Jacques Rivette, Director "Like every Verhoeven film, [Showgirls is] very unpleasant: it's about surviving in a world populated by assholes, and that's his philosophy. [...] He loves clichés, and there's a comic strip side to Verhoeven, very close to Lichtenstein." Source: http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/16/rivette.html Mark Goldblatt, Editor (Showgirls, Starship Troopers, Hollow Man) "Paul is very demanding. Whereas a lot of people will accept something that's marginal, he won't. But the results usually speak for themselves because he gets top quality work." Source: "Death from Above" documentary, Starship Troopers DVD Tom Woodruff, Creature effects guy (Starship Troopers) "He just is so full of passion about what he's doing that he just goes and goes and goes and he just leaves everybody else physically exhausted." Source: "Death from Above" documentary, Starship Troopers DVD Kevin Yagher, Special visual effects (Starship Troopers) "He's one of those guys who's totally into what he's doing. He knows everything. I mean, we'd go through these meetings, and I'd leave these meetings feeling numb over all the things we had to build, and who was doing what, and he would seem to hold everything in his head." Source: "Death from Above" documentary, Starship Troopers DVD Paul Sammon, Science fiction historian "The public persona that Paul Verhoeven has is of this kind of like barely contained wild man who's always out there trying to show full frontal fornication and decapitations every moment he can. That may, in an exaggerated way, be a part of Paul's personality, but Paul is also a very serious man and a very intelligent man." Source: "Death from Above" documentary, Starship Troopers DVD Jon Davison, Producer (Robocop, Starship Troopers): "Paul Verhoeven is very much into these crucifixion-resurrection themes." Source: Illustrated essay from Robocop DVD Joe Eszterhas (Showgirls, Basic Instinct): "One of the things I respect most about Paul is that he will take a piece of material and he will say, 'We won't try to shade this'" Source: Showgirls DVD insert From arnolde: What are your thoughts on how Paul Verhoeven translated Basic Instinct into film? Eszterhas: I thought Paul directed Basic Instinct brilliantly. The movie was completely realized as I envisioned it in the screenplay. He is one of the few daring and envelope-pushing directors left in Hollywood. I consider myself blessed to have worked with him. From hoosier: How much of Sharon Stone's famous leg-crossing scene in Basic Instinct was her, and how much of it was your script? Eszterhas: Sharon's leg crossing without underwear is not in my script. It was Paul Verhoeven's inspiration. The previous scene in my script told the audience clearly that she was wearing no underwear. But it was Paul who decided to make that very, um, EVIDENT, in the movie. I happen to think it was a multimillion-dollar inspiration. Source: http://www.eonline.com/Celebs/Star/Eszterhas/ask2.html "Paul has this incredible talent to do movies with depth, and a talent to push the envelope. There is no one better at that as a director than Paul Verhoeven." Source: Behind the scenes featurette, Showgirls DVD Arnold Schwarzenegger (Total Recall): "Paul has a certain way of directing. He's very energetic and outrageous." Source: "Imagining Total Recall" feature, Total Recall DVD Denise Richards (Starship Troopers) on working with Paul: Tom asks: I'm a fan of Verhoeven's films. What was it like working with him? Denise says: Paul Verhoeven was great to work with. He's very passionate about his work. He's got a lot of energy,which helps with the cast and crew because it was a long shoot. He knew it was difficult for us to work with the green screen, so he would be off-camera jumping around and screaming like the bugs so that we would have something to react to. Sarah Joy asks: This film must have been fun to work on. Were there any interesting or funny incidences that occurred during the filming of 'Starship Troopers?' Denise says: In seven months? Yeah! Well, I wasn't in the shower scene, but apparently, PAUL [VERHOEVEN] and the Director of Photography took their clothes off during the scene. Source: http://www.deniseworld.com/chatstt.htm Kevin Bacon (Hollow Man) on working with Paul: Q: You've said it helps if you're going to play a mad scientist to have one around. What was it like working with a mad scientist like Paul Verhoeven? Bacon: That's right. ... That was Paul. ... First off, ... he's a trained physicist, I think. He has an amazingly scientific mind. You need to have a scientific mind to be able to handle this kind of effects [movie], [you need] an amazing amount of information. He is also very impassioned and really wild. Mercurial. Hitting the roof, laughing, screaming, acting like a gorilla. If you have an invisible gorilla that you have to relate to, he'll jump around and ... do a better job than the gorilla would do. And he likes to push the envelope. I think that in life, not unlike the character of Sebastian, he sort of thinks of the world in a very sexual way, and that's very evident from the movie, and it's very much in keeping with my character. He was great. Source: http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue172/interview.html Elisabeth