Paul Verhoeven

Born in the Netherlands in 1938, Verhoeven broke through with Turkish Delight in 1973, a romantic drama that earned an Oscar nomination and launched a string of Dutch successes including the WWII thriller Soldier of Orange and the unsettling The Fourth Man. In 1985 he jumped to Hollywood, where RoboCop, Total Recall, and Starship Troopers became genre landmarks—each loading popcorn spectacle with razor-edged satire. Basic Instinct made him a household provocation in 1992; Showgirls three years later was savaged on arrival, then slowly reclaimed as misunderstood camp. He returned to Europe in 2…