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Paul Verhoeven Directing Baby Mama Thriller Surrogate

by Alex Billington
May 29, 2009

Not to be confused with the Bruce Willis sci-fi thriller Surrogates, Dutch director Paul Verhoeven is returning to America to direct a thriller called The Surrogate for 20th Century Fox. Based on the book by Kathryn Mackel, the story centers on a couple desperate to have a child who find themselves in an unbearable position when they find out the surrogate they hired to carry their baby is insane. The original draft was written Roderick Taylor and Bruce Taylor (The Brave One), however Verhoeven might tweak their version. This was originally setup at Fox Atomic, but moved to Fox when that company was shut down.

Verhoeven last directed the Dutch WWII drama Black Book in 2006, but hasn't done anything for Hollywood since directing Hollow Man in 2000. Verhoeven is always all over the map, so I can never say whether anything will be that good just because he's attached to it, although I usually do like most of his work. In its original iteration, The Surrogate had an actor named Haytham Kandil attached to play the "surrogate," but we're not sure if that literally meant he was going to be the mother or involved in another role (like an older version of the kid). Either way, he's probably no longer involved anymore. Thoughts?

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Angelo

Black Book is a dutch WWII drama. Other than that, I agree completely. Verhoeven is very hit and miss, with most everything, except his earlier work (Turkish Delight and Soldier of Orange, which are both masterpieces). Even an atrocious film like Showgirls had its share of audiences that adore it, he will always hit a right note with some viewers, that's his main power as filmmaker.
Robbie

I'm from The Netherlands, so this is great news for me, I feel proud already =D. Yes, Black Book (Zwartboek), Turkish Delight (Turks Fruit) and Soldier of Orange (Soldaat van Oranje) are all masterpieces, no doubt. Paul Verhoeven is, like, the most famous director in The Netherlands (there aren't quite a lot, but ok =p), so this must be a great honor for him, I guess. Can't wait to hear more =D
Jarno

Take starship troopers! all the ingredients for an ugly dog of a movie, however he turns it into this weird commercial verry likable sci-fi / action movie!
http://twitter.com/gimmesumsuga Mathieu

Pretty much everything Verhoeven has done is awesome, from his European movies through to his Hollywood hits. One mild disappointment (Hollow Man) and one stinker (Showgirls, which has camp appeal anyway). Not bad going for someone who's been making films for, what, thirty or forty years? This man brought us RoboCop and Total Recall - either of those on their own is enough to earn my interest for the rest of his career.
Conrad

The man owned that sci-fi trilogy!!!
http://www.goldenrule.com/health/health-savings.shtml Hsa

The story sounds very original and authentic. I think it should do pretty well although I have not heard much about it.