SPC books rights to Verhoeven's WWII drama 'Black'
SPC buys 'Book'
SepT 21, 2006
NEW YORK -- Sony Pictures Classics has paid in the high six figures for North American, Australia/New Zealand and Indian rights to Paul Verhoeven's perverse World War II drama "Black Book (Zwartboek)."
The film was roundly ridiculed among distributors at the Toronto International Film Festival as "'Schindler's List' meets 'Showgirls'" (the latter film, another type of camp drama, was notoriously directed by Verhoeven). Scenes often cited include the Jewish female lead character graphically dying her pubic hair blonde to infiltrate the Nazi party as a member of the resistance, captors dumping a vat of dung on her and several ribald sexual encounters.
The bad word-of-mouth was turned around a bit by some positive reviews and the Netherlands selection of the film as its official foreign language entry for this year's Academy Awards. Some attributed this decision to the film being the first project Verhoeven has directed in his native country in 23 years. His last feature was 2000's "Hollow Man."
Some rival exhibitors questioned the logic of Sony Pictures Classics getting behind another potential foreign-language Oscar nominee when they are already distributing Germany's just-announced official selection, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's "The Lives of Others" and Spain's potential entry from director Pedro Almodovar, "Volver."
One executive cited the glut of underperforming foreign films in the U.S. marketplace, and commented that SPC "has the muscle of a major corporation behind them, so they really don't care if they lose money" on a foreign film. "Book" features dialogue in Dutch, German, English and Hebrew.
The project was produced by San Fu Maltha, Jens Meurer, Teun Hilte, Frans van Gestel, Jeroen Beker. Verhoeven collaborated with Gerard Soeteman on the screenplay.
The deal was negotiated by Jamie Carmichael of ContentFilm International and San Fu Maltha of Fu Works.
The film was roundly ridiculed among distributors at the Toronto International Film Festival as "'Schindler's List' meets 'Showgirls'" (the latter film, another type of camp drama, was notoriously directed by Verhoeven). Scenes often cited include the Jewish female lead character graphically dying her pubic hair blonde to infiltrate the Nazi party as a member of the resistance, captors dumping a vat of dung on her and several ribald sexual encounters.
The bad word-of-mouth was turned around a bit by some positive reviews and the Netherlands selection of the film as its official foreign language entry for this year's Academy Awards. Some attributed this decision to the film being the first project Verhoeven has directed in his native country in 23 years. His last feature was 2000's "Hollow Man."
Some rival exhibitors questioned the logic of Sony Pictures Classics getting behind another potential foreign-language Oscar nominee when they are already distributing Germany's just-announced official selection, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's "The Lives of Others" and Spain's potential entry from director Pedro Almodovar, "Volver."
One executive cited the glut of underperforming foreign films in the U.S. marketplace, and commented that SPC "has the muscle of a major corporation behind them, so they really don't care if they lose money" on a foreign film. "Book" features dialogue in Dutch, German, English and Hebrew.
The project was produced by San Fu Maltha, Jens Meurer, Teun Hilte, Frans van Gestel, Jeroen Beker. Verhoeven collaborated with Gerard Soeteman on the screenplay.
The deal was negotiated by Jamie Carmichael of ContentFilm International and San Fu Maltha of Fu Works.
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