Fifteen Years Ago
In recognition of MGM Video’s upcoming Bluray release of Paul Verhoeven‘s Showgirls, I’m reposting an August 2007 piece about a very special screening of this legendary howler at Robert Evans‘ Beverly Hills home in the early fall of ’95:
“It happened in Evans’ legendary rear bungalow, which lies behind his egg-shaped pool in the backyard of his French chateau-styled place on Woodland Avenue. With Jack Nicholson of all people, as well as Bryan Singer, Chris McQuarrie, Tom DeSanto and two or three others. And with everyone hating it but sitting through the damn thing anyway because Nicholson had dropped by to see it and nobody wanted to mess with the moment.
“All that ended when Nicholson, who was sitting right under the projection window against the rear wall, stretched his arms and put his two hands right in front of the lamp. The hand-silhouette on top of Elizabeth Berkeley and her grinding costars conveyed his opinion well enough, and suddenly everyone felt at liberty to talk and groan and make cracks and leave for cigarette breaks.
“Nicholson and Singer ducked out at one point, and I joined them. Their chat was all about Nicholson wanting to bond with Singer — my presence was totally superfluous — but it was worth the faint humiliation.
“I was Evans’ journalist pal that year (or part of it, at least). I had written a big piece about Hollywood Republicans earlier that year for Los Angeles magazine, and Evans had been a very helpful source. As a favor I’d arranged for him to meet some just-emerging GenX filmmakers — Owen Wilson, Don Murphy, Jane Hamsher, et. al. — so that maybe, just maybe, he could possibly talk about making films with them down the road.
“Anyway, it was sometime in late September and Evans, myself, Singer, DeSanto and McQuarrie were having dinner in the back house, and Evans was doing a superb job of not asking the younger guys anything about themselves. He spoke only about his storied past, his lore, his legend. But the food was excellent and the vibe was cool and settled.
“Then out of the blue (or out of the black of night) a French door opened and Nicholson, wearing his trademark shades, popped his head in and announced to everyone without saying hello that ‘you guys should finish…don’t worry, don’t hurry or anything…we’ll just be in the house…take your time.’
“What? Singer, McQuarrie and DeSanto glanced at each other. Did that just happen? Evans told us that Nicholson was there to watch Showgirls, which they’d made arrangements for much earlier. He invited us stay and watch if we wanted. Nobody wanted to sit through Showgirls — the word was out on it — but missing out on Nicholson schmooze time was, of course, out of the question.
“There was some schmoozing after it ended. The general unspoken reaction, I sensed, was “well, that‘s over, thank God! I mean, imagine what it must feel like to pay to see this thing.” Nobody said this in so many words, of course.
A Cartoon Central rendering of Evans’ French-styled mansion. The Showgirls screening happened in the rear abode.
“McQuarrie, basking in the vibe, said something to Singer in shorthand that basically suggested that they’d clearly reached a certain plateau in their careers for something like this to happen, and wasn’t it cool? Again, the words weren’t spoken.
“I recall DeSanto (Apt Pupil, X-Men, X2, Transformers) introducing himself to Nicholson and the then-58-year-old star, who’d brought two women with him, saying, ‘And it’s very nice to meet you, Tom.’ Gesturing towards Girl #1, he then said to DeSanto, ‘And I’d like you to meet Cindy and…’ Lethal pause. Nicholson had forgotten the other woman’s name. He half-recovered by grinning and saying with his usual flourish, ‘Well, these are the girls!’ The woman he’d blanked on gave Nicholson a fuck-you look for the ages.
“We all said goodbye in the foyer of Evans’ main home. Nicholson’s mood was giddy, silly; he was laughing like a teenaged kid who’d just chugged two 16-ounce cans of beer and didn’t care about anything. I was thinking it must be fun to be able to pretty much follow whatever urge or mood comes to mind, knowing that you probably won’t be turned down or told ‘no’ as long as you use a little charm.”
A classic Hollywood tale…
Thanks Jeff.
What sucks about this release is the same thing that sucks about previous releases of showgirls: NO DIRECTOR COMMENTARY. Verhoeven does commentaries for EVERY SINGLE movie he’s ever directed. And they are uniformly excellent and entertaining. Much like the sublime commentaries on Herzog movies, often Verhoeven commentaries are reason alone to buy his DVDs, because sometimes the movies themselves kind of suck.
