Young Sinner Will Reunite Paul Verhoeven With His RoboCop Writer

Sapphic period drama "Bendetta" is still making waves in theaters (outstandingly, as /Film's Jason Gorber notes), and its director/co-writer Paul Verhoeven is already gearing up to set sail on his next cinematic adventure. The "Showgirls" director's next project is a political thriller-drama titled "Young Sinner," set in Washington D.C., with hints of the sexy shenanigans we've come to expect from the Dutch filmmaker. According to screenwriter Edward Neumeier speaking to MovieMaker, the story centers on "a young staffer who works for a powerful Senator, [who] is drawn into a web of international intrigue and danger, and of course there is also a little sex." The film is currently in development.

Neumeier and Verhoeven have previously tag-teamed together; the pair penned sci-fi action classic "RoboCop" in 1987 and, a decade later, "Starship Troopers," the satirical military action film that way too many morons took as an endorsement of the fascism they'd love to see employed. Now the band is getting back together to spin a new potential hit in "Young Sinner." I'd buy that for a dollar!

Verhoeven characterizes the movie as an "innovative version" of the likes of past Verhoeven works "Fatal Attraction" and "Basic Instinct." He tells MovieMaker that he aims to use "very little digital effects," but that "this would be more explosive, and more open-minded to a big audience."

Neumeier (who went on to write sequels "Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation," "Starship Troopers 3: Marauder," and "Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars") tells MovieMaker, "We have been consulting with a former intelligence officer, Ron Marks, who is trying to keep us real about Capitol Hill and the spy business, but satire always seems to emerge when Paul and I work together, so I expect our new adventure will have a light tone."

Well, as light as a Verhoeven-Neumeier joint can be. Both "Robocop" and "Starship Troopers" provide hyper-violent surface entertainment that reveals the socio-political warts of the time, from unchecked capitalism to state-run media influence. Their commentary has been called commercially palatable through that violence, but Verhoeven movies are sledgehammer-subtle. The military "recruitment" videos are cribbed from Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," while the threads seen on Neil Patrick Harris and other military intelligence personnel in the film are thinly-revamped Schutzstaffel (SS) uniforms. It's not hard to miss, and yet the film has been misunderstood as lighter, dumber entertainment ever since its release in 1997. That said, this isn't an action picture, it's an erotic thriller, so maybe less will fly under the radar.

Here's hoping folks pay attention this time around the way they paid attention to Sharon Stone's gams in "Basic Instinct."