Paul Verhoeven

Paul Verhoeven (Dutch: [ˈpʌu̯l vərˈɦuvə(n)]; born 18 July 1938) is a Dutch director, screenwriter and film producer active in both the Netherlands and Hollywood. Verhoeven's blending of graphic violence and sexual content with social satire are trademarks of both his drama and science fiction films. He directed the films Turkish Delight (1973), Keetje Tippel (1975), Soldier of Orange (1977), Spetters (1980), The Fourth Man (1983), Flesh and Blood (1985), RoboCop (1987), Total Recall (1990), Basic Instinct (1992), Showgirls (1995), Starship Troopers (1997), Hollow Man (2000), Black Book (2006) and Elle (2016).

Turkish Delight received the award for Best Dutch Film of the Century at the Netherlands Film Festival.[1] His films altogether received a total of nine Academy Award nominations, mainly for editing and effects. Verhoeven won the Saturn Award for Best Director for RoboCop. His Dutch war film Black Book (2006) was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language and was voted by the Dutch public, in 2008, as the best Dutch film ever made.[2] In contrast, he won the Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Picture and Worst Director for Showgirls; he is one of the few people to have accepted their Golden Raspberry awards in person, and was the first person to go to the ceremony to receive it. In 2016 he directed Elle, which won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

The Seattle Times praised Verhoeven by saying, "director Paul Verhoeven often appears to be a one-man Dutch movie industry,"[3] while The San Diego Union-Tribune called Verhoeven "a busy bee whose movies pollinate the festival circuit."