Birthday:
07-18-1938
(86 years)
Birthplace:
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Biography
Paul Verhoeven (born July 18, 1938) is a Dutch film director, screenwriter, and producer who has made movies in both the Netherlands and the United States. Explicitly violent and/or sexual content and social satire are trademarks of both his drama and science fiction films. He is best known for directing the American feature films RoboCop (1987), Total Recall (1990), Basic Instinct (1992), Starship Troopers (1997), and Hollow Man (2000). Turkish Delight (1973) received the award for Best Dutch Film of the Century at the Netherlands Film Festival. His films altogether received a total of nine Academy Award nominations, mainly for editing and effects. Both RoboCop and Total Recall won an Academy Special Achievement Award. In contrast, his film Showgirls (1995) was poorly received and won seven Golden Raspberry Awards, but has become a cult film over time.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Paul Verhoeven, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Description above from the Wikipedia article Paul Verhoeven, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing
Act like Self
event2004 star_border 7
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Documentary about the art of film editing. Clips are shown from many groundbreaking films with innovative editing styles.
In Search of the Last Action Heroes
Act like Self
event2019 star_border 6.8
top_panel_open
The most comprehensive retrospective of the '80s action film genre ever made.
RoboCop
Act like Dancer at Disco (uncredited)
event1987 star_border 7.3
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In a violent, near-apocalyptic Detroit, evil corporation Omni Consumer Products wins a contract from the city government to privatize the police force. To test their crime-eradicating cyborgs, the company leads street cop Alex Murphy into an armed confrontation with crime lord Boddicker so they can use his body to support their untested RoboCop prototype. But when RoboCop learns of the company's nefarious plans, he turns on his masters.
That's It!
Act like Himself
event2005
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In 1980 film writer Ruud den Drijver goes head to head with two notorious Dutch film directors, Paul Verhoeven and Wim Verstappen, passionate film makers, competitors and colleagues in a free for all heated discussion ranging (among other subjects) from oral sex to the art of motion pictures. 25 years later the confrontation is continued during the Cannes Film Festival. In the meantime Wim Verstappen has died a year earlier and Paul Verhoeven has returned from a brilliant career in the States. Paul is still very outspoken. He talks freely about the present-day neo-conservative policies of America, and about the situation in Hollywood and his work. THAT'S IT!!(English title)(1980-2005) is a retrospective view on the careers of two driven film directors and is a hilarious time document larded with passionate statements.
Kurosawa: The Last Emperor
Act like Self
event1999 star_border 5.5
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A profile and history of film director Akira Kurosawa.
Pictures of Europe
Act like Self
event1990
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What makes European cinema so special? Find out in Paul Joyce’s feature-length documentary, Pictures of Europe, which examines the differences between American independent and Hollywood movies and films from European directors. Featuring luminary iconoclasts from European cinema such as Agnes Varda, Bernardo Bertolucci and Pedro Almodovar, as well as American counterpoints from Paul Schrader, and those who have crossed back and forth, such as Paul Verhoeven
Parradox
Act like himself
event2010 star_border 5
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"Pim is more consummate," actress Willeke van Ammelrooy concluded upon seeing Pim de la Parra again in Suriname, at the presentation of the restored version of his film Wan Pipel. This marked the end of her disagreement with the director, which arose during the making of this film, some 35 years ago now. The charming director doesn't seem like the kind of man you can stay angry with for long. Wan Pipel turned out to be a watershed in the career of this headstrong filmmaker, who shook up the Dutch film world in the late 1960s. Although he went on to fight back with his so-called "minimal movies," he would never again get the opportunities his talent and inventiveness deserved. In Parradox In-Soo Radstake provides a personal portrait of De la Parra, now 70 years of age, who after many adventures in the Netherlands has returned to his native Suriname. He discusses the major themes of his life and work, which for a long time coexisted: too many women, too little money, too much ego.
