In a new interview with Libération, Paul Verhoeven offered a semi-positive update on his long-gestating film “Young Sinner,” a thriller that has been simmering for several years now, with occasional whispers but little confirmation on movement, or financing.
Verhoeven revealed that the final draft of the script, penned by longtime collaborator Ed Neumeier (“Robocop,” “Starship Troopers”), will be completed “in about a month.” The film is “an original story,” he emphasized, “not adapted from pre-existing writings like my last two films.” And yet, despite his enthusiasm, Verhoeven remains characteristically realistic: “I have no guarantee that it’ll happen,” he said, “because it’s politically and sexually very provocative.”
If that sounds like Verhoeven’s bread and butter, well, it is. However, even by his standards, “Young Sinner” may be venturing into territory too hot for financiers.
“It’s much more extreme this time, believe me,” he told Libé. “The film features a young Christian woman, very devout but very sexually oriented, in the United States. And there’s no question of watering down anything.”
That last line, “no question of watering down anything,” feels like a direct shot across the bow of today’s increasingly conservative film financing climate. Verhoeven, who turns 87 this month, is clearly not interested in compromise at this stage in his career. The man who most recently scandalized Cannes with “Benedetta” and raised moral panic with “Basic Instinct” and “Showgirls” seems determined to go even further.
Will “Young Sinner” get made? That remains to be seen. A political erotic thriller with religious overtones and a female lead whose “devout” Christianity intertwines with her erotic impulses might be the ultimate litmus test of what cinema can still get away with.
Meanwhile, I’m hearing that Verhoeven’s other project in development, the French-language thriller “Sans Compter,” is no longer moving forward. Sources say the director had a falling out with producer Saïd Ben Saïd over creative differences, ultimately leading to the project’s collapse. So, for the time being, it’s “Young Sinner” or bust.
If anyone can push the envelope at 87, it’s Paul Verhoeven. The question now is whether anyone will let him.