Shue (Hollow Man) on working with Paul: Q: You've worked with some top-flight directors, and now you've added Paul Verhoeven to that list. Is he really a madman, like Kevin says? Shue: [Laughs] It's so funny he says that, because I call him a mad scientist. ... He's a beautiful madman, because his obsession is the film, and he's obsessed with how good the film will be, and how good you will be. So that kind of obsession is what motivates you and forces you to focus. So I can't imagine doing a film like this without someone like him. Source: http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue172/interview.html Maybe that timing has struck twice with the $100m budgeted Hollow Man, a big movie with Dutch director Paul Verhoeven at the helm. Shue agreed to do the film following her meeting with the director and having seen much of his work, including his often-reviled Showgirls. "I like to keep an open mind", she says laughingly when asked if she had seen the cult favourite. "I also read the Hollow Man script, which was very different, so I could see how this film would come out in his hands." Working with the controversial director was challenging at best. After all, Verhoeven is a director who thrives on pushing the envelope "and I respect that; he likes to be controversial. I respect him for his obsession and his passionate vision. He is only intense because he cares. He's respectful of the people he works with; he LOVES to make movies." Source: http://www.darkhorizons.com/news7/eliza.htm Jerry Goldsmith (Basic Instinct, Total Recall, Hollow Man) on scoring Paul's films: Daniel Schweiger: How was your collaboration with Paul Verhoeven? Jerry Goldsmith: Our relationship was built on mutual respect and it's one of the best I've had with a director since Franklin Schaffner. Paul's articulate about music, and he has a very clear idea of what's going to work in the picture. We developed a technique on TOTAL RECALL where I could play my synthesizers along with the picture, which let him get an approximation of what the score was going to sound like. That beat the old days of trying to play the music on a piano, and that let us sort out our differences before I went on the scoring stage. Daniel Schweiger: How did you decide on BASIC INSTINCT´s musical direction? Jerry Goldsmith: Though it has graphic scenes, I'd describe BASIC INSTINCT as a sensuous thriller. This isn't about ordinary sex, so the music had to be erotic and evil at the same time. I ended up writing three different themes, before I settled on one. Though Paul and I would get tense sometimes, our partnership was never acrimonious. His face would light up when he heard the right music, and at other moments he would be absolutely silent. DS: Is BASIC INSTINCT a tribute to those kinde of eerily romantic scores? JG: BASIC INSTINCT had to be subtle, because 90% of it is under dialogue. While Hitchcock certainly played a part in some of the visuals, Bernard Herrmann was an influence on my work. Paul Verhoeven even played me some scenes from VERTIGO, and wanted my music to take that approach. If some other filmmaker had said that, I would have been offended. But I respect Paul, and knew that he was coming from a creative point of view, where it was good to have an example to point to. Source: http://www.ts-deconstruction.com/goldsmith/literatur_basicinstinct_interview.htm "Paul and I work very well together because Paul can talk to me in intellectual and emotional terms." Source: "Imagining Total Recall" feature, Total Recall DVD Kurtwood Smith (Robocop) on filming with Paul: Buck: And then Robocop. Dan: From the get go did you know it was going to be big? Kurtwood: No, I thought this was going to be fun. Buck: Cause what had Verhoeven done by that point, had he done anything in America? Kurtwood: No, he had only done foreign films The script read like a “B” movie. It wasn’t until I got the job, and I was just happy to have a job, I read for Clarence and Dick Jones, the part that Ronnie Cox played. Dan: Both villains right? Kurtwood: Yeah. And then when Belle (his agent) called and said we got an offer from Robocop, I assumed it was for Dick Jones, cause that was more the kind of part I played and she said no its for Clarence. (his eyes get big) Just because he wasn’t exactly the way he ended up being. We made him funnier than he was initially in the script. A lot of the one liners I made up as we went along. Buck: Oh cool, spot on. Kurtwood: Not all of them but some of them. That character really grew in the filming process. I was really happy to do that part. They didn’t pay me…. It was like TV money. But I didn’t care cause it was a fun part and then I found out who Verhoeven was after I accepted the part and was going to have lunch with him. I asked Belle to find out what he had done and rented three of his movies and went WHOA! This is gonna be an interesting movie. I could tell while we were doing it and by watching the dailies that it was going to be a good action film, was pretty sure it would be a successful film, but I didn’t really know how interesting a movie it was because I didn’t see the other parts being shot. I didn’t realize the sense of humor of the film until it was all put together. And also a lot of the stuff Peter did made it deeper