Paul Verhoeven: From Holland to Hollywood
Act like Himself
event1996 star_border 5.2
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Very insightful BBC documentary about Paul Verhoeven, tracking his career up to Showgirls. The programme focuses on talks with Verhoeven, but also includes interviews with many of the people who worked with him, both from the US and Holland, and even his wife. Also has a lot of behind the scenes footage from the set of Showgirls. Verhoeven is very open about the way he works, the themes in his movies and his life. He also interprets his own work in a very frank and intelligent way and, as always, is a gas.
Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession
Act like Self
event2004 star_border 6.9
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A documentary on the Z Channel, one of the first pay cable stations in the US, and its programming chief, Jerry Harvey. Debuting in 1974, the LA-based channel's eclectic slate of movies became a prime example of the untapped power of cable television.
Hollywood Banker
Act like Self
event2014 star_border 6.8
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How Frans Afman, a banker from the Netherlands, developed a new system for film financing, revolutionized independent filmmaking in Hollywood, but could not prevent it all from crashing down, when ambition of others turned into greed.
Goddess: The Fall and Rise of Showgirls
Act like Self
top_panel_open
A look at the production and enduring popularity of a modern trash classic from those bad boys behind 1992's Basic Instinct, the infamous screenwriter Joe Eszterhas and the envelope pushing director Paul Verhoeven. In 1995, their next film collaboration, Showgirls, was unleashed upon the world.
Verhoeven Versus Verhoeven
Act like Self - Filmmaker
event2016 star_border 6.9
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A look at the life and provocative film work of controversial Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven.
Death from Above: The Making of 'Starship Troopers'
Act like Himself
event2002 star_border 8
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A behind-the-scenes look at director Paul Verhoeven's imaginative re-telling of Robert Heinlein's classic science fiction novel.
You Don't Nomi
Act like Himself (archive footage)
event2019 star_border 6
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Released in 1995, Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls was met by critics and audiences with near universal derision. You Don't Nomi traces the film's redemptive journey from notorious flop to cult classic, and maybe even masterpiece.
De droomproducenten
Act like Self
event1984
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Documentary exploring why Belgian television doesn't invest more money in Belgian cinema as is the case in e.g. the netherlands.
Flesh + Steel: The Making of 'RoboCop'
Act like Himself
event2001 star_border 7
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A look behind the scenes at the making of this science fiction classic about a policeman killed in the line of duty, only to be reborn as a half-man, half-machine supercop. Includes interviews with star Peter Weller and director Paul Verhoeven, who give their views on the efforts that went into making the film.
In Search of Tomorrow
Act like Self - Interviewee
event2022 star_border 6.5
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A nostalgic journey through ’80s Sci-Fi-films, exploring their impact and relevance today, told by the artist who made them and by those who were inspired to turn their visions into reality.
Phil Tippett: Mad Dreams and Monsters
Act like Self
event2019 star_border 7.4
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An in-depth, sad, and beautiful documentary about the stop motion and VFX artist Phil Tippett, a man who changed the landscape of visual effects in film.
Sex at 24 Frames Per Second
Act like Self
event2003 star_border 5.2
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Directed by Kevin Burns, this documentary from Playboy Home Video examines the oftentimes tense relationship between sex, women, and popular Hollywood culture. With a particular focus given to Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Jean Harlow, and Sharon Stone, Sex at 24 Frames Per Second studies the role of female sexuality in film throughout the years. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
Hollywood by Bike
Act like Himself
event1993
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Documentary that looks back at 35 years of Dutch cinema, with Paul Verhoeven and others.
Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story
Act like Self
event2020 star_border 6.2
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Chronicles the lives of women who perform the stunts in some of Hollywood’s biggest action sequences — from the early days of silent movies to today’s blockbusters.
Basic Instinct: Sex, Death & Stone
Act like Self
event2020 star_border 4.3
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A documentary about the Paul Verhoeven's cult classic Basic Instinct.
Imagining 'Total Recall'
Act like Self
event2001 star_border 7
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Making of documentary featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Paul Verhoeven.
Like Tears in Rain
Act like Self
event2024 star_border 8
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His entire life, the charismatic actor Rutger Hauer kept the outside world at a distance. His inner circle included only a small group of people, among them director and goddaughter Sanna Fabery de Jonge. In this film, she unravels the mystery surrounding Rutger and reveals a man even more fascinating than the roles he played.
