Paul Verhoeven

For other people named Paul Verhoeven, see Paul Verhoeven (disambiguation).

Paul Verhoeven
Verhoeven in 2016
Born (1938-07-18) 18 July 1938 (age 86)
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Alma materLeiden University
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter
Years active1955–present
Spouse
Martine Tours
​
(m. 1967)​
Children2
AwardsSaturn Award for Best Director (1987)
Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film (2016)

Paul Verhoeven (Dutch: [ˈpʌul vərˈɦuvə(n)]; born 18 July 1938) is a Dutch film director. His films are known for their graphic violence and sexual content, combined with social satire.[1] After receiving attention for the TV series Floris in his native Netherlands, Verhoeven's breakthrough film was the romantic drama Turkish Delight (1973), starring frequent collaborator Rutger Hauer.[2] Verhoeven later directed successful Dutch films including the period drama Keetje Tippel (1975), the war film Soldier of Orange (1977), the teen drama Spetters (1980) and the psychological thriller The Fourth Man (1983).

In 1985, Verhoeven made his first Hollywood film Flesh and Blood and later had a successful career in the United States, directing science fiction films such as RoboCop (1987), Total Recall (1990), Starship Troopers (1997) and Hollow Man (2000), as well as the erotic thriller Basic Instinct (1992).

Verhoeven later returned to Europe, making the Dutch war film Black Book (2006), French psychological thriller Elle (2016) and the religious drama Benedetta (2021), all receiving positive reviews. Black Book and Elle were both nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language and Elle won Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and César Award for Best Film. Black Book was also voted by the Dutch public, in 2008, as the best Dutch film ever made.[3] In contrast, he won the Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Picture and Worst Director for Showgirls (1995); he is one of the few people to have accepted their Golden Raspberry awards in person, and the first to directly attend the ceremony to receive it. Showgirls was a notorious box office flop at its initial theatrical release, but later enjoyed huge success in the home video market and became a cult classic.[4][5][6][7] Verhoeven's films have received a total of nine Academy Award nominations, mainly for editing and effects.

  1. ^ Walters, Ben (3 February 2017). "Paul Verhoeven: cinema's mischievous satirist is more vital than ever". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  2. ^ "Turks fruit" (in Dutch). Netherlands Film Festival. Archived from the original on 15 February 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  3. ^ "Zwartboek beste film aller tijden" [Black Book: best film of all time]. Cinema.nl (in Dutch). 3 October 2008. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  4. ^ Wood, Jennifer (22 September 2015). "Showgirls': Paul Verhoeven on the Greatest Stripper Movie Ever Made". Rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on 11 June 2020. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  5. ^ Rochlin, Margy (25 May 2008). "Step by Step, the Showgirl Must Go On". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
  6. ^ "How Showgirls exposed the rot of our misogynistic culture".
  7. ^ "'Showgirls' is Absurd, Problematic, and Famously Bad. 25 Years Later It's a Hate-Watch Classic". 22 September 2020.