Paul Verhoeven: The Man and His Movies Quiz

Answer: The Netherlands

Paul Verhoeven was born in Amsterdam on July 18, 1938.

Answer: University of Leiden

He attended for six years, earning a doctorate in mathematics and physics in 1964. While attending, he also began making short films.

Answer: True

He served in the Dutch Royal Navy and was assigned to the Marine Film Service. His 23-minute documentary "Het Korps Mariniers" was honored with a French Silver Sun Award.

Answer: "Floris"

The series starred Rutger Hauer, who would go on to star in many of Verhoeven's features, as a knight in the late middle ages. All of the other answers are the names of spin-off books concerning the character.

Answer: "Wat Zien Ik?"

"Wat Zien Ik?" ("Any Special Way" or "Business is Business") is the story of two prostitutes who want to escape their profession. Released in 1971, it remains one of the highest-grossing Dutch films.

Answer: "Flesh and Blood"

"Flesh and Blood" (1985) starred Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Its story concerned knights in medieval Europe, cut down by plague and warfare in search of romance. The film was a modest success and won a Golden Calf Award in the Netherlands, but only hinted at his later string of smash hits.

Answer: "The Terminator"

The T-800's "arrival" theme from James Cameron's 1984 megahit was indeed used in Orion's "Robocop" trailers. ...Fitting, to say the least.

Answer: True

The director is seen twice: first in the disco scene, making a wild face into the camera; and also in the "6000 SUX" commercial, looking into the camera.

Answer: Philip K. Dick

Dick's short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" served (loosely) as the basis for this film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Harlan Ellison was credited with contributing to the concept of another Schwarzenegger film, "The Terminator". Robert Heinlein's novel "Starship Troopers" would later be filmed in grand fashion by Verhoeven. Bradbury adapted his own novel "Something Wicked This Way Comes" for Disney.

Answer: Vertigo

The resemblances are striking: the series of dresses worn by Sharon Stone is nearly identical to Kim Novak's in "Vertigo", and the famous "tower shot" is replicated. Verhoeven has professesed great admiration for Alfred Hitchcock, and it shows.

Answer: Showgirls

Arguably Verhoeven's most controversial film since 1980's "Spetters",
"Showgirls" (1995) was the first major studio film to be rated NC-17. It was originally supposed to starr Madonna and Drew Barrymore, but ended up with Elizabeth Berkley and Gina Gershon instead. It set a record for "Razzie" (Raspberry) Awards, given to films considered the worst of the year, with 13 nominations and seven wins.
"Showgirls" was a box-office failure, and was later denounced as having a "bad story" by Verhoeven himself.

Answer: Directed the shower scene in the nude

Verhoeven and cinematographer Jost Vacano shot one take of the shower scene nude on a dare from Dina Meyer, who played Dizzy Flores. Interestingly, Flores was a male in Heinlein's novel, and was killed early in the story.

Answer: True

I'm not sure if this impressive record has been surpassed yet.

Answer: It was donated to scientific researchers

Creating this model was quite an incredible feat. This was not generally regarded as one of Verhoeven's best films, but the special effects were unquestionably amazing.

Answer: Steven Spielberg

Spielberg reportedly told George Lucas he should consider Verhoeven as director for "Return of the Jedi", but Lucas refused, probably due to Verhoeven's rather lurid reputation. Interestingly, Spielberg and his elder Verhoeven both went on to create hugely succesful science-fiction films: "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (Sp.), "E.T." (Sp.), "Robocop" (Vh.), "Total Recall" (Vh.), "Jurassic Park" (Sp.),
"Starship Troopers" (Vh.), "Hollow Man" (Vh.), "A.I." (Sp.), and
"Minority Report" (Sp.). It may come as a surprise, then, that Verhoeven has said: "To tell you the truth, I hate science-fiction!" He claims the only reason "Robocop" was made is that his wife took the script out of the wastebasket!

Answer: False

Verhoeven has worked with both Jost Vacano and Jan de Bont. De Bont, who went on to direct such films as "Speed" and "Twister", served as cinematographer on some of Verhoeven's early Dutch films, including
"De Worstelaar", "Wat Zien Ik?", "Turks Fruit", "Keetje Tippel", and
"De Vierde Man"; and also the American films "Flesh + Blood" and
"Basic Instinct". Jost Vacano was cinematographer for Dutch hits
"Soldaat Van Oranje" and "Spetters", as well as American smashes
"Robocop", "Total Recall", "Starship Troopers", "Hollow Man", and, um..."Showgirls".

Answer: "Basic Instinct"

"Basic Instinct" had an adjusted gross of $160.5 million. "Total Recall" was a very close second, with $159.8 million. Please note that both films star Sharon Stone. Hmm...

Answer: "Hollow Man"

"Hollow Man" had a $26.4 million opening. Again, "Total Recall" follows closely behind, with a $25.5 million opening. Interestingly,
"Basic Intinct" had a moderately weak opening, with $15.1 million. I suppose that was one of those movies that people saw later based on
"word-of-mouth" reviews. Also of note: "Robocop" had an $8 million opening, while "Showgirls" made $8.1 million. Of course, Verhoeven wasn't very well-known in 1987.

Answer: False

Although Stone has reportedly been "desperate" to star in another Verhoeven film, the director has called her "a nightmare" and "a liar", but has also considered that she's possibly settled down now that she has a child.

Answer: False

In 2003-2004, Verhoeven began work on "Zwartboek", a World War II thriller co-written by Gerard Soeteman and produced by San Fu Maltha. The film has a budget of 9 million euro, and *ahem* "shooting" was announced to begin in late 2004.