27/07/2005

The Dutch acclaimed director Paul Verhoeven, who has spent some twenty years in Hollywood where he made blockbusters such as Robocop, Total recall and Basic Instinct, is again on Dutch soil for his first Dutch language project since De vierde man (The 4th man) from 1983.

Dutch actress Carice van Houten (Lepel, De passievrucht) will headline the new film project called Zwartboek (Black book) which has been in development for several years. It was originally scheduled to be filmed for a September 2005 release, but unexpected heart surgery on Verhoeven caused the project to be postponed yet again. Filming is now scheduled to start on 24 August in The Hague.

Zwartboek will be a return to the Dutch war films of Verhoeven's early filmography, including his international success Soldiers of Orange, which he co-wrote with fellow Dutchman Gerard Soeteman. Soeteman and Verhoeven have also collaborated on the script of Zwartboek. The film centres on Rachel (Van Houten), a Jewish singer in the Netherlands who becomes part of the Dutch resistance at the end of WWII. When her cover is blown and the war ends, she is accused of having been a double spy. Despite the end of the war, Rachel is determined to find out who tried to set her up.

For his latest project, which will be shot in Dutch, German and English, Verhoeven has decided to cast actors that correspond to the nationality of the characters. The Dutch actors include Thom Hoffman, Gijs Scholten van Aschat, Jochum ten Haaf en Halina Reijn. Reijn and Van Houten previously collaborated on De passievrucht and Ik omhels je met duizend armen, which is currently being filmed. The Germans include Waldemar Kobus, Sebastian Koch, and Christian Berkel. Verhoeven is currently in England where he is finalising his cast for the British characters.

The 13 million thriller is a Dutch-Anglo-German co-production which will be shot entirely on location in the Netherlands until this autumn. VIP Medienfonds is the main financier, whilst Fu Works, Motel Films, Hector Film (NL), Egoli Tossell Film (DE) and Clockwork Pictures (UK) are also part of the mix. The film will distributed in September of 2006 by Dutch distributor A-Film. The film has already been sold to France, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy and Great-Britain, an exceptional feat for a Dutch film that has not yet gone into production.