Paul Verhoeven

ESFP

QUOTES

 * "I like putting certain aspects of American society under the magnifying glass and showing them for what they are."
 * "As a director, my goal is to be completely open. Just look at how I portray sex in my films. They're considered shocking and obscene because I like to carefully examine human sexuality. It has to be realistic. I really like documentaries, therefore, reality is important to me when I do fiction. It is often related to my own life, my Dutch background. The art scene in Holland has always attempted to be realistic."
 * The Guardian: "Where does this appreciation for ambiguity and inconsistency come from? Verhoeven has spoken often about a childhood spent under Nazi occupation, witnessing brutality and victimisation but also having fun in the danger zone; discovering that fascists were sometimes kind and their enemies sometimes cruel; realising that, even amid great evil, what we call truth can shift with the circumstances."
 * FIlmcomment: "The last half of this interview was crammed into 15 minutes—and this only partially because both of us had emptied our plates. When we were done, he vanished back into the Cary Grant, and invited me to attend a later mix—when it was “less boring.” (Unhappily, I never did). Perhaps that’s the quality that links Verhoeven most firmly to the whole world of genre American filmmaking he’s crashed. He honestly doesn’t want you to be bored. Not for a second."
 * "It takes strong motivation to have to get up at 6 AM and go to bed at midnight for months. I'm also boosted by fear, by the fact of not knowing if I'm able to carry out a project that interests me. Although it is not always easy, to explore unknown territories is what I desire the most."