Paul Verhoeven is back to his button-pushing (and potentially Oscar-bound) ways this month with “Elle,” and a lot has happened in the decade that has passed since his last full-length feature film. Hollywood has remade two of his films, “RoboCop” and “Total Recall” — which he hasn’t been shy about critiquing — with a redo of “Starship Troopers” in the works. And the industry itself has changed, and the era when Verhoeven could make mid-budgeted, provocative, individual, R-rated movies is pretty much over.
The director laments the changing face of American movies in a new interview with Fandor, and blames the pursuit of profit in the studio system as the reason there’s been a shift in how movies get made.
“[A PG-13 rating is the] studio wanting to make money. R-rated movies are excluded because they limit the audience. The capitalist system completely dominates the American film industry. It’s all about the bottom line. Any argument about filmmaking or art is lost. Even the art of meaning is lost. There’s no meaning to American cinema anymore. The only meaning is money. It’s reduced to that, and it’s horrible,” Verhoeven said. “Capitalism can also accept there are other values than money, but it looks like studios can only look at movies for pure profit. That’s why the R rating is gone. Then you get more people, but you sacrifice everything that is edgy or sexual. You sacrifice anything that might offend people. Now if you go to a multiplex, everything is PG-13.”
However, Verhoeven is not without hope, and says its still possible to make movies with voice in Hollywood, and if given a chance, he’d still do a studio picture.
“You can still express yourself in American filmmaking. Look at ‘The Big Short,’ which I think is a really well-made movie. It’s still interesting and innovative. It’s still possible to make good American movies, and there’s an enormous amount of talent, but it’s not used in the maximum way,” the director said. “…I don’t think things will stay that way. The balance might shift.”
“If they offered me a book like ‘The Shining,’ I would immediately say yes. I would love to do a clever horror film,” Verhoeven added.
Oh man, Warner Bros., call up Verhoeven to do that “The Shining” sequel “Doctor Sleep” — that might be the only way I’d be interested in seeing it.
“Elle” opens this weekend.