Jesus Seminar has occasionally been cited by opponents of the Seminar as a sign that this group is less scholarly than it claims. For example,Luke Timothy Johnson criticizes the Jesus Seminar's methods onexegetical grounds, and also criticizes what he perceives to be a dependence on the theatrical and an attempt to manipulate the mainstream media. He singles out Verhoeven as a key player in the media activities of the Jesus Seminar.[39] On the other hand, some Jesus Seminar members were unhappy with Verhoeven's portrayal of Jesus as aneschatologicalprophet.[40]
In 2007, Verhoeven wrote the bookJesus of Nazareth (Dutch:Jezus van Nazaret) about the life of Jesus of Nazareth.[41] The book reviews the ideas of Jesus ofNazareth and the alleged corruption of these same ideas over the last 2,000 years. Co-written with Verhoeven's biographer Rob Van Scheers, the book is the culmination of the research Verhoeven conducted in preparation forJesus: The Man, a motion picture about the life of Christ.[36] The book tells about the Jewish uprising against Roman rule and characterizes Jesus as a radical political activist, downplaying any supernatural events and miracles as unproved or unprovable.Jesus of Nazareth: A Realistic Portrait was released in September 2008 in Dutch, and was published in English in May 2010 bySeven Stories Press.[42]
^abcTestelmans, Rob (2003)."Een beetje oorlog, best spannend" [A little war, quite exciting].De cinema van Paul Verhoeven: voorbij de controverse (in Dutch). Retrieved17 October 2006.
^Hakkenes, Emiel (24 October 2008)."Verhoeven is niet echt zeer geleerd".Trouw.Zijn academische titel zou Verhoeven behaald hebben aan de Universiteit Leiden. Maar is hij wel gepromoveerd? "Dan zouden wij een proefschrift van hem moeten hebben", zegt een woordvoerder van de universiteit. "Dat is niet het geval." English translation: Verhoeven would have received his academic degree at the University of Leiden. But did he receive a doctor's degree? "Then we should have a dissertation", says a spokesperson of the university. "This is not the case."
^Shaw, Dan (January 2003)."Paul Verhoeven".Senses of Cinema.Archived from the original on 17 November 2007. Retrieved28 November 2007.