If you listen to Verhoeven’s commentaries, he constantly references showgirls; clearly he enjoys its reputation, so there is zero reason that it doesn’t have a commentary track. But as near as I can tell from the Amazon listing, there still havent bothered to record one.
Yeah its a fantastically bad, dopey movie. But a commentary track would have made it a keeper of a Blu-Ray.
Why did they make her look like an alien or a mermaid on that cover? The film is classic, dumb fun of course and I use to stroke it to this broad all the time on Saturday morning but that cover is ridiculous at best.
Great story, Wells.
Showgirls, along with Basic Instinct and Body of Evidence, was one of my favourite late-night “must remember to set the VCR and then wake up before Mum and Dad so I can hide the tape in my bedroom” classics of the ’90s.
The hype for this film was hilarious. Didn’t some French critic or director (might have been Paul V himself) proclaim that Elizabeth Berkley would become one of the greatest sex symbols of all time?
Striptease with Demi Moore was also a much-coveted VHS in the playground back in the day.
Just by saying “Striptease with Demi Moore” you’ve enabled that same shot to start rolling…. the shot that is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS shown whenever that film is even hinted at….
Demi RIPPING her shirt open as she fiercely struts down the catwalk…..
Shown even more than Richard Gere snapping the necklace case closed and Julia Roberts bursting into laughter whenever Pretty Woman is mentioned
Any life well-lived has one or two great stories like this one. Loved reading this years ago, and loved being reminded of it today.
Also, “Striptease” is unwatchable and totally useless as a skin flick.
“that cover is ridiculous at best”
It’s nothing compared to the Minority Report BluRay cover.
Speaking of which…I really miss Kid Notorious. Loved that show.
Do you think Hollywood types like Bob Evans and Jack Nicholson ever have one of those Crazy Heart-like moments of clarity when they long for a settled home life, a nice loving woman and an adorable moptop kid? Or do they just love the relentless excess until their dying day?
Being a Verhoeven superfan, when it came out I sort of liked Showgirls. Yeah, it had a couple amusing moments (Davi’s delivery of a key line being a highlight)… But I liked it more for the few nasty bits that reminded me old-school Dutch-movie Verhoeven, like when Berkeley does herself up like Katie Tippel or the 4th Man ice princess to get her revenge on that Eszterhas-looking show producer who assaulted her friend.
It’s also one of the few Verhoeven movies shot in widescreen, and in bits and pieces has that blunt, hostile, provocative tone from all his movies…
But, man, talk about something that’s MILDLY AMUSING that’s been destroyed by its annoying “ironic” camp champions. Can’t watch a frame of it now without picturing some godawful get-together, not with Jack and Bob and McQuarrie, but with a bunch of bitter queens and horrible shrews catcalling all the way through it, unable to take ANYTHING seriously, tisking and hissing and basking in “camp” that isn’t really there. Showgirls has some bad laughs but PV is an artist and it’s NOT really a campy movie, it’s too smart for that.
But the new culture of annoying bitchy American irony dictates that a gaggle of wannabe drag queens of both genders have to tisk and titter and defuse anything sexual or aggressively sleazy through the Marc Cherry Desperate Housewives filter of catty gay-fantasia bitchery, hence making Showgirls a “cult movie” only for really annoying people.
Showgirls is a funy, trashy movie to watch when you’re sitting at home, bored, drunk and high out of your mind.
“But, man, talk about something that’s MILDLY AMUSING that’s been destroyed by its annoying “ironic” camp champions.”
That’s why I can’t go and see The Room, and why my Best Worst Movie viewing experience was utterly awful. Damn hipsters ruining everything.
Go see “The Room”. The “professional” hecklers are hilarious and add greatly to the enjoyment of the viewing.
And she looks like Bambi in that picture. Not in a good way.
“Showgirls a “cult movie” only for really annoying people.”
I agree 100%, Lex.