film then the comic book that it read as. Dan: Were these earlier films that he did in Europe, were they along the same line? Were they violent? Kurtwood: The violence was there yeah. They are very different. The Fourth Man was very dark. Creepy. Dark Quite good. Buck: I think it’s the one that most people talk about in the European stuff. Kurtwood: Soldier of Orange and Spetters both have Rutger Hauer, but The Fourth Man is Jereon Krabbe . Buck: What’s Verhoeven like to work with? Kurtwood: He’s demanding…but he’s only demanding what he should be getting. Buck: So he knows what he wants… Kurtwood: (Through a smile) Yeah he knows what he wants. He didn’t always express it in the right way. Buck: Was there a language barrier at that point? Kurtwood: Sure, not finding the right words at times. Basically I had no problems with Paul. His problems were with crew people. Things not being ready. And so he wouldn’t always deal with it in the right way and would scream and yell. But it was always about the stuff, it wasn’t about him. It wasn’t about him being powerful. Ya know? He was working on a very limited budget and had less time than he needed. Buck: Do you remember what the budget was on it? Kurtwood: I think it was like $11 (million) and went to $13. Buck: It’s amazing. When you think about it. Kurtwood: Nothing. Not even close to John Travolta’s salary. Dan: When you guys were making it were you aware of the level of violence in it? Kurtwood: When we looked at the dailies we said “Whew!” Buck: A lot of red. Kurtwood: (nods) Well I remember shooting the scene where we kill him (Robocop) and it went on and on all day. The rest of the stuff we knew it was going to be violent. Source: http://www.boomtownmag.com/articles/200101/lunchkurtwood.htm Basil Poledouris (Flesh & Blood, Robocop, Starship Troopers) on scoring Paul's films: Q: What about the special effects? Did those give you any problems as far as getting the timings down and stuff? Poledouris: Not yet. Paul's insisted the entire time that we wait until we have them. The scoring originally was to take place in April, and that's one reason we're still waiting here in July! He's very adamant that he wants me to score from the visuals, and they do change extraordinarily. The timings themselves don't change that much, a frame, five frames, here and there. But the whole impact of the visual is extraordinary. Q: How closely did you and Paul work together? Poledouris: It's gone through every stage imaginable. We talked a lot - he gave me very detailed notes written on the opposite pages of the script. The next step was things on the piano, and that didn't seem to translate very well, so when we went to the mockups stage, that's when the work really began. That probably started in mid-March. Q: Having worked with him before you've obviously established a rapport, so I'd imagine there's a fairly good working relationship there? Poledouris: Oh, totally. It's such a joy to work with a director who has as much energy as Paul has, as much musical knowledge, and who is totally concerned with his vision of the film. And, believe me, it is his vision! And he will tirelessly pursue it until he gets what he is looking for! There's a real horror when you hear a director who says "well, I really don't know what I want, but I'll know it when I hear it!" Q: Yeah, maybe your 3rd or 4th try at the main theme! Poledouris: Or the 6th! That's not the situation here. If there's something that he knows isn't working for him, he can give you detailed reasons why. But he's always very careful not to tell you how to do it, just why he hates it. There's a major difference. It's subtle, but major. Q: Was the film temp-tracked at all? Poledouris: Yeah. He has a temp track on it. I heard it once. Only on one instance has he gone back to it. He's very good with temp tracks, basically it's there to fill up the silence. He'll always say, "look, we know it doesn't work, but there are certain elements that we found which might give you an indication of the tempo, or the density of the orchestra," but he never insists I write the same thing. Source: http://www.soundtrackmag.com/bpoledouris.html "All of his films are amazingly visceral and intellectual at the same time." Source: "Death from Above" documentary, Starship Troopers DVD William Shockley (Robocop, Showgirls) on working with Paul: STEVE MASON: Well, you worked with the director of Showgirls--Paul Verhoeven--on Robocops also. WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: That's true. STEVE: What was his intention with Showgirls? I've asked this question of a number of people who were in the picture: What was he going for? WILLIAM: Well, you know I can only comment on the scenes that I was in. STEVE: Okay. WILLIAM: I thought I was in a very--with Paul as my director--intense, dramatic film. And that's all I can really go on--from my point of view. And he was with me on the page on that. And I think that from that point of view that's where I was at, that's where he was at, and that's all I can comment on. I know that the overall film had mixed reviews and whatnot. Source: http://www.williamshockley.com/radio.html Michael Kohut, Important Sound Dude: "I worked with Paul Verhoeven on the first 'Robocop.' At the end of the movie, I recall