Paul Verhoeven Says The STARSHIP TROOPERS Remake Should Fit Right In With A Trump Presidency
Last night, Paul Verhoeven attended a special screening of Starship Troopers at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City, and stuck around to take part in a post-screening Q&A. You'll never believe this, but he had some sharp words to share regarding that upcoming Starship Troopers reboot, fascism and - on a related note! - the forthcoming Trump presidency.
As quoted by the good folks over at IndieWire, here's Verhoeven discussing his reaction to the news that the Starship Troopers reboot would hew closer to the Robert Heinlein novel which inspired it:
“It said in the article (that) the production team of that movie of the remake, that they would go back more and more towards the novel. And of course, we really, really tried to get away from the novel, because we felt that the novel was fascistic and militaristic. You feel that going back to the novel would fit very much in a Trump Presidency.
“Our philosophy was really different (from Heinlein’s book). We wanted to do a double story, a really wonderful adventure story about these young boys and girls fighting, but we also wanted to show that these people are really, in their heart, without knowing it, are on their way to fascism."
Verhoeven went on to explain that the only reason they got to make that version of Starship Troopers was ... well, y'know what, I'll just let him explain:
“We succeeded to do this movie, that is so subversive, and politically incorrect (because) Sony changed (leadership) every three, four months. Nobody looked at the rushes (dailies) because they had no time because they were fired every three, four months. So we got away with it because nobody saw it.”
You can head on over to IndieWire for a few more choice quotes from Verhoeven's Q&A, or you can kick it down in the comments, we're we'll be discussing the cruel irony of a fascist-leaning Starship Troopers being made just as a known fascist takes control of our country.
Think Trump'll request a private screening at the White House, or nah?
