A lot of actors and directors have, shall we say, interesting hobbies, but few more so than Paul Verhoeven. I've seldom been more surprised than I was when I discovered that Verhoeven, the provocateur behind the likes of Robocop, Basic Instinct and The Fourth Man, is an internationally recognised scholar on the subject of the historical Jesus. Yes, really. He's the only lay member of the Jesus Seminar. He's also just published (in English, it came out in his native Holland a while back) a biography of Jesus, simply called Jesus of Nazareth. And he wants to make it into a film.
If no other film is made in the next year, that one HAS to go before cameras, it will probably be greeted with controversy that makes The Last Temptation of Christ seem like Toy Story 3, I can't wait to hear the sound of the heads of groups like Mediawatch and Christian Voice exploding with rage.
Another reason I love Paul Verhoeven, aside from the sheer entertainment value of his movies? Try this quote, about Mel Gibson's torture porn take on the New Testament; The Passion of the Christ
“If that’s God, then we are really fucked.”.
Yeah, I love Paul Verhoeven.
Verhoeven is badass enough as it is*, I had no idea he was so big on JC, looking forward to that movie.
ReplyDelete*(and I haven't even seen any of his dutch films)