Zomergasten
(1 ep.)
event1988
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This VPRO's ‘summer classic’ is based on an equally simple and refreshing idea that originated in 1988: When during the summer most of the channels are showing reruns, ask interesting people people to curate their ‘favorite television evening’ and let them clarify the fragments in a long-form interview/conversation.
The programme was first aired in 1988. Each episode takes up an entire Sunday evening, lasting typically three hours. It consists of an in-depth studio interview with a notable Dutch, Belgian or other Dutch-speaking foreigner, interspersed with cinema or television footage selected by the guest, which is subsequently discussed. Guests include writers, scientists, television personalities, politicians or business people.
De Wereld Draait Door
Act like Self (1 ep.)
event2005 star_border 5.6
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Talk show hosted by Matthijs van Nieuwkerk containing a mixture of news, information, television bloopers and general entertainment.
RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop
Act like Self (4 ep.)
event2023 star_border 8.6
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An in-depth look into the ground breaking franchise and features new interviews with cast and crew.
The Real History of Science Fiction
Act like Himself (1 ep.)
event2014 star_border 6.9
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The series heads to the very frontiers of space and science to produce the definitive television history of science fiction, told through its impact on cinema, television and literature, with the help of filmmakers, writers, actors, and graphic artists. Each episode will explore one of the enduring themes of science fiction: time travel; the exploration of space; robots and artificial intelligence; and aliens.
Basic Instinct
Director (1 ep.)
event1992 star_border 6.9
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Catherine, a novelist with an insatiable sexual appetite, becomes a prime suspect when her boyfriend is brutally murdered -- a crime she had described in her latest story.
Starship Troopers
Director (1 ep.)
event1997 star_border 7.1
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Set in the future, the story follows a young soldier named Johnny Rico and his exploits in the Mobile Infantry. Rico's military career progresses from recruit to non-commissioned officer and finally to officer against the backdrop of an interstellar war between mankind and an arachnoid species known as "the Bugs."
Soldier of Orange
Director (1 ep.)
event1977 star_border 7.1
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The lives of Erik Lanshof and five of his closest friends take different paths when the German army invades the Netherlands in 1940: fight and resistance, fear and resignation, collaboration and high treason.
Total Recall
Director (1 ep.)
event1990 star_border 7.3
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Construction worker Douglas Quaid's obsession with the planet Mars leads him to visit Recall, a company that manufactures memories. When his memory implant goes wrong, Doug can no longer be sure what is and isn't reality.
Showgirls
Director (1 ep.)
event1995 star_border 5.6
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Fresh to Las Vegas with no connections, Nomi Malone takes a job as an exotic dancer. Her talents are quickly noticed by Cristal, a headlining dancer who senses an opportunity to bolster her own act. But Nomi won’t play second fiddle and soon begins her venomous path to the top, ruthlessly backstabbing anyone who gets in her way.
Turkish Delight
Director (1 ep.)
event1973 star_border 6.9
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Eric, a gifted sculptor, has a stormy, erotic, and star-crossed romance with a beautiful young woman named Olga.
Black Book
Screenplay (1 ep.)
event2006 star_border 7.5
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In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance.
Hollow Man
Director (1 ep.)
event2000 star_border 5.9
top_panel_open
Cocky researcher Sebastian Caine is working on a project to make living creatures invisible. Determined to achieve the ultimate breakthrough, Caine pushes his team to move to the next phase — using himself as the subject. The test is a success, but when the process can't be reversed and Caine seems doomed to future without flesh, he starts to turn increasingly dangerous.
Flesh + Blood
Director (1 ep.)
event1985 star_border 6.6
top_panel_open
A band of medieval mercenaries take revenge on a noble lord who decides not to pay them by kidnapping the betrothed of the noble's son. As the plague and warfare cut a swathe of destruction throughout the land, the mercenaries hole up in a castle and await their fate.
