And so the London Film Festival rolls onwards. With a host of international films on show over the next ten days, tonight it’s the turn of the Netherlands to provide the cinematic centrepiece, with their biggest filmmaking export Paul Verhoeven ensconced in the Odeon West End to promote his latest movie, Black Book. Having ascended the stairs into the cinema’s bar, with a flick of his silver mopped hair the Basic Instinct director made a beeline for Empire.
“Well, I’ve been to London many, many times but always for a short stay, but I’ve been doing post production here for a couple of months so it’s been great to be here for decent amount of time” said Verhoeven. “It’s been nice, but we have had to work very long hours – first thing in the morning until very late at night. So, it’s been extremely tedious and exhausting, but the people have been great – and the restaurants.”
From Flesh & Blood to Hollow Man, controversy has dogged Verhoeven’s work since he first moved to Hollywood over twenty years ago. Whether it was the dystopic, ultra-violence on show in Robocop and Starship Troopers, or the well…you know…on show in Basic Instinct and Showgirls, the Dutch helmer has always sparked a weighty reaction. Black Book marks his return to the Netherlands with the story of Rachel Steinn, a young Jewish woman who joins the Dutch resistance during the final months of World War II following the murder of her family. It’s rumoured that Verhoeven – alongside long time collaborator Gerald Soeteman – has been working on the project on and off for almost twenty years. Why was now the right time to begin shooting the movie?
“It was for a number of reasons”, he explained. “Firstly, at the beginning of 2000, [my co-writer] phoned me in Los Angeles and told me he had solved the problem with our script – we had the wrong protagonist. We had been concentrating on the boy, but we ultimately realised we should have been looking at the girl. I was also fed up with science fiction. I wanted to go back to realism and I just couldn’t find anything better in the States. I was looking, and looking, and looking, and I couldn’t find anything that was personally dear to me. But this project was. So it really wasn’t a difficult decision to leave the US for two years and make this movie. Whatever effect this movie has on my career, whatever direction I will go, I’m very proud of this film and I know it’s one of my best.”
Verhoeven also has a major personal investment in the setting of the movie: “I was a seven year old boy when the war ended and I’d seen so much of that war. I was living in the Hague which was the centre of the German Government, so I saw the occupation up close. I think the war years defined me to a certain degree – particularly with regards to my fascination with violence.”
As the director is hauled into the cinema for the gala night introductions, he just had a few moments to ruminate again on his recent move away from Hollywood.
“For me it has changed a lot. When I arrived I was immediately surrounded by smaller companies like Orion and Carolco. I felt protected. Then all these companies went bankrupt and everything became far less personal. So, it was actually very difficult coming to the US at the age of 48. I have not been able to build a great network of people my own age – I had to leave all that behind in Holland. It’s very difficult to instigate personal things. The last movie I made in the States, Hollow Man…it was not me anymore. I felt that if I continued down that road I would lose my soul. I feel this movie gave it back to me.”