By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
"Funny, You Don't Look Jewish"
Yes, Virginia, there is a very watchable – albeit foreign language – trailer for Sony’s Classics’ Oscar contender Black Book.
April 23, 2024
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
Something’s changed. The font’s different.
At first glance I thought this was about George Allen.
Reminds me of the trailer for “Shining Through.”
Are those velcro closures on the back straps of her garter belt? She looks like another bleach blonde, Aguilera-Bratman, beauty and the beast. Thumbs down on the trailer, the movie has a cheap look.
She is bleached in the film to pretend not to be Jewish… curtains and carpet.
I thought this blog was suitable for children, I think I was wrong. :p
It’d be hilarious to see Paul Verhoeven be an Oscar contender.
Hey Camel,
I hope Verhoeven does at some point get an oscar, but for a good movie.
He deserved a nod for the Fourth Man, and Soldier of Orange for sure.
Hey Lota,
BLACK BOOK was co-written by Verhoeven and his TURKISH DELIGHT/KATIE TIPPEL/SOLDIER OF ORANGE/SPETTERS/THE 4TH MAN collaborator Gerard Soeteman, and it’s one hell of a movie. I’m not sure where this buzz got started that it’s some kind of a campy boondoggle. It was one of the three best movies I saw in Toronto, and nearly every critic I talked to had it in their Top 3 as well. It’s already gotten strong reviews from VARIETY and THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER (no matter what the latter’s beat writer says). And Sony Pictures Classics beat out a lot of other eager suitors to win the rights to domestic distribution.
This is a great movie. Maybe a little too long, with one too many endings, but the final ending packs a real wallop. It’s not a joke.
Camel beat me to the punch. I mean, seriously, can you imagine a universe where “Oscar nominee Paul Verhoeven” or, perish the thought, “Oscar winner Paul Verhoeven” are true statements?
I haven’t seen any of Verhoeven’s European stuff, but I have indeed heard they’re great. But most people know Verhoeven as the director of movies like RoboCop and Showgirls. Hence, it’d be funny.
Noel, I agree 100%. Black Book is not only good its one of the best films I saw at TIFF this year.
Describing it as “Showgirls meets Schindler’s List” is just lazy journalism. Its neither particularly campy nor particularly serious. Its just a good WW2-era spy thriller with an appropriate amount of graphic violence and gratuitous nudity!
Besides, how else is a bleach-blond jewish girl going to seduce an SS stormtrooper without making sure the “carpet matches the curtains”? 🙂 🙂
I think your explanation is exactly why the Schindler’s Showgirls tag fits. It’s got a serious and a campy soul at the same time. That’s why it’s such funky fun.
I do think it is an exageration to say that SPC beat out a lot of “eager suitors” for the film. A lot of distribs without the money to sell it, yes. In a way, it lives in Black Sheep land. There is a big number in it, but someone has to risk real money. And I wonder whether SPC will spend or just hope for the right wave. At under $1 million, they can win without theatrical going great guns.
I do know, however, that SPC’s B&B have a perverse love of this material. Their eyes lit up every time it came up.
Aren’t we assigning a little too much blame to Verhoeven for SHOWGIRLS? Let’s not forget who wrote it.
I think that both Verhoeven and Joe Eszterhas are responsible for SHOWGIRLS.
Anyway, Joe Eszterhas will have a new movie in this year.
She’s like the Glamour Shots version of Cate Blanchett. Wonder if they’ll do an English language version.
(Oh, and thanks for warning me about the boobies in the trailer… hopefully the corporate integrity people in I.T. didn’t catch it.)
ROBOCOP won a special Oscar for sound design. Just sayin’….
To clarify what I wrote earlier, I don’t mean to imply that BLACK BOOK is some kind of sober, soul-enriching slog through WWII. It’s first and foremost a rousing action-adventure movie with thick streaks of Verhoeven’s trademark perversity. But people shouldn’t approach it as though it were some unintentionally over-the-top “so bad it’s good” experience. Believe me: everything that’s crazy about BLACK BOOK is crazy because Verhoeven and Soeteman wanted it that way.
