The Director's Chair Network

Paul Verhoeven Hollow Man
The Director’s Chair covers Paul Verhoeven’s Hollow Man, the 2000 studio project that made him quit Hollywood.
Written by Gary Scott Thompson and Andrew W. Marlowe, produced by Douglas Wick and Alan Marshall, and scored by Jerry Goldsmith, the film had a $95 million budget and grossed roughly $190 million. Kevin Bacon stars as scientist Sebastian Caine, who develops an invisibility serum for the military and becomes a monster. Verhoeven recognized Plato’s Ring of Gyges in the script. He had been working on a Houdini biopic and a Jesus project that Sony would not fund; he took Hollow Man to keep his team employed and has regretted it since. Elizabeth Shue tore her Achilles early, ballooning the schedule. The invisibility effects required dual shoots, green body paint, and thermal imagery; they were Oscar-nominated. Josh Brolin clashed with Verhoeven on set. The theatrical cut softens the neighbor assault after test audiences found it too early; the director’s cut keeps it. Studio limits on the IP and the inability to take the story outside the lab left Verhoeven feeling like a director-for-hire. Hollow Man was his last American film.
0:00 Hollow Man overview, Plato and the Ring of Gyges
8:00 Houdini and Jesus projects rejected, Hollow Man accepted
16:00 Elizabeth Shue injury, schedule balloon
22:00 Invisibility effects, Oscar nomination
28:00 Josh Brolin on set
34:00 Director’s cut vs. theatrical, the assault scene
42:00 Why Verhoeven quit Hollywood
48:00 Film walkthrough begins
CREDITS
Film: Hollow Man (2000), directed by Paul Verhoeven
Series: Director’s Chair

Scott and Andrew Gordion, from the Ramblin’ Amblin’ podcast, discuss Sam Peckinpah’s 1972 *The Getaway*
The film was released December 19, 1972, written by Walter Hill, and made over $36 million on a $3.5 million budget. McQueen’s production company produced it and he took a healthy back end. Both hosts revisit it after seeing it as teenagers. They talk about the oppressive real Texas prison opening, McQueen’s moments of vulnerability with Ali MacGraw, the propulsive Quincy Jones score, and the heist and hotel shootout as peak Peckinpah action. The Rudy/vet/wife B-plot is the part neither remembered and both find the most uncomfortable, especially when played for broader laughs than the sexual politics in films like *Straw Dogs*. They also cover the novel’s darker ending versus the film’s warmer note with Slim Pickens.
0:00 Andrew Gordion joins, film facts and box office
8:00 Peckinpah and McQueen context, Junior Bonner
16:00 First-time and teenage memories of the film
24:00 Prison opening, vulnerability, real Texas jail
32:00 Quincy Jones score and the pedal sequence
40:00 The Rudy B-plot and problematic elements
52:00 Heist, aftermath, and the hotel shootout
68:00 Ending versus the Jim Thompson novel
76:00 Ratings and next episode tease

CREDITS
Film: The Getaway (1972), directed by Sam Peckinpah
Guest: Andrew Gordion (Ramblin’ Amblin’ podcast)
Host: Scott

