Paul Verhoeven Slams the Recently Announced STARSHIP TROOPERS Remake

Earlier this month is was announced that Columbia Pictures has started developing a remake of Starship Troopers. The new film will be a direct adaptation of the book that was written by Robert A. Heinlein

The first Starship Troopers film came from director Paul Verhoeven in 1997, and he actually went against what the book was when making his film. The original film has a pretty big fanbase, and Verhoeven isn't too thrilled about Columbia's plan for the new movie. In fact, in a recent interview with IndieWire, he slammed the idea, saying:

“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.”

I thought that was interesting because I think it would be great to see a direct adaptation of the novel. I'd think that's what the fans of the book would want to see! The director went on to explain why they went a different direction with their film saying that the idea behind 'Troopers' "was to create a story that 'seduced the audience' on one level, but then make it clear to the audience what they were admiring was actually evil." He further explained:

“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.” 

At the time, Starship Troopers was one of the most expensive movies ever made. He revealed that the way he was able to get away with this and his vision for the film was because Sony Pictures was unstable during those years:

“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.” Verhoeven added that once a Sony executive saw the film, she said to him, “but these are Nazi flags. I remember saying, ‘Yeah, but they are a different color, really.'”

Verhoeven's film will obviously always stand on its own because it's a unique take on the story that no one else will do. It'll be interesting to see how the studio actually does go about adapting the novel this time around. Is there anything you'd like to see them do with it? 

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