THE AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE PRESENTS
PAUL VERHOEVEN - FILMS OF FLESH AND BLOOD
AT THE AERO THEATRE

March 2 - 4

HOLLYWOOD -The American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre presents Paul Verhoeven - Films of Flesh and Blood, March 2 - 4. Director Paul Verhoeven was born in 1938 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and his early young life was shaped by the WWII German invasion then the subsequent post-war American occupation. Indeed, Verhoeven asserts that if not for those two occurences he never would have become a filmmaker. This series offers a look at some of Verhoeven’s early work in the Netherlands, such as the Oscar nominated TURKISH DELIGHT (1973), the first of his five film collaborations with actor Rutger Hauer (BLADE RUNNER), as well as later American hits such as ROBOCOP. In the last decade, Verhoeven made only two pictures STARSHIP TROOPERS and THE HOLLOW MAN, before going back to his native Netherlands to realize his much-cherished project about the WWII Dutch Resistance, BLACK BOOK (which will be released in the USA by Sony Pictures Classics on April 6th.)

“People seem to have this strange idea that films can influence people to be violent, but in my sincere opinion film only reflects the violence of society.” “As a director, my goal is to be completely open… I really like documentaries, therefore, reality is important to me when I do fiction… Of course, I must admit that I love to shock audiences.” - Paul Verhoeven.

Screenings are at the Max Palevsky Theatre at the Aero Theatre (1328 Montana Ave) in Santa Monica. Advance tickets available through www.fandango.com Guests subject to availability.

Verhoeven’s initial academic pursuits did not involve film. He received his degree in mathematics and physics, but when he was in the Royal Netherlands Navy, he was introduced to moviemaking in the form of documentaries. The early 1960s saw Verhoeven make a succession of shorts and documentary shorts, resulting in his landing a job as directing of twelve episodes of “Floris,” a Dutch television series about a medieval knight played by Rutger Hauer (BLADE RUNNER; CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND). Verhoeven’s second feature film, TURKISH DELIGHT, proved a popular success in 1973 and set the tone for much of his later output - an almost super-realistic visual schematic, a candid frankness of approach, a refusal to sentimentalize, a fondness for bawdy humor and a very low tolerance for hypocrisy. Films like KEETJE TIPPEL, SOLDIER OF ORANGE, SPETTERS followed in quick succession throughout the rest of the 1970s, splitting critics, but by-and-large embraced by the movie-going public. The delightfully profane mystery shocker THE 4TH MAN (1983) gained even more critical and popular attention abroad, and Verhoeven made his first American film FLESH + BLOOD in 1985. His next three efforts, ROBOCOP, TOTAL RECALL and BASIC INSTINCT, were worldwide mega-hits, and although subsequent guilty pleasure SHOWGIRLS failed at the box office as well as with the critics, it has since redeemed itself by growing into a widely popular, underground cult phenomenon since its initial release in 1995.

Friday, March 2, 2007: Aero Theatre
The Friday, March 2nd program is a 7:30 PM Double Feature. First up is THE 4TH MAN (DE VIERDE MAN), 1983, 105 min. Paul Verhoeven’s surreal, Hitcockian black comedy. Jeroen Krabbe (SOLDIER OF ORANGE) plays Reve, a drunken, bisexual Catholic novelist experiencing intense hallucinations. While lecturing in Holland, he finds himself spending the night with beautiful hairdresser, Christine (Ren�e Soutendijk), even though his visions are warning him of danger. As he begins to desire Christine’s hunky boyfriend, he discovers her secrets, and his madness intensifies. Winner of the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Film. “…a piss-take on Jungian symbolism…the film riffs on the spider and the fly, Samson and Delilah, castration anxiety, repressed (and not-so-repressed) homosexuality and a horse-choking overdose of Catholic totems… It may be no more than an elaborate joke, but it’s a hell of a joke. Clearly the gateway to such over-the-top satires as ROBOCOP and STARSHIP TROOPERS…” - Sam Adams, Philadelphia City Paper

Next on the same bill is TURKISH DELIGHT (TURK FRUIT), (1973, 112 min.) Touching, hilarious, erotic and tragic, director Paul Verhoeven’s second feature film is a blunt look at romance and raw sexuality and the first of five film collaborations with actor Rutger Hauer (BLADE RUNNER; CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND). Based on the best-selling, semi-autobiographical novel by Jan Wolkers, this is the intimate saga of Danish sculptor Eric (Hauer) and his star-crossed affair with Olga (the debut of celebrated Danish star Monique van de Ven), a young upperclass girl. Interfering are Olga’s overbearingly shrewish mother and Vonk’s own omnivorous sexual desires as well as Olga’s illness. A borderless masterpiece in which staccato twists from shocking sex and bodily fluids move to love and melodrama to the funny “man vs. zipper” scene. Echoes of Danish painters Rembrandt and Bosch are wonderfully shot by cinematographer (later-turned-director) Jan de Bont. Not an idealistic Hollywood love story, this film makes you scratch your head and wonder “What was so controversial about BASIC
INSTINCT, again?” Voted Best Dutch Film of the Century at the 1999 Netherlands Film Festival and a 1974 Oscar Nominee for Best Foreign Film.

