Paul Verhoeven quoted Plato and Frederic of Prussia whilst describing the motivation behind his films. In conversation with Mark Kermode in the last of the Reel Life events, the controversial Dutch director revealed that the entire premise behind Hollow Man had been created by Plato. He described the idea that humans are inherently evil and went as far as to say that Catherine Trammell, Sharon Stone's character in Basic Instinct was "the incarnation of the devil" before adding "and Sharon Stone is too".
Verhoeven's films often provoke strong reactions, but when asked about the unfavourable reception of Starship Troopers in America, he gibed that "all the fascist countries thought it was a fascist film". A man with a sense of humour, a love of Agatha Christie, a PhD in maths and physics, and who even Sharon Stone cannot persuade (to do Basic Instinct 2) - quite a guy.
"Don't believe what you read on the internet"
Paul Verhoeven is not giving many interviews in Edinburgh. By good fortune, we bumped into him at the UK Premiere of The Hollow Man. We asked about the mixed reviews for his latest film. His response was that this is mostly American reviewers - and he hoped that, as with Starship Troopers, we would "get it here". When we told him that that we were working for a web site he added (and he was grinning from ear-to-ear at this point) that the internet is full of lies - especially about his film. Just thought you should know before you read our reviews of Hollow Man.
Iain and Harriet to be wed
Also at the UK Premiere of the Hollow Man were home-grown celebrities, singer-songwriter Iain Firth and his actress partner Harriet Hunter, who recently starred in the film Frog. Confirming recent speculation, they told us that yes they are to be wed. Congratulations from everyone here at insideout.co.uk.
Love and Sex and Free Tickets
A film which didn't sell quite as well as expected was Love and Sex. It's a shame that several good films (e.g. Road Trip) whose target audience are your typical young multiplex cinemagoer have had to resort to giving away free tickets to attract a decent audience. At least this meant that a reasonable number of people were there to watch the film, and also hear director Valerie Brieman give the closest attempt at pronouncing Edinburgh out of all the American directors. So, be on the lookout for any other free tickets, as there are often spares at the later screenings - and just remember to say "Embra" properly.
