Verhoeven Talks Jesus Exclusive: On his religious project
In this month’s Empire magazine Paul Verhoeven opened up about his upcoming project based, perhaps surprisingly, on the life of Jesus.
“Well, first of all it is a book,” says Verhoeven. “It may be a film after. Essentially it is about Jesus the human being. That's a big step isn’t it? To see him only as a human being, and it’s as historical as possible. It really goes into the politics of the time and tries to show a lot of things that have been buried and eliminated by Christianity. My scriptwriter told me not to do the movie in the United States because they might shoot me. So I took his advice and decided to write a book about it first.”
So are we talking more Passion of the Christ or Last Temptation? “My [portrayal of Jesus’] life will be much more realistic and much more historical. I just want to go for what is historically, sociologically and politically real, and is defendable. I mean we couldn’t have the scene of Jesus praying at Golgotha when everyone else is sleeping. How could we have a report of that when everyone’s sleeping? That’s a contradiction in the text already. So all those will be eliminated.
And Gibson’s film? “It seemed to be saying the more blood is shed the more we are purified. I mean, honestly, such a thing is not possible. Nobody is purifying anybody else. The Church, not knowing how to handle the death of Jesus, this idea had to be presented. It is the ultra-fabrication. This is a corrective to 2,000 years of Christianity. I don’t know what the title will be but the tagline should be something like ‘Getting Jesus Back!”
Well, it’s something of a break from the norm for the director of Showgirls and Starship Troopers, but it will be interesting. “I was interested in Black Magic and the Occult and then started to be interested in miracles [laughs]. My view was always, “Well this is impossible, in fact it’s self-contradictory”. So I became interested in the historical facts: what time did he get up and so on. I feel like Hercule Poirot investigating Jesus!”
For more from Paul Verhoeven on this and other projects, as well as much more, pick up this month’s issue of Empire.
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L: doctorolorinbats1975
An atheist look at Jesus: well as long as he's still preaching to love the "Lord with all your heart... love thy neighbour as much as thyself... and thy enemies" it'll be ok.
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RoboJesus! Half machine, half Son Of God! Cool......... ... Read More
FilmBuff84 has a point. However, Mr. Verhoeven discredits himself even more then is mentioned. Golgotha is not the place where Jesus prayed to God and his disciples fell asleep. Golgatha, also known as "The Place of the Skull," is the place where Jesus was lead and cruxified. The instance Mr. Verhoeven mentions actually takes place at Gethsemane. Before he decides to rebuke scripture, maybe he should study it so he knows what he's talking about. ... Read More
...nothing wrong with Showgirls... I thought the deep plot, political undertone & quality acting warrent a sequel... I want to see Verhoven do this before a Jesus movie................. here stands the man who launched Elizabeth Berkleys Hollywood busting career. Amen. ... Read More
Perhaps he can wait until the end of Arnie's term as governor. And get kyle Machlachlan as Herod. "Curse you Jesus! This is my town, and nobody but nobody tells nobody nothing but me." and other illogical script gems. ... Read More
Seriously even a DODGY Jesus Movie - and this will be - doesnt deserve to be made by this KOOK. Even his attempted cash cow movies that he has made were useless, and you cant be more desparate a filmaker than that, Sex and Alien Voilence and O more sex, and a ittle bit of sex. And NOW he is the self designated person to prove over 2 billion people are wrong and do what no one else has ever managed to do and prove the Bible wrong. I never thought the was very bright, and no he has confirmed it. ... Read More
Even "big" hollywood director's can be ignorant or lack common sense
I can guarantee you that Verhoeven has never read the Scripture regarding Jesus praying in Golgotha, and if he did he clearly is not that bright and lacks "common sense." If you really read the verse you will know that Jesus woke up and told "those who were sleeping" to wake up and he asked them how could they sleep at a time like this! He told them what happened and after they reported what transpired. Common freaking sense people! Just the other day my sister woke me up... Read More
Verhoevern doing religion !! Mwhoahhhh haahh haaah !! Can't wait to see the Lord Jesus Christ shoving a twenty down a birdz-gstring whilst blowing some alien mutha-fucka's head off while some high school bints wave their titties about in a 21st Century shower room. It doesn't get much better than this. ... Read More
