Interview

Verhoeven bounces back with latest film

By Alex Garcia
Staff Writer

No one would dispute the fact that Paul Verhoeven fits the definition of a "Hollywood" filmmaker. Director of such major entertainments as "Robocop," "Total Recall," "Basic Instinct" and now "Starship Troopers," the Dutch emigrant has demonstrated an ability to wildly entertain audiences in various genres and styles.
Prior to his American success, Verhoeven directed several films in his native Holland. More "arty" and serious than his recent productions, the Dutch films garnered much international critical attention. "Turkish Delight" received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film of 1973, and "Keetje Tippel," "Soldier of Orange," "Spetters" and "The Fourth Man" were also all lauded.
In 1995, after a string of major American successes, Verhoeven weathered critical outrage and box-office failure over the release of his `NC-17' rated "Showgirls." Never one to bow down to the censors of the MPAA, he created a sultry, sleazy, campy world full of decadence and debauchery. Labeled by many critics as one of the worst films of the year, the intentions of "Showgirls" may have been misunderstood, but the fact remains that its reception would be a harsh blow to any filmmaker.
Verhoeven, however, resiliently returned to action with "Starship Troopers," a campy, visceral, effects-laden sci-fi epic. Undoubtedly, this is one of the most entertaining experiences in the theaters this year.
I spoke with Verhoeven over the telephone last week, and asked him what attracted him to a story about young kids fighting vicious insects.
"This sci-fi element of `Starship Troopers' was something that as a child always fascinated me. It was a facet of filmmaking that I had never done in Holland...the technology and expertise just wasn't there. When I came to the U.S., using that interest and knowledge I had in the genre made it easy to step in. It felt comfortable.
"I think basically (`Troopers') has a resemblance to `Soldier of Orange,' which is also portraying a naive or innocent moment in time," he explained. "In the case of `Soldier,' it's 1939 that basically propels these people from their innocence to the war. I think that theme is very similar to the theme in `Starship Troopers.' What attracted me was not necessarily this similarity, but that theme which I really liked. The fact that I could do some kind of war movie -- even if it wasn't the Second World War -- I could use some elements from that war which always interested me."
Another attraction to the project was the opportunity to work with previous collaborators. Ed Neumeier (writer), Phil Tippet (visual effects supervisor) and Basil Poledouris (composer) were a few members of the team that created "Robocop" with Verhoeven.
"When Neumeier came to me with this proposal, a movie about young adults that are fighting giant bugs in outer space, it felt crazy and very comic book-like. But I also felt I could do something more serious in that comic book treatment.
"One of the main reasons I did the movie is that I knew from the beginning that I'd be working with Phil Tippet," Verhoeven continued. "It would have been impossible to do this with anyone else in the world. I had enjoyed our process of working together so much on `Robocop' that I really wanted to find a more complex project for us. This gave me the opportunity to work with Phil on the highest creative level."
Like the ill-fated "Showgirls," "Starship Troopers" contains no real "bankable" Hollywood stars. This decision, made in part to allocate more budget to effects, etc., may not matter in the case of an "event" film like "Troopers." I asked Verhoeven if there was any executive resistance to the cast.
"I think (the studio) might have also accepted and perhaps preferred if there had been some young star, but it would have been difficult to point out exactly who that would have been," he explained. "Finding people in their early 20s with the charisma of a big star is a difficult task. I think they felt that a good angle would be to put the money on the bugs and not the stars," he said. "That probably also had to do with their knowledge that `Star Wars' ultimately had no stars either. So it was not without precedent to say that the actors should be good and competent enough to fill the roles in the movie, but they don't have to be big names. If the movie is good, then they will become big names.
"Artistically, I had the advantage that you wouldn't know who would survive and who wouldn't." He laughed, "If there were big stars up there, it would be more obvious who wasn't going to die. In this case people don't know...and when one or two of the main characters don't make it to the end, you're surprised."
With a budget somewhere in the neighborhood of $115 million, "Troopers" was a large investment for its financiers. With such a large amount of money at stake and so many digital effects to be concerned with, it would be easy for a director to lose control of the production.
"In a movie like this, I really have to storyboard everything precisely. That's how you keep control. And so I did my first storyboards myself -- a few thousand of them, actually -- and then gave them to a storyboard artist to make them a bit more refined. I've never storyboarded so precisely or made so many drawings for the same shot, but I wanted to make the movements of the bugs precise, and that information went on to Phil so he would make interpretations. Everything was discussed very thoroughly before we started shooting."
Verhoeven certainly has his detractors. With violent products like "Robocop" and "Total Recall," and sexual pieces like "Basic Instinct" and "Showgirls," some might say he revels in controversy. Some say that "Showgirls," while campy and exaggerated, was unfairly lambasted by the American public.
"I don't think anyone ever looked at the execution of the movie or how it was set up. There was a general misunderstanding in that it was portrayed and advertised as a peepshow. Many of our detractors didn't even see it. I think it's a pity that it never got out of that trap. `Showgirls' is sort of a subversive statement on America, using Vegas as an example of the dark, decadent pit that is at the center of the United States."
The preparation for "Starship Troopers" helped Verhoeven deal with the disappointing performance of "Showgirls."
"I had signed the contract for `Starship Troopers' before `Showgirls' even came out. It was an advantage to have something else to go to instead of sitting there in despair. I didn't have time to think about what went wrong. I just kept working."
Always one to stand up to MPAA censors, Verhoeven consistently pushes the envelope with each film. For what seems like a summer-style sci-fi fantasy, "Starship Troopers" is an incredibly gory piece of work. In the last few minutes of our talk, I asked Verhoeven whether he was at all concerned about the reception the film would get, and whether he had worries about a backlash from "Showgirls" detractors.
"Perhaps I should worry about it," he responded. "Maybe after `Showgirls' I should ask if it's worth the price to receive so much rejection and negativity. When it happens it's difficult to accept, but ultimately I don't think you can think that way. I've never been able to take into consideration exactly what the reception of my movie will be. If I'd thought that, I wouldn't have made the movie this way.... I might have censored myself. I'm hopeful that people will accept the movie as I conceived it. The `R' rating is clear enough on itself; it's not `PG-13.' Even with these strange giant insects, I wanted to portray a realistic war with serious damage. The fact that it's an `R' tells people that it's not for children."