Paul Verhoeven Says ‘Young Sinner’ to Start Production This Year, an “Erotic Thriller” Set in D.C.

Paul Verhoeven released his excellent “Benedetta” in 2021, but the 85-year-old filmmaker isn’t slowing down. His impressive filmography, which includes “RoboCop,” “Total Recall,” “Starship Troopers,” “Basic Instinct” and “Elle,” will be adding another project very soon.

Last summer, I kept hearing that he was going to shoot a film called “Young Sinner” in the fall. Screenwriter Edward Neumeier would pen the new erotic thriller, set in Washington, DC. Then the writers strike happened and a major delay occurred.

We finally have an update. In an interview with Metrograph’s Eric Kohn, Verhoeven says he’s currently preparing to shoot the political thriller, which would mark his first American film since 2000’s “Hollow Man”. Verhoeven said that the film, which sees him reteaming with “RoboCop” writer Ed Neumeier, could be ready to enter production as early as this year.

“I’m working with Ed Neumeier, who wrote RoboCop. You could say it’s a political thriller, if you want, situated in Washington,” he says of the project. “The last couple of years I’ve been working in France because I couldn’t find something interesting here at that time. But Ed came up with a really interesting proposal. For two years we have been working on the screenplay. It should be done in two months and then we can find out if someone can finance it.”

Verhoeven has compared “Young Sinner” to his 2006 thriller “Black Book,” but “more explosive, and more open-minded to a big audience,” adding that the lead character is an Evangelical woman.

Verhoeven adds that Neumeier’s satirical flair matches his own style. “If you see us working basically, it’s often just laughing. We laugh at our own satire that we bring in, not because we want to bring it in — it comes from our conversation. It just pops up,” he says.

This is the synopsis that was sent over to me last summer, and it does sound very Verhoeven-esque:

Young Sinner is a political thriller set in Washington, D.C. The heroine, a young staffer who works for a powerful Senator, is drawn into a web of international intrigue and danger, and of course there is also a little sex.

Verhoeven has described “Young Sinner” as “a more innovative version of movies like Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct” and that he “would not be adding all kinds of digital elements. As little as possible.” He added that he’s been consulting with former intelligence officer, Ron Marks, who is informing the filmmaker about Capitol Hill and the spy business.