And the last shot, like I said, really elevates the whole film from entertaining history play to garment-rending howl of rage. (Which doesn’t negate the fact that much of the preceding two hours is often purposefully hilarious.)
“garment-rending howl of rage” WTF? If your costume designer doesn’t know how to put hook and eyes on WWII era lingerie… where’s that put the craft part of this movie award equation?
I’m glad to hear that this is getting good reviews. Looks like it could be Verhoven’s return to form. His movies up through Robocop are great, and Basic Instinct is guilty, trashy fun. Though it pains me slightly to say this, if Hitchcock had lived to be 100, he probably would have wound up making movies like it.
But if the hooks are wrong on the underwear, I don’t know…there are some things you just can’t let go. Are there any ratty fishing hats?
well i don;t know much about Black Book Noel but it sounds like it might be very good so I’ll remain optimistic.
Blackcloud please don;t be a director bigot. Most directors in Hollywood churn out such faceless crap they are indistinguisable. Most of PV’s movies are excellent, going back over 20 years. And hey, many people enjoy Showgirls. It’s so bad it’s good entertainment. To PV’s credit he wasn;t offended to get a razzie and accepted it with charm.
I don;t know about Black Book’s costume design TH Ung, but I do have a number of vintage corsetry things and they do not only close by hook and eye, in fact only one of mine does. It depended on the company that made them.
If the designers used velcro I hope for WWII feel they disguised it as a sewn seam, ties or loops. Is it really velcro–I mean could it be “heard”.
Hidden hooks can give the appearance of velcro.
I am sure PV could have asked his Flesh & Blood collaborators to help with the authentic undergarment section of the flick. If that is the worst thing about the movie, than folks we may have a winner for best 2006 since most movies this year suck bad.
I’m glad to hear that this is getting good reviews. Looks like it could be Verhoven’s return to form. His movies up through Robocop are great, and Basic Instinct is guilty, trashy fun. Though it pains me slightly to say this, if Hitchcock had lived to be 100, he probably would have wound up making movies like it.
But if the hooks are wrong on the underwear, I don’t know…there are some things you just can’t let go. Are there any ratty fishing hats?
I don’t know. It looks like a garter belt hook-and-eye to me. The hook (or loop) is hidden by the small cloth pieces on the left, which you use to unhook the garment.
Lota, I was being facetious. You shouldn’t read anything more into my comment than that.
The thing about SHOWGIRLS is, ten years later, we’re still talking about it. Which you can’t really say about Demi Moore’s contemporaneous STRIPTEASE. Sometimes crazy and campy is inherently better than middle-of-the-road and boring.
Double post. Must be my doppleganger acting up again.
well I’m glad then Blackcloud.
I think Verhoeven is very talented and subversive in a good sense. And yes frankbooth (both #1 and #2), I am reminded of hitchcockian tendencies when I see PV movies especially Fourth man, but unlike some of de palma’s work, I don;t feel like there’s so much ‘homage’ in PV’s work that he’s in danger of being accused of plagiarism.
Thanks for qualifying your comment on DePalma with ‘some” there – although both guys are certainly tapping the same vein.
I thought everyone was in agreement nowadays that Showgirls is an unmatched masterpiece! Because it really is.
But that’s not to say that Verhoeven wasn’t partly responsibly for it becoming the absurd mess that it is. He could see what he was directing and if, as he claims, Showgirls was meant to be a serious film, then he is as to blame as Eszterhas and Berkley and everyone else.
Except Gina Gershon. She did everything oh-so-right it pains me to realise she’s not one of the world’s biggest stars.
Verhoeven did direct and Academy Award nominated film: ‘Turkish Delight’ (1973) – a Best Foreign Film nominee.
Black Book’s a superb movie, his best since Soldier of Orange. Maybe better.