Ryan is in the middle of a Terrence Malick season on Directors Chair Network, and this one is *The Tree of Life*. Last time out he sat with Craig on *The New World*. This time Doug is in the chair. They have been doing shows together for years and still have not met in person. Both are fathers of sons, which is why this film landed where it did.
Doug had never seen a Malick movie. *The Thin Red Line* had scared him off years ago because he wanted *Full Metal Jacket* and heard this was the opposite. So he walked into the most Malick film Malick has made with no warning. Book of Job on the opening card. A short look at Jessica Chastain. Then about twenty minutes of the universe being built, including dinosaurs. He hated Ryan for the first half hour. Then he could not stop thinking about it.
They get into why. Natural light in Waco, no generators, handheld cameras, a creation sequence built with Douglas Trumbull instead of CGI. Brad Pitt as nature, Jessica Chastain as grace, Sean Penn as the grown son remembering a 1950s Texas childhood that felt a lot like their own 1980s. Elbows off the table. A father trying to raise boys who can survive. A middle son who dies at 19, and the film never tells you how. A beach at the end where people are walking toward the water and, for the first time, Jack is smiling.
Also in the mix: Palme d’Or, an Oscar nomination, theaters that posted warning signs, a cinema in Italy that ran the reels backwards and nobody noticed, and the son’s initials spelling Job. Chastain says she still cannot watch it. Pitt compares Malick to a diver who follows the turtle until he cannot see the boat.
If this is your first Malick, Doug is you. If you already love him, Ryan bought the Blu-ray in 2011 and had not put it back on until this week. Next up is *To the Wonder*. Doug will be back on the channel. Comments are open if you walked out at the dinosaurs.

Scott hosts Bloody Sam, a Peckinpah fan podcast, with guest Paul of Spotlight — the Star Trek-movies show that started as a 13-episode dare and is now pushing 150. After a botched intro they keep anyway.
*Junior Bonner* (1972): Jeb Rosebrook script, McQueen first, Peckinpah for hire, still stamped. 92% on 24 RT reviews, 6.7 IMDb, $2.8M on $3.2M. Shot at Prescott, Arizona’s real rodeo while Sam was still cutting *Straw Dogs*. They talk dad-and-son scenes, Ace’s practiced front, Ida Lupino putting McQueen in his place over apple pie, the underwritten romance vs *American Graffiti*, long rodeo stretches you skip, fading-west themes that rhyme with *Ride the High Country* and *The Wild Bunch*. Paul’s disc-collector detour: flipper *Wild Bunch*, botched *Pat Garrett* box sets, the BFI print at the Prince Charles.
Scales: Bloody Sam 1/5 (bruises only). Nietzsche 3/5. Pecking nah from Paul, gentle pecking yeah from Scott. Next month: *The Getaway*.
Spotlight wherever you get pods. Scott also does All 90s Action All the Time

Ryan welcomes returning co-host Craig back to The Director’s Chair Network for Terrence Malick’s *The New World* (2005).
They talk first viewings in theaters, why Malick belongs on the biggest screen possible, the three existing cuts of the film, Emmanuel Lubezki’s natural-light cinematography, and James Horner’s famously unhappy score experience. The conversation covers Colin Farrell as John Smith, Christian Bale as John Rolfe, Q’orianka Kilcher’s breakout as Pocahontas, Christopher Plummer’s brief but sharp work, and how the movie handles the historical romance without turning it into Disney.
Craig previously hosted the Brian De Palma season on the network. Also happening on the channel: Sam Peckinpah coverage from Scott Murphy, plus thanks to Katie (John Hughes), Andy (Edgar Wright), and Sicco (Paul Verhoeven). Ryan and Craig also tease covering Michael Mann’s *Heat 2* when it arrives.
A long, immersive sit with one of Malick’s most visually stunning films.
00:00 – Intro, Craig returns, network updates (Peckinpah, De Palma, Hughes, Wright, Verhoeven) 
04:00 – Their history with Malick and first seeing *The New World* in theaters 
10:00 – Three cuts of the film and the Criterion set 
14:00 – James Horner’s score and his public frustration 
20:00 – Plot overview: Jamestown, Smith, Pocahontas, Rolfe 
28:00 – Look, authenticity, and Lubezki’s cinematography 
35:00 – Colin Farrell and the John Smith romance 
42:00 – Christian Bale as John Rolfe 
48:00 – Q’orianka Kilcher’s casting, age, and performance 
58:00 – Christopher Plummer and the fighting sequences 
1:05:00 – How Malick actually directs on set 
1:12:00 – Final thoughts, box office, and why the film has grown  
1:16:00 – Heat 2 tease and wrap-up