Paul Verhoeven: Playing with Fire

"You made Sharon Stone a star, and, thus far, you're the director who has elicited her best performance. What's your secret?"

"I knew that there was this talent there which nobody had seen, and I felt this talent had to be brought out by my directing her and not just saying, 'OK, we paid you all this money... do it.' So on Basic Instinct I got inside her and in our cooperation, things came out that would not so easily come out. Of course my enormous attention to Sharon didn't help Michael feel supported by me, and there was tension because of the time I was spending with her, but Michael did his job. One take, two takes, it was there. But with Sharon, I had to get this thing out. It was deep inside, and it had to be brought out like a demon. You bring out the demon by pushing and nurturing and letting her know the demon is there. It's not a thing that can be easily controlled. I'm talking a bit mystically here, but this whole thing [between Sharon and me] was pretty strange. It's an extremely intimate process between a director and an actress, and I loved her for doing what she did. It made me happy when she could bring [the demon] out. Of course I hated her behavior sometimes, but that's because this demon can take over in real life."

"So you weren't surprised that on her next film, Sliver, one of the producers broke up his marriage when he fell in love with her?"

"No. Sharon suggests that she's there for you, and people fall for that. Ultimately, you find out you're not that important to her. I was afraid of that happening to me. If I had given in, she would have swallowed me and spit me out. I would have been her victim. If I'd gotten involved with her I'd have lost my control over her. I never would have been able to bring out what I did. I loved her, but I kept a distance. It was an intense fight, loving her and hating her at the same time. Everything I felt and everything she felt for me is in the movie. It was not consumed in bed. We got it on the screen. That's the victory. It was translated to art. That's why the film is so fucking strong. That's why there's this strange evil thing there. We didn't abuse it personal-"

"What did your wife think about all this? You've been married to the same woman for 27 years."

"Marline knew there was some very strong interference between me and Sharon. You can't hide that. I think she felt it was handled in the best way. Marline and I have a very strong relationship in an extremely seductive industry. You have to be tolerant and accept that things can be dangerous."

"Will you and Sharon Stone team up again?"

"I have a plan to work with her on a project about the Marquis de Sade. Walon Green has done a first draft."

"What role would Sharon play?"

"De Sade's mother-in-law who was in love with him and who pursued him until the end of his life even though he was more interested in her daughter. I think that would be a good role for Sharon. Maybe Elizabeth Berkley could play the daughter." Verhoevcn chuckles, then adds, "Sharon and I. with all our problems, we really had a strong relationship, and it's still there, I think. It's not something that disappears. But other than that project I haven't found a book or script where she would fit."

Although Showgirls is Verhoeven's first film since Basic Instinct, he hasn't had all that much time to seek out new projects--with or without Stone--because for much of that time, he was developing only two other films. Mistress of the Seas with Geena Davis and Crusade with Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the end, neither was made. What happened?

'The budget on Mistress of the Seas was around $75 million, and the Columbia executives felt that a movie with that high a budget could not be built around a female star," explains the director. "They wanted me to change the script and add a male star, but that wasn't what I wanted, and I told them that with Geena Davis in the lead it could have been a very successful movie, I told them they were making the wrong decision, but I couldn't convince them.

"Crusade was originally budgeted at $85 million, but the more we worked on it, the more we realized it couldn't be done for that price. I don't think anybody could make Crusade for less than $120 million." Verhoeven, who, after all, has a PhD in math, concedes that he has strong feelings about movie economics. "I've lost movies because I say this is the price," he says, "and it's the only way to do it. It's important for me to start a movie with a budget that I believe in. Because then I'll fight to make it at that price. In Europe you had to stick to the budget, because there were no studios--it was people's personal money. In Europe, you learn to be accurate."

It was also in Europe, some 50 years ago, that Verhoeven learned, first-hand, about violence. "It's not that I like violence--it's that I'm fascinated by it," he explains. "When I was five, living in The Hague, we were occupied by the Germans and there was continuous fighting. You'd be sitting there and boom!--the windows would blow up in your face because they were bombing. One block away the Germans were shooting rockets over to England. Planes crashed close to my house. You'd walk out in the morning and see dead people on the street. That was my childhood--surrounded by these incredible visual effects. When the bombs hit, we'd say, 'Great, school's out!' I think I have been so influenced by those scenes that my tolerance for violence and destruction is much higher than for a normal individual."

One last question. Does having a PhD in math mean that Verhoeven doesn't get screwed on his deals? "I got profits after Robocop even though Orion went bankrupt," he says with a big smile.

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Jeffrey Lantos profiled Joel Schumacher for the June Movieline.

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