Paul Verhoeven

michael

Bring out the vacuum
Starship Troopers was on TV last night in Oz... it's pretty damn funny, with the satire being even more blatant now.

I remember at the time friends having heated discussions about the idea that it was just a really, really dumb action flick with incidentally fascistic overtones cos that's what Heinlein was like. I feel vindicated, having found this interview with Paul Verhoeven just now, which has this fairly interesting comment about it:

Five years ago, most of the critics totally trashed that movie. They called me a nazi, saying I was idolizing Leni Riefenstahl. Now, that image has totally changed. A lot of people see now that the film is about the United States. The whole situation in Afghanistan is almost an exact copy of STARSHIP TROOPERS; the whole gung ho-mentality of bombing everything, blasting the Taliban-forces out of the caves. I put all that in STARSHIP TROOPERS! The corrupted atmosphere of propaganda, once invented by Goebbels, has now taken over the United States as well. It's extremely interesting to see how the media can besiege an entire nation with propaganda.

Apparently the DVD commentary is explicit about parts that deliberately emulate The Triumph Of The Will and things like that, from what I've read on the web today.

Verhoeven also mentions that of the 6 films he did in the States, 3 were not totally mainstream - Starship Troopers, Robocop and Showgirls. The first two are the only Verhoeven films I've seen, but I've heard a lot of really bad things about Showgirls and have no interest in seeing his straight genre flicks.

Does anyone have any comments on Showgirls? Are Verhoeven's earlier films of any interest?

Actually, he slags Showgirls himself later in that interview...
 

cortempond

Active member
Verhoeven's Masterpiece? - 4th Man

If anyone is interested into entering the twisted world of Paul Verhoeven, I would recommend looking at the Fourth Man. It is a brilliant psycho-sexual thriller that has some incredible visuals and a halluncinatory, surreal feel to it. Then Soldier Of Orange, Spetters, Robocop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers.

If you are watching his films on DVD, make sure you listen to the commentary tracks. Verhoeven is a riot to listen to, as well as very detailed about every aspect of the film. Very educational, informative and funny as hell. Def. get Starship Troopers just for the commentary tracks.
 

MBM

Well-known member
Robocop was on TV late last Sunday. It is a wonderfully crude satire on corporate greed and its relationship to state power.
 

DigitalDjigit

Honky Tonk Woman
Wow...Robocop as satire, something I've never thought of. Of course not something you would expect from an eight year-old. Definitely want to rewatch it (and Troopers) now.
 

michael

Bring out the vacuum
DigitalDjigit said:
Wow...Robocop as satire, something I've never thought of. Of course not something you would expect from an eight year-old. Definitely want to rewatch it (and Troopers) now.
Yeah, although I didn't think about the significance at the time, the bits that are ingrained in my memory from Robocop are the pistake ads that are scattered throughout - "I'll buy that for a dollar!" Well, that and ED-209 malfunctioning and mincing that guy in the board room.

Mind you, neither movie is purely about the satire - I think they had to be primarily sci-fi action films to get them made in Hollywood.
 

nonseq

Well-known member
Def. check out The Fourth Man, my favourite Verhoeven!

Yesterday I saw Keetje Tippel, Verhoeven's honest take on Amsterdam at the end of he 19th C. Interlocking the personal and the political, this engaging true story of a poor peasant girl trying to survive in the rough city of Amsterdam, is a honest depiction of the class injustice and social turmoil of those times. At times depressing, it often shines with the joie de vivre of Keetje, played by the lovely Monique van de Ven.
 

Melchior

Taking History Too Far
Man... showgirls was awful. Just terrible. Completely pointless and shit.

Starship Troopers is one of my favourite films however. Fantastic satire while still being a reasonable genre flick. And I've got to admit that I have a large soft spot for average fanasy and sci-fi films.

Michael, I'm amazed that anyone with a modicum of intelligence couldn' see that ST was more of a satire on Heinlein than a homage. I mean, it's not even a very subtle satire, given how over the top it is.
 

MBM

Well-known member
I mean, it's not even a very subtle satire, given how over the top it is.

I don't think Paul Verhoeven has ever really gone for subtle.
 
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michael

Bring out the vacuum
Yeah, it's all really blatant.. heavy-handed even.. but I think the skepticism about the satirical elements was at least partially because of the way the movie was marketed at the time, ie. very much "everything explodes!!" type stuff from the maker of Robocop and Total Recall.
 

Melchior

Taking History Too Far
michael said:
Yeah, it's all really blatant.. heavy-handed even.. but I think the skepticism about the satirical elements was at least partially because of the way the movie was marketed at the time, ie. very much "everything explodes!!" type stuff from the maker of Robocop and Total Recall.

People should obviously not get taken in so much by advertising then...
 

polystyle

Well-known member
Verhoeven's Masterpiece? - 4th Man

If anyone is interested into entering the twisted world of Paul Verhoeven, I would recommend looking at the Fourth Man. It is a brilliant psycho-sexual thriller that has some incredible visuals and a halluncinatory, surreal feel to it. Then Soldier Of Orange, Spetters, Robocop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers.

If you are watching his films on DVD, make sure you listen to the commentary tracks. Verhoeven is a riot to listen to, as well as very detailed about every aspect of the film. Very educational, informative and funny as hell. Def. get Starship Troopers just for the commentary tracks.
Fourth Man def !
 

version

Well-known member
Basically everything he says in this is great,


Initially, I rejected the script because it was so different from what I’d been doing in the Netherlands. Later, on set, I was helped enormously by having one of the screenwriters, Ed Neumeier, with me at all times, preventing me from doing stupid stuff. There were so many moments where I could’ve gone wrong. In the script, somebody would say, “Hey brother”, and I would ask, “Who is the brother?”

I originally thought Nancy Allen, who was playing RoboCop’s partner Anne, should have a secret affair with him which was very Dutch of me. Ed wrote a new draft, but it didn’t work. It felt so un-American. If you look at RoboCop’s costume, there’s not much there in terms of genitals anyway.

We considered casting Arnold Schwarzenegger but thought he’d be too enormous once he got the costume on. We realised we needed to have somebody slim so we could build a really powerful robo-suit. It was important he had a good chin, though – it had to be really pronounced. Of course, acting was important, but I can’t deny Peter Weller’s chin was one of the main reasons he got the part.

On his first day with the suit, Peter went into makeup at 6am and we hoped to shoot around 9am. We finally started shooting at 4pm because he couldn’t walk in it. In the end, we had to halt shooting and work with him for two full days. He basically had to learn how to walk again.

The scene where Peter’s character is executed is extremely violent like a crucifixion. And what happens after is a kind of resurrection. I started to look at the movie in those terms – and I’m not a Christian. It was one of the reasons I have RoboCop walking over water when he kills Clarence Boddicker, the bad guy, at the end. I felt he was like the American Jesus – whereas Boddicker is evil personified. We even gave Boddicker glasses so he looked a bit like Heinrich Himmler – to indicate that he is ultra-evil.

When RoboCop tells Anne he can feel his family but can’t remember them, it’s beautiful. I think people feel the movie is not only science fiction but something with a certain warmth, too. RoboCop is a victim but he overcomes being victimised.
 
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