At the 1996 Golden Raspberry Awards, Paul Verhoeven showed up to collect his Showgirls razzies, the first director ever to do so. The Razzies are given each year for the worst in film. Showgirls was nominated 13 times (with only 12 categories voted that year!) and won 7, one of them for worst director.
Turkish Delight (1973) received an Academy Award nomination for best foreign language film.
Paul Verhoeven received a PhD in math and physics from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. He never used his degree, opting instead to invest his energies in a career in film.
Paul speaks four languages: English, French, Dutch, and German.
In the US Paul Verhoeven is often referred to as 'The Mad Dutchman'.
Paul is a longtime member of the Jesus Seminar, a group devoted to the scholarly, secular study of Jesus Christ as a historical figure. Verhoeven is the only "layman" member (meaning he doesn't have a degree in some field of religious study) who is considered informed enough to vote with the governing board. Paul has often talked about doing a film on the life of Jesus.
When Stanley Kubrick was making Eyes Wide Shut, he called Verhoeven for advice.
When Paul was still making Dutch films, Steven Spielberg called him and encouraged him to try his hand in America.
Director Paul Verhoeven and cinematographer Jost Vacano shot one take of the co-ed shower scene in Starship Troopers in the nude themselves (on a dare from star Dina Meyer).
Paul served in the Dutch navy, where he made a famous, award winning documentary called "Het Korps Mariners."
Verhoeven is unusually loyal in terms of his crew. He has only used two cinematographers over the course of his professional film career: Jost Vacano and Jan de Bont. He worked with the same writer, Gerard Soeteman for all of his major Dutch films. And his American films (excluding Showgirls but including Flesh + Blood) have been scored exclusively by Basil Poledouris and Jerry Goldsmith. Alan Marshall has produced Paul's last four films.
Director Cameo in RoboCop: Paul Verhoeven dancing in the disco, looking into the camera hysterical, when Leon is arrested. Second cameo in 6000 SUX commercial, looking into camera.
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