Paul Verhoeven

Paul Verhoeven (b. July 18th, 1938)

The acclaimed director on his out-of-sight hit Hollow Man
Netherlands native Paul Verhoeven always loved movies, and even while earning a Ph.D. in mathematics and physics from the University of Leiden, he never seriously considered a career in anything other than filmmaking. He filmed many documentaries and Dutch television programs before helming a series of art-house hits, most notably Spetters (1980) and The Fourth Man (1983). In the mid-1980s he came to Hollywood, where he made a name for himself with such violent, action-oriented blockbusters as Robocop (1987), Total Recall (1990), and Starship Troopers (1997). He's perhaps best remembered for the sexually provocative thriller Basic Instinct (1992) and the notorious camp-fest Showgirls (1995). Verhoeven recently spoke with Barnes & Noble.com about bringing his latest sci-fi thriller, Hollow Man, to DVD.

Barnes & Noble.com: You seem to gravitate toward science-fiction stories. How did Hollow Man come your way? What attracted you to it?

Paul Verhoeven: It was, I thought, a very well-written script. I was seduced by it, actually. The property was in development for nearly eight years altogether. It was brought to me two years before we started shooting, and during that time I worked with [screenwriter] Andrew Marlowe on the final drafts. He accented certain things and added other things I wanted to include. I thought that the philosophical concept -- How would a man behave if he knew he couldn't be seen? -- was a fascinating one. It's something that Plato had touched on in his writings, which I had read when I was younger and which came back to me when this script was offered to me. I also found the property appealing for its technical challenge. We'd have to create the illusion of an invisible man, and show him at various stages while he was disappearing: seeing his sinews, his bone structure, his internal organs. Years ago it would have been impossible to create those effects realistically enough to be totally convincing.

B&N.com: What about Kevin Bacon suggested to you that he'd be good as Sebastian Caine, the scientist who becomes invisible and eventually goes mad?

PV: Actually, he wasn't my first choice. There weren't that many actors who were willing to play the part, because they knew they would be offscreen or masked much of the time. I originally wanted Guy Pearce, who had been in L.A. Confidential, and I also wanted Edward Norton. Kevin was No. 3. In the end, Kevin was the only one who was willing to undertake the part and suffer with the masks and the body casts and all the other things that made the role physically uncomfortable. And he really wanted the part! Kevin is a very down-to-earth actor who can be very charming, but he can play coldhearted, diabolical characters just as easily. Sebastian embodies those qualities, and Kevin did a superb job playing him.

B&N.com: During the preproduction phase, were any scenes deleted from the script because they were too expensive or too impractical?

PV: No. We went through 15 or 20 drafts of the script altogether, but the major scenes remained in every draft. We all agreed that certain scenes and effects had to be included in order for the movie to be effective. Everybody connected with the project realized early on that this would be an expensive movie. We had a budget of roughly $90 million, of which nearly $50 million was earmarked for special effects.

B&N.com: Today it's commonplace for actors in effects-driven movies to perform and react to things that aren't on the set, things that will be added as effects in postproduction. How much more difficult or time-consuming is it to complete principal photography with your actors under such circumstances?

PV: Well, of course, it was very difficult on Starship Troopers, because the giant bugs were added later. But, you know, Kevin was on the set most of the time. He went through his motions for a scene, and we literally "painted" him out, frame by frame, during postproduction. We then replaced him with a digital clone, created by computer, and matched the clone's movements to Kevin's.

B&N.com: With so many technical considerations in mind, how tough is it to maintain an eerie mood, to keep your actors in that state of high anxiety they exhibit throughout the picture?

PV: It's not easy. That's why it's so important to stick to the script, and to follow religiously the storyboards [on which every shot is sketched]. The actors know their characters, know how they should be reacting in a given scene, so it's really a question of staying on track by following those storyboards.

B&N.com: How involved is the director during the actual shooting of the special effects? Is that a hands-on process for you, or do you leave it to the effects teams?

PV: The director of photography and I were on set all the time. The effects supervisor set up the shots and discussed with the computer people how certain things would be achieved, but we always remained on the set. The taking of those scenes was too precise for us not to be there. On the DVD we explain how most of the effects were done, and you can get a real insight into the process.

B&N.com: The DVD also includes several deleted scenes. Is there one that you would have particularly liked to see included in the final cut?

PV: Well, the scene in which the invisible Kevin invades the apartment of a neighbor and rapes her; that scene was slightly longer, but the studio felt it was too harsh. And so did audiences at test screenings; they wanted it to be more elliptic. I thought the original cut of that scene had more impact, but American audiences seem to be more puritanical in that respect.

B&N.com: The Hollow Man DVD has a wealth of supplemental features, many of them devoted to behind-the-scenes glimpses of production. Do you think there's a danger of demystifying the filmmaking process by explaining so much, or does the inclusion of all the extra features enhance the movie?

PV: Let me answer this way: You can see a famous painting reproduced in a book, and you will feel one way about it. If you see that same painting in a museum, up close, you can see precise brush strokes, certain shades of color or detail that might not appear in the reproduction. You might better understand the artist's intentions, maybe have a different feeling altogether about that painting. Does seeing it up close "demystify" it as a work of art? I don't think so. I think it's wonderful that DVD releases include so many extras.

B&N.com: Some filmmakers claim that, in doing the DVD commentaries, they've gained new insights about their films. Was this your experience when working on the Hollow Man DVD?

PV: I wouldn't say I gained any new insights, but by doing the commentary I did achieve more clarity in expressing my intentions. It's not always easy to explain something when you're in the middle of doing it, you know? I do think, though, that when revisiting your own work and explaining it [for DVD audiences], there's a danger that you'll start to see it in a different way, perhaps make something better than it was. You might begin to second-guess your creative choices. As a director, you have to be intuitive during filming; you have to trust and rely on your instincts. I've always tried to do that; it's the only way I can make movies.

January 3, 2001

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