Saturday, March 3, 2007 - Aero Theatre
The Saturday, March 3rd program is a 7:30 PM Double Feature. First up is ROBOCOP, (1987, MGM Repertory, 102 min.). Peter Weller stars as a murdered Detroit police officer who is brought back to life as an unstoppable cyborg cop in director Paul Verhoeven’s action-packed satire of the future of corporate America. Nearly twenty years after its release, the film still packs an enormous punch with its savage violence and ferociously dark sense of humor. Several brutal scenes had to be trimmed to reportedly keep the film from garnering an X-rating for violence. With a terrific supporting cast including Nancy Allen, Kurtwood Smith, Ronny Cox and a brilliantly amoral Miguel Ferrer as the head honcho behind the RoboCop program. “Most thriller and special-effects movies come right off the assembly line. You can call out every development in advance, and usually be right. ROBOCOP is a thriller with a difference.” - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Next on the same bill is FLESH + BLOOD, (1985, MGM Repertory, 126 min.). It’s 1501, and the world is full of mercenaries, peasants and pestilence. True to it’s title, Paul Verhoeven presents the darkest of ages, a brutally realistic story of the struggle for life, complete with rape, murder, starvation and the Black Death. Rutger Hauer, in one of his finest roles, portrays the leader of a band of mercenaries, who seeks revenge for a nobleman’s (the excellent Jack Thompson) betrayal by kidnapping and brutalizing his son’s (Tom Burlinson) bride to be. Jennifer Jason Leigh shines as the strong willed Agnes. Based in part on unused material for the Dutch TV series “Floris,” which Gerard Soeteman, Paul Verhoeven and Rutger Hauer collaborated on in 1969. Watch for the amazing performance by Susan Tyrell as an onlooker to one of the film’s most brutal and controversial scenes. The late Basil Poledouris contributes perhaps his best score. Although Verhoeven later denied any connection, some critics at the time of release pointed out allegorical similarities to Patty Hearst’s abduction by the SLA.

Sunday, March 4, 2007 - Aero Theatre
The Sunday, March 4th program is a 7:30 PM Sneak Preview of BLACK BOOK (2007, Sony Picture Classics, 145 min.). A relentlessly gripping, twisting, turning thriller about the Dutch underground set in the Fall of 1944, the film marks master director Paul Verhoeven’s return to his native Netherlands as he revisits the action-filled World War II subject matter of his 1977 Dutch drama SOLDIER OF ORANGE. Based on true events that span nearly a year in the life of Rachel Stein (Carice van Houten), a pretty, young Jewish singer who falls for a high-ranking Gestapo officer (Sebastian Koch) while seeking revenge for her family’s murders. Starring some of the Netherlands’ most impressive and celebrated actors, the multi-layered characters find themselves embroiled in a spider’s web of intrigue, treachery and betrayal. BLACK BOOK is a highly stylized film suffused with the intense paranoia Verhoeven evokes so well, where friends and enemies blur together into an indistinguishable line. The film will be release April 6th. “The epic film is a high-octane adventure rooted in fact with a raft of arresting characters, big action sequences and twists and turns galore…” - Ray Bennett, The Hollywood Reporter Discussion following with director Paul Verhoeven.

About the American Cinematheque
Established in 1981, the American Cinematheque is a 501 C 3 non-profit viewer-supported film exhibition and cultural organization dedicated to the celebration of the Moving Picture in all of its forms. At the Egyptian Theatre, the Cinematheque presents daily film and video programming which ranges from the classics of American and international cinema to new independent films and digital work. Exhibition of rare works, special and rare prints, etc., combined with fascinating post-screening discussions with the filmmakers who created the work, are a Cinematheque tradition that keep audiences coming back for once-in-a-lifetime cinema experiences. The American Cinematheque renovated and reopened (on Dec. 4, 1998) the historic 1922 Hollywood Egyptian Theatre. This includes a state-of-the-art 616-seat theatre housed within Sid Grauman’s first grand movie palace on Hollywood Boulevard. The exotic courtyard is fully restored to its 1922 grandeur. The Egyptian was the home of the very first Hollywood movie premiere in 1922. In January 2005 the American Cinematheque expanded its programming to the 1940 Aero Theatre on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica.

American Cinematheque, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028
(tel) 323.466-FILM (fax) 323.461.9737 On the web: http://www.egyptiantheatre.com