Paul Verhoeven

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q129079: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by Wikidata joins them to Flesh and Blood, which Flesh+Blood credits them on.

Counted as director, the making department they hold the most credits in. The films the hosts said they directed, which the two lists below run through too: Spetters (1980); The Fourth Man (1983); Flesh and Blood (1985); RoboCop (1987); Total Recall (1990); Basic Instinct (1992); Showgirls (1995); Starship Troopers (1997); Hollow Man (2000); Benedetta (2021); Business Is Business; Flesh and Blood; Keetje Tippel; Soldier of Orange; Turkish Delight; an unnamed film Reijn acted in for him.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Avatar (2009): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through RoboCop (1987), which they directed: Avatar ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read). The robot-waking sequence is beat for beat the first act of Avatar, down to testing the new body's powers.
    “It is crazy actually how much this sequence is like beat for beat, the Avatar, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:38:34 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Batman Begins (2005): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through RoboCop (1987), which they directed: Batman Begins ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read). The remake is part of the grounded-and-serious wave that followed Nolan; the speakers say this film marks the end of it.
    “The Batman begins effect.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:47:48 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Flesh and Blood (1985): 1 line, within their own work

  1. career (career) · through RoboCop (1987), which they directed: Flesh and Blood ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read). Flesh+Blood is the failure that led Verhoeven to Hollywood and RoboCop, where he built entertainment around his interests.
    “from this film on, he figures out how to take everything he's interested in and put it into the body of a conventionally entertaining Hollywood movie”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:49:14 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Hieronymus Bosch: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · them, directly: Hieronymus Bosch ⇒ Paul Verhoeven (the maker said so: Verhoeven said it). Verhoeven says a Bosch painting with a man defecating in the background formed his artistic ideal.
    “these are the kind of films I want to make.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:16:22 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

The Wizard of Oz (1939): 1 line

  1. craft (craft) · through RoboCop (1987), which they directed: The Wizard of Oz ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read). The training-sequence song joke riffs on the Tin Man and If I Only Had a Heart.
    “If I only had a heart is what it's.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:46:51 · Griffin Newman (0.30 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Babygirl (2024): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Basic Instinct (1992), which they directed: Basic Instinct ⇒ Babygirl (the maker said so: Halina Reijn, interviewed on the episode). Reijn set out to converse with the 90s and early-2000s sexual thrillers she loved but found sexist.
    “I wanted to be in conversation with all the sexual thrillers that I so loved in the 90s and the early 2000s, but then I also thought were incredibly sexist and not human.”
    The Big Picture · The Nicole Kidman Hall of Fame, and ‘Babygirl’ · 2:16:04 · Halina Reijn (0.90 sure it was them)

Body of Evidence (1993): 1 line

  1. theme (genre copy) · through Basic Instinct (1992), which they directed: Basic Instinct ⇒ Body of Evidence (the host's read). Mid-90s sexy noir all followed Basic Instinct; Madonna's version was a spoof-level bust.
    “That was literally like a basic instinct spoof.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Edge’ With Bill Simmons and Van Lathan · 0:22:30 · Van Lathan (0.60 sure it was them)

Color of Night (1994): 1 line

  1. theme (genre copy) · through Basic Instinct (1992), which they directed: Basic Instinct ⇒ Color of Night (the host's read). Bruce Willis's Color of Night was another Basic Instinct era noir with a famous full-frontal moment.
    “Everyone, remember Bruce Willis did that movie where he showed his penis?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Edge’ With Bill Simmons and Van Lathan · 0:21:57 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)

RoboCop (1987): 1 line, within their own work

  1. career (career) · through Flesh and Blood (1985), which they directed: Flesh and Blood ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read). Flesh+Blood is the failure that led Verhoeven to Hollywood and RoboCop, where he built entertainment around his interests.
    “from this film on, he figures out how to take everything he's interested in and put it into the body of a conventionally entertaining Hollywood movie”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:49:14 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Directing (28) everyone in directing

Other (1) everyone in other

What was said about them, by kind

career (2)

  1. career (career): The Fourth Man → Paul Verhoeven. The Fourth Man was his last Dutch movie.
    “That was his last Dutch movie.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:25:45 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. career (career): Flesh and Blood → Paul Verhoeven. Flesh+Blood is called the Rosetta Stone for his career.
    “it's kind of the Rosetta Stone for one man's career.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:37:17 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

contrast (1)

  1. contrast (contrast): Paul Verhoeven → Bill Hader. Verhoeven is like Bill Hader, not Rich Little: he learned American blockbuster craft to smuggle in his own content.
    “If I can learn their language, then I can smuggle all the things I actually want to say into these conventional looking movies.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 1:18:22 · Griffin Newman (0.55 sure it was them)

craft (4)

  1. craft (craft): Hieronymus Bosch → Paul Verhoeven. Bosch's paintings are the classical-art version of Verhoeven's maximalist cinema.
    “they kind of are the like classical art version of what Verhoeven is doing in cinema.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:16:25 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. craft (craft): Showgirls → Paul Verhoeven. Showgirls cuts together, though one speaker disputes it.
    “Oh, I love that movie, but I don't know if it cuts together.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 1:16:14 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. craft (craft): Total Recall → Paul Verhoeven. The film walks the line between schlock and incisive satire.
    “really walks this very delicate line between schlock and incisive satire”
    The Big Picture · The 1990 Movie Draft · 0:36:12 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  4. craft (craft): Halina Reijn → Paul Verhoeven. Intense tension blended with absurdist humor that pierces it is a Verhoeven idea Reijn shares, partly as Dutch humor.
    “that is a very distinctly verhoven idea too.”
    The Big Picture · The Nicole Kidman Hall of Fame, and ‘Babygirl’ · 2:08:49 · Sean Fennessey (0.90 sure it was them)

industry (3)