Spetters
Director (1 ep.)
event1980 star_border 6.4
top_panel_open
Three amateur dirt-bike racers each fall in love with a young woman who, with her brother, sells French fries and hotdogs at the races. Everyone is looking for a better life: she wants out of the business and away from her brother; and the motocross racers want to make their marks as professionals in their sport.
The 4th Man
Director (1 ep.)
event1983 star_border 6.7
top_panel_open
A man who has been having visions of an impending danger begins an affair with a woman who may lead him to his doom.
Katie Tippel
Director (1 ep.)
event1975 star_border 6.6
top_panel_open
In the late 19th century, a young woman moves to Amsterdam with her family and tries to make a living. Preyed upon by various men, she nonetheless rises in society.
Business Is Business
Director (1 ep.)
event1971 star_border 5.6
top_panel_open
The story of two prostitutes working in the Amsterdam Red Light district, and the many strange and unusual men they meet through their work.
Tricked
Director (1 ep.)
event2012 star_border 5.7
top_panel_open
During his 50th birthday party thrown by his wife, Remco's life takes a turn for the worse. His business partners are scheming behind his back to sell him and his former mistress shows up pregnant.
One Lizard Too Many
Director (1 ep.)
event1960 star_border 5
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A woman, married with an artist, starts a relationship with one of her students, who has already got a mistress of his own. The two rivals meet.
Lotgenoten
Writer (1 ep.)
event2013 star_border 5.8
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When womanizer Remco Albrecht celebrates his 65st birthday he has to deal with people from his past whom he would rather ignore.
Sans Compter
Writer (1 ep.)
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Nathan, a journalist is fascinated by Gaby, his mother-in-law, a poet. The latter lives in the same vast estate property as Nathan and his wife. One day a promoter tries to buy parts of the land to build an amusement park and comes up against Gaby's categorical refusal, things get worse: a deputy gets annoyed, a hiker mysteriously disappears while Nathan tries to unravel it all.
All Things Pass
Director (1 ep.)
event1981 star_border 6.6
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During World War II in the Netherlands, resistance-leader Arie is shot by the Dutch SS-man Niels. Arie's comrades pledge to avenge his death. 35 years later one of them, Ab, is confronted with Niels again. He decides to round up his old friends to kill him. He finds out though, that they think this is useless or are not capable of doing so anymore. Only the former communist Gerben has not forgotten his pledge and is talked into joining the execution.
The Wrestler
Director (1 ep.)
event1971 star_border 4.5
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A worried father tries to end the relationship that his son Andries has with the wife of a wrestler.
Portrait of Anton Adriaan Mussert
Director (1 ep.)
event1968
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Documentary about the leader of the fascist party in The Netherlands, from 1931 till 1945. This architect called Anton Mussert was shot in 1946 after having been convicted for high treason and aiding the enemy.
Let's Have a Party
Director (1 ep.)
event1963 star_border 5.5
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Short film about the blossoming affection of an upper-class schoolboy for a girl from a different class. The film, shot by Verhoeven at the same school he attended in The Hague, is loosely based on the description of the unrequited love of Anton Wachter in Simon Vestdijk's novel Back to Ina Damman, one of the parts in the Anton Wachter cycle.
Nothing Special
Director (1 ep.)
event1961 star_border 5.5
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A man is thinking about his relationship with his girlfriend, while checking out a gorgeous woman in a bar.
The Royal Dutch Marine Corps
Director (1 ep.)
event1965 star_border 6
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Het korps Mariniers is a documentary about the Royal Dutch Marine Corps, which Paul Verhoeven made while being assigned to the Marine Film Service as a documentary filmmaker.
The Hitchhikers
Director (1 ep.)
event1962 star_border 5.7
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A road movie about three guys (two hitchhikers, one driver) and one woman.
Le court des grands
Director (1 ep.)
event2005 star_border 8
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A program of short films from some of the cinema's greatest diectors. Curated by Emir Kusturica and Stephen Frears.