Paul saying to me: 'Mike, sound was 60% of this movie.' It was a great feeling." Source: http://www.mel-lambert.com/Writer/Interviews/MIX.Mike_Kohut.html Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers): From Brian_Foster: Was it hard not being able to see the bugs because they were computer animated, or was it pretty easy with Paul Verhoeven in your face? Casper: It was pretty easy with Paul Verhoeven in my face. He's what I'd call an actor's director. It would have been difficult if I'd had a love scene with a bug. Source: http://www.eonline.com/Celebs/Trans/Vandien/index.html Q: Was it weird doing sequences when the bugs weren't really there? Casper: No. They described everything that was happening and showed it to us in storyboard format. And if all that wasn't working--if all that wasn't more information than you needed, Paul Verhoeven would gently walk out in front of us and go, "I'M A 14-FOOT WARRIOR BUG, AND I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! STRIKE! STRIKE!" Source: http://www.eonline.com/Celebs/Qa/Vandien/interview4.html "He's an actor's director. He'll use every technique he possibly can just to pull anything out of you that he doesn't think he's getting. And he's just enough to play off of alone. It's just the way he is. He's so insane." Source: Starship Troopers DVD Patrick Muldoon (Starship Troopers): From fan1: What was it like working on Starship Troopers? Patrick: Long. It was seven months, but I had a fantastic time. They wouldn't let me go to boot camp, because I was in the fleet and they didn't want me to mix with the army guys at all. They spent a couple nights in the dirt, which was good for them. The cast and I became friends--Jake Busey, Denise Richards. Also, Paul Verhoeven was fantastic to work with. Source: http://www.eonline.com/Features/Live/Rack/Trans/muldoon.html Mike van Diem, Director O: You joked to Sharon Stone about being "another crazy Dutch director." You were talking about Paul Verhoeven, right? MD: Of course. You know, people seem to value the artistic merit of his earlier films more than his American work, and I actually disagree. For me, what I admire in Paul Verhoeven is that his American films and his Dutch films reflect the same personality. Make no mistake: Sometimes the mere fact that it's in a foreign language may give a film an artistic flavor. But Paul Verhoeven has always had the taste for commercial, nasty, vulgar stuff, and I don't think that I share his taste in subject matters. But I do absolutely admire him as an extremely energetic and virtuoso filmmaker. Of course, I thought that Showgirls was horrendous, but if you look at, say, a seven-minute segment of it, the way he has staged those scenes is really great, powerful, virtuoso filmmaking. From the age of 16, I've always rushed out on the first Thursday-afternoon screening—in the Netherlands, the movies switch on Thursdays, not Fridays—to watch the new Paul Verhoeven film, and I'm quite fond of him as a filmmaker. Source: http://www.theavclub.com/avclub3315/bonusfeature13315.html Alan Marshall, Producer (Basic Instinct, Showgirls, Starship Troopers, Hollow Man) "Paul understands visual effects better than most directors I know. He moves the camera in such daring and wonderful ways." "With regard to the actors, I think he's very kind on actors. I think he's wonderful on actors. He cajoles them into a performance." "Obviously he does push the boundary in terms of what his attitude towards violence is." Source: Hollow Man DVD extras Jost Vacano, Cinematographer (Soldier of Orange, Spetters, RoboCop, Total Recall, Showgirls, Starship Troopers, Hollow Man) "He has a very very strong personality. [...] He doesn't think about what should I do or what do people expect from me, he just rushes into everything." "Not even knowing that he's doing it, he always tries to express himself in a way that he is almost acting, and whenever he talks to the actors, he's already acting something. Sometimes that's a problem because the actors are not used to that." "Paul thinks--and I think he's right in a certain way--that the dark characters are much more interesting. He much more for the dark underground, to see what's beneath the surface." Source: Hollow Man DVD extras Scott Anderson, FX guy (Starship Troopers, Hollow Man) "He's the most collaborative person I've ever worked with. He literally demands your input. If I don't have something to offer him, why am I there?" Source: Hollow Man DVD extras Greg Grunberg, Actor (Hollow Man) "When he directs, and he tries to let us know what's going on--because we're working with nothing--and when you see that he's that into it, it's real. We're here, we've come to play. He just inspires your performance." Source: Hollow Man DVD extras Michael Ironside, Actor (Total Recall, Starship Troopers) "I think if Paul told me to sit in the corner on my head and spit nickels, I could do it." Source: Starship Troopers DVD Neil Patrick Harris, Actor (Total Recall) He's very focused, and I find it difficult to be this focused with such a big movie with so many things to think about and he's still able to keep some sort of sense of humor about himself. Paul has total control, and that's why it's great working for him because you trust him." Source: Starship Troopers DVD