  1. industry (industry): Paul Verhoeven → Von Trier. Auteur-and-star pairs like Verhoeven/Hauer, von Trier/Skarsgard and Almodovar/Banderas often split once both get big.
    “Sure, but I think in a similar way to like Von Trier and Scarsgard.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:36:00 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. industry (industry): Paul Verhoeven → Starship Troopers. He pitched Starship Troopers with a VFX demo of a bug killing a cow.
    “It was all VFX of like a bug killing a cow.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 1:13:53 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. industry (industry): Paul Verhoeven → Total Recall. Almost every Verhoeven Hollywood film got a remake or sequel, including Total Recall and RoboCop.
    “almost every one of his Hollywood films was either sequelized or remade.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:06:27 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

lineage (2)

  1. lineage (lineage): Paul Verhoeven → Hieronymus Bosch. Verhoeven says a Bosch painting with a man defecating in the background formed his artistic ideal.
    “these are the kind of films I want to make.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:16:22 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (attached to remake): Paul Verhoeven → Topkapi. Verhoeven was going to direct the Topkapi remake.
    “Because wasn't Verhoven was going to remake Top Cappy”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:26:03 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

people (4)

  1. people (people): Paul Verhoeven → Rutger Hauer. Hauer was his constant leading man in Dutch films and has not worked with him since.
    “who is his constant collaborator in the Dutch movies, and not since.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:23:42 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. people (people): Rutger Hauer → Paul Verhoeven. Hauer and Verhoeven fought on Flesh+Blood because Hauer wanted to play a hero after Blade Runner and they never worked together again.
    “Howard was so pissed off that Verhoeven wouldn't let him be like a fucking matinee idol hero because he was afraid of being typecast after Blade Runner”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:36:44 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. people (people): Total Recall → Paul Verhoeven. Verhoeven's Total Recall is called one of his masterpieces.
    “one of Paul Verhoven's masterpieces”
    The Big Picture · The 1990 Movie Draft · 0:35:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  4. people (people): Halina Reijn → Paul Verhoeven. Reijn says she and Verhoeven are similar, earthy and Dutch with cynical, ironic humor.
    “The Dutch have a lot of cynical, ironic humor.”
    The Big Picture · The Nicole Kidman Hall of Fame, and ‘Babygirl’ · 2:09:26 · Halina Reijn (0.90 sure it was them)

programming (1)

  1. programming (programming): In the Cut → Paul Verhoeven. The box set mixes a Campion, a Verhoeven, a Schumacher and an Aja.
    “It's just wild that it's a campion, a Verhoven, a Schumacher, a fucking Agoya.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · In the Cut with Jourdain Searles (Ad-Free) · 0:52:19 · Griffin or David (unclear) (0.35 sure it was them)

theme (1)

  1. theme (theme): Paul Verhoeven → Monty Python’s Life of Brian. Verhoeven screened Life of Brian then gave an academic talk on Jesus.
    “he screened life of Brian and then did this whole, like, academic talk afterwards”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:18:17 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

unmapped (1)

  1. unmapped (strong concepts): David Fincher → Paul Verhoeven. Douglas said only Forman and Verhoeven rival Fincher for strong concepts.
    “and Paul Verhoven.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 1:58:55 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

verdict (1)

  1. verdict (verdict): Flesh and Blood → Paul Verhoeven. Verhoeven himself called it a failure and a lesson never to compromise the main storyline.
    “the failure of flesh and bud was a lesson to me, never compromised the main storyline of a script.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:30:18 · Griffin Newman (0.55 sure it was them)

what-if (1)

  1. what-if (what-if): Paul Verhoeven → Rutger Hauer. Hauer wanted to play a hero but Verhoeven wanted a morally ambiguous villain.
    “He also wanted Rucker Hower's character to be very morally ambiguous and villainous.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:31:23 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

  1. fun, about Paul Verhoeven: Griffin paid $150 for the out-of-print Dutch Verhoeven box set; Amazon price $400.
    “I spent 150.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:06:48 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Paul Verhoeven: Griffin heard him do a Q and A at Lincoln Center and thinks he sounds like Goldmember.
    “He does sound like gold member, right?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:13:41 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Paul Verhoeven: Seeing a Bosch painting with a man taking a dump in the background made young Verhoeven say that was the art he wanted to make.
    “there was a man leaning against a shed taking a shit.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:16:08 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Paul Verhoeven: Raised in occupied Holland, near a rocket-filled German HQ in The Hague.
    “the allies were always trying to bomb that.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:17:10 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about Paul Verhoeven: Studied math and physics at Leiden before film school.
    “double major in math and physics.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:17:56 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about Paul Verhoeven: Verhoeven is an expert on Jesus; wrote a book and says Jesus acted like a terrorist.
    “He wrote a full book, a nonfiction book about Jesus”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:18:41 · David Sims (0.45 sure it was them)