- George Lucas "1.42.08 to Qualify" (1966)
- Ridley Scott "A Boy and a Bicycle" (1965)
- Robert Zemeckis "The Lift" (1972)
- Tony Scott "One of the Missing" (1969)
- Emir Kusturica "Guernica" (1978)
- Luc Besson "L'avant dernier" (1981)
- Lars von Trier "Nocturne" (1980)
- Terry Gilliam "Storytime" (1968)
- Paul Verhoeven "A Lizzard Too Much" (1960)
- Roman Polanski "Le gros et le maigre" (1960)
- Jane Campion "Peel" (1982)
- Stephen Frears "The Burning" (1967)
Elle
Director (1 ep.)
event2016 star_border 6.7
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When Michèle, the CEO of a gaming software company, is attacked in her home by an unknown assailant, she refuses to let it alter her precisely ordered life. She manages crises involving family, all the while becoming engaged in a game of cat and mouse with her stalker.
Young Sinner
Director (1 ep.)
top_panel_open
An erotic political thriller, set in Washington D.C. and will revolve around a young staffer who works for a powerful Senator, is drawn into a web of international intrigue and danger.
Benedetta
Director (1 ep.)
event2021 star_border 6.6
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A 17th-century nun becomes entangled in a forbidden lesbian affair with a novice. But it is Benedetta's shocking religious visions that threaten to shake the Church to its core.
Something Unknown Is Doing We Don't Know What
Associate Producer (1 ep.)
event2009 star_border 8.3
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Is it possible to look into the future? Does mind over matter really exist? What is true about psychic healing? Is remote viewing real? Where is the boundary between real magical powers and fraud? Find out what scientists have to say.
The Lonely Dorymen
Sound Effects (1 ep.)
event1968 star_border 7
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For more than four centuries, young Portuguese fishermen have followed their fathers to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and in recent years to Greenland’s banks to fish the cold waters for cod. Intrepid men, set off for the Banks on schooners under full sail, then adrift in a flat-bottomed dory, they bait the hundred of hooks of their long-line, oblivious to fog, rain and Arctic wind, they labour 18 hours a day and haul up cod by the score.
Cups of Coffee
Director (1 ep.)
event1959
top_panel_open
Filmic exercise by Verhoeven
The Kiss
Director (1 ep.)
event1959
top_panel_open
Filmic exercise by Paul Verhoeven.
RoboCop Returns
Screenplay (1 ep.)
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Set in crime-ridden Detroit. Centers around the cyborg as he is forced to come back to the city and save it from the brink of anarchy.
The Hitchhiker
Director (1 ep.)
event1983 star_border 6.1
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A young hitchhiker introduces characters who are about to experience a frightening and sometimes supernatural incident of some kind in this moody anthology series.
Floris
Director (13 ep.)
event1969 star_border 7.7
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A Dutch television series about an exiled knight and his Indian friend. Together they try to get his birthright papers back from an evil Lord. During their quest, they get help from a nobleman who offers them a place in his castle.
Written by Gerard Soeteman starring Rutger Hauer and Jos Bergman and directed by Paul Verhoeven.
For Queen and Country
Director (4 ep.)
event1979 star_border 6.5
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Based on the true story of a group of students from Leiden, The Netherlands, this miniseries explores their experiences, different paths, and roles in World War II, either as Nazi collaborators or as members of the resistance.
Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles
Executive Producer (40 ep.)
event1999 star_border 7
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The exploits of the Mobile Infantry squad, "Razak's Roughnecks," during the SICON–Bugs War between a newly united humanity and an extraterrestrial race, known as the "Bugs," also sometimes referred to as Arachnids.
Het gestolen kasteel
Creator (40 ep.)
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Het gestolen kasteel is an episode in the 1969 Dutch television action series Floris, written by Gerard Soeteman starring Rutger Hauer and Jos Bergman and directed by Paul Verhoeven. Originally aired 5 October 1969.
De koperen hond
Creator (40 ep.)
top_panel_open
De koperen hond is an episode in the 1969 Dutch television action series Floris, written by Gerard Soeteman starring Rutger Hauer and Jos Bergman and directed by Paul Verhoeven. Originally aired 12 October 1969.
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