>But the new culture of annoying bitchy American irony dictates that a gaggle of wannabe drag queens of both genders have to tisk and titter and defuse anything sexual or aggressively sleazy through the Marc Cherry Desperate Housewives filter of catty gay-fantasia bitchery, hence making Showgirls a “cult movie” only for really annoying people.
Good point.
It was always a pretty shitty movie, though. Good for a wank, that’s about it. Verhoeven is capable of so much better. (ROBOCOP… no… can’t bring myself to use the “power” construction, sorry.)
For those interested in the extras on this release, there is a commentary, but not by Verhoeven. Extras are as follows:
Pole Dancing: Finding Your Inner Stripper
Lap Dance Tutorial Featuring the World-Famous Girls of Scores
“The Greatest Movie Ever Made” A Commentary by David Schmader [from the 2004 DVD]
Showgirls Fact-Up Trivia
A Showgirls Diary
Theatrical Trailer
you people need to watch Showgirls with the French audio and English subtitles. Movie could have won Best Foreign Language feature if it was done in French.
Jacques Rivette has defended SHOWGIRLS. I suppose one could read it as an elaborate satire of the vapidity of show business as seen through one of its lower incarnations. Elizabeth Berkley (correct spelling) always reminds me of one of those rubber blowup sex dolls. Maybe that is part of the point. Sometimes Verhoeven is misunderstood as wallowing in what he is attacking (e.g., the fascism of the characters in STARSHIP TROOPERS).
Verhoeven has mentioned in private a very funny story that explains why there will never, ever be a commentary track by him for SHOWGIRLS – a movie which he still likes and is quite proud of – but it’s probably best not repeated here.
Showgirls is a funy, trashy movie to watch when you’re sitting at home, bored, drunk and high out of your mind.
Anthony, it’s not fair to tease us with an unrevealed story, so please share it.
Quantrell: Barb Wire, too.
Verhoeven may well be an artist — indeed, he’s directed two of the absolute sharpest action/sci-fi pics in the last 25 years — but Joe Eszterhas sure as shit isn’t (cue a Lex defense of Jade in 3, 2, 1…).
It’s acceptable to enjoy Showgirls as camp. In fact, it’s about the only way I can even imagine enjoying it — with a group of friends and a twelve-pack on late Friday (sexless) night.
I’m actually not sure Starship Troopers functions all that differently in its respective genre…
Fuck it, I’ll share it. During the recording sessions for the Anchor Bay commentary tracks of his earlier films, Verhoeven sat in the booth and continually, casually said things like “Ahh, yes, here’s this scene with a lovely actress. I still have sex with her regularly. In this film the female lead is played by … and I often still have sex with her. This other scene is with … and we still have sex together quite often.”. The Anchor Bay guys had to stop the recordings repeatedly and say, Paul, I don’t think we can put those things on the track, and the surprised Verhoeven would say “Oh, really?”, then continue on in much the same way. The final commentary tracks are the second or even third attempt at recording them simply as he was revealing way too much stuff like the above. Anyway, Verhoeven’s wife made him swear that he would never record a commentary track for SHOWGIRLS.
I don’t know if anyone else has read Hollywood Animal but I love Joe’s stories about this movie. He flat out said in the book that Berkley was “intimate” with the director and implied that’s why she was cast. It’s a bad movie but really not much worse than say Wild Things, which I found to be a fun movie. Maybe the rape and near murder were just a little too heavy for a tits and ass movie like this one.
That’s awesome.
Everybody’s got AIDS and shit.
Okay — apparently, we really need to start a petition for a Verhoeven Showgirls commentary.
An evening in the company of Evans and Nicholson. Must have been a thrill. Thanks for sharing it Mr Wells.
Berkley’s overbite and Ben Stiller’s ‘Simple Jack’ teeth in Tropic Thunder are soo similar! She must have inspired him.
I read Evans’ The Kid Stays in the Picture as a teenager and it stuck with me. None of Wells’ story is surprising here. It sounds like something that could have been in the book.
I read Evans’ The Kid Stays in the Picture as a teenager and it stuck with me. None of Wells’ story is surprising here. It sounds like something that could have been in the book.
I noticed that after a while most Playboy Playmates started having a major overbite. Why does Hefner find that attractive? Why does our culture find it attractive? Inquiring minds want to know.