Action man Paul gets real
 | | Paul Verhoeven - breaking out |
I'M not necessarily turning my back on Hollywood," says director Paul Verhoeven of returning to his Dutch roots for new film Black Book. "I just see it as a pause to do something very dear to me."
On the face of it, Black Book seems like a world away from the Hollywood fantasies - such as Robocop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers - that made his name. And that's the point, it seems.
For Verhoeven the decision to make his new movie in Holland and tackle a very real subject proved to be a liberating experience.
Inspired by real events, the film centres on beautiful Jewish singer Rachel Steinn (Carice von Houten) who joins the Dutch resistance to find out who betrayed her family after they are killed in an attempt to escape the Nazis.
"The tendency in Hollywood is to use me in the science fiction field," says the chatty 68-year-old. "I started making films in Holland based on reality and I just thought I should get out of sci-fi."
The jump from make-believe to confronting some disturbing home truths about Nazi collaboration in his native Holland couldn't have been bigger but it didn't faze Verhoeven.
"The film's not controversial in Holland. The Dutch knew things had happened that were not so great.
"In fact you might make an argument that the making of the movie had to do with American foreign policy. The Americans were misled a little over Iraq and hopefully it is good for them to see that other countries have also been very bad."
Verhoeven too has had his fair share of critics - particularly about the way he gets on with actresses.
"I'm always extremely nice to actors and particularly actresses," says the director categorically. "It might be a misunderstanding about my tone but Carice would be positive about me, I think, and she did a lot of things in this movie because of her trust in me. During this movie, I behaved like a gentlemen.
"Some actors though, have voiced opinions of me which aren't that nice."
There can be only one actress that he can be talking about: Sharon Stone. The star of his erotic thriller, Basic Instinct, spoke out against Verhoeven regarding the film's famous leg-crossing interrogation scene, saying she was duped into not wearing any underwear for it.
"There was a moment when we liked each other," he says. "Before doing that shot she took off her knickers and gave them to me as a present - then afterwards she said she didn't know."
Stone went on to star in Basic Instinct 2, a film that Verhoeven had the opportunity to direct but eventually passed on.
"There have been many attempts to do Basic Instinct 2. People were trying to make it work but I had two problems - it was set in London and I thought that was a mistake. And secondly what was highly underestimated was what Michael Douglas did for the movie. She couldn't wipe the floor with him and I insisted on someone of Michael's charismatic level. They said that's not necessary and I decided to pass. I saw the movie and I was right."
Certainly the decision to go Dutch and make Black Book seems like the right one - not just for Verheoven himself but for Holland's film industry.
"I wanted to do something international. The idea was to break out of the usual small Dutch movie so we all could learn something. There were bigger lighting scenes then the crew had ever done - they really appreciated that." - JUSTIN MATLOCK
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