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Paul Verhoeven

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Movies in this archive
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RoboCop poster
RoboCop

Who Won the Movie?

RoboCop The Rewatchables

Paul Verhoeven wins; the villains’ personalities and the movie’s satire reinforce the choice.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:46:45Read transcript
  • Paul Verhoeven is the immediate winner for the film’s bloody, satirical direction.
  • The closing response praises the film for hiding its message inside cheesy 80s science fiction.
  • The villains are praised as more vivid and genuinely terrible than the restrained leads.
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Paul Verhoeven
Speaker not identified
Paul Verhoeven
RoboCop poster
RoboCop

Apex Mountain

RoboCop The Rewatchables

Peter Weller, Detroit’s early-1990s sports era, Ronnie Cox, and Miguel Ferrer receive apex support; other candidates are rejected or debated.

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:27:43Read transcript
  • Leza Gibbons’s seven-year daytime show is proposed as her apex.
  • Peter Weller is declared at his apex in RoboCop.
  • Basic Instinct is preferred for Paul Verhoeven.
  • Ronnie Cox is placed at his apex with RoboCop and Beverly Hills Cop II in the same year.
  • Miguel Ferrer is treated as probably at his apex as Bob Morton.
  • That ’70s Show is preferred for Kurtwood Smith.
  • Blade Runner beats RoboCop for futuristic cop movies.
  • Murphy’s execution prompts an explicit unranked list of hard-to-watch scenes from Casino, the slow-motion wartime stabbing, True Romance, Misery, American History X, Irreversible, Reservoir Dogs, and Man on Fire.
The Silence of the Lambs poster
The Silence of the Lambs

Casting What-Ifs

The Silence of the Lambs The Rewatchables

The panel preserves a wide, sometimes uncertain list: Hackman and Connery for Lecter/Crawford, Pfeiffer and others for Clarice, Ed Harris for Crawford, and numerous alleged Lecter auditions.

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:30:20Read transcript
  • Gene Hackman reportedly partnered to adapt the novel and considered directing and playing Lecter or Crawford before withdrawing.
  • Paul Verhoeven reportedly turned the film down and later expressed regret.
  • Jonathan Demme reportedly wanted Sean Connery for Lecter, but Connery declined.
  • Michelle Pfeiffer declined Clarice; the panel prefers Foster because Pfeiffer’s overt glamour would shift the character’s closed, professional center.
  • Meg Ryan reportedly rejected the material as too gruesome, and Molly Ringwald auditioned but was considered too young.
  • Ed Harris reportedly declined Jack Crawford because the role was not interesting enough.
  • Reported Lecter possibilities include Daniel Day-Lewis, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Derek Jacobi, and Forest Whitaker; the panel openly doubts some unsourced casting lists while noting Whitaker publicly discussed auditioning.
Jurassic Park poster
Jurassic Park

Half-Assed Internet Research

Jurassic Park The Rewatchables

Research covers the rights auction, production history, scientific details, sound and practical effects, finances, cultural influence, and unused material.

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:32Read transcript
  • Warner Bros./Tim Burton, Columbia/Richard Donner, Fox/Joe Dante, and possibly Paul Verhoeven were competing studio-director combinations before Universal and Spielberg secured the property.
  • Universal leadership reportedly conditioned approval of Schindler’s List on Spielberg making Jurassic Park first; he later called it an effort to make Jaws on land.
  • The movie reportedly increased interest in paleontology, and the discussion connects Spielberg and Michael Crichton’s relationship to ER.
  • Several dinosaurs are said not to belong to the Jurassic period, turning the title into an admitted branding choice rather than a precise scientific label.
  • Universal paid Michael Crichton about $2 million before publication, divided between rights and a screenplay draft later replaced by David Koepp’s work.
  • The T. rex roar combined dog, penguin, tiger, alligator, and elephant sounds, while the water-glass ripple came from a guitar string under the dashboard.
  • The hosts credit the film with accelerating franchise-oriented blockbuster competition and discuss Chip Kidd’s influential skeletal T. rex book cover.
  • An abandoned sequence would have had the children ride a young dinosaur, but the effect was judged unconvincing.
  • Alan Grant is said to be modeled on Montana paleontologist and technical adviser Jack Horner.
  • Spielberg reportedly earned about $250 million from the film, which the hosts still call underpayment given the billion-dollar gross and franchise created.
Displaying all 4 discussions

Films in the archive

RoboCop

1987

Rewatchables episodes featuring their films

RoboCop poster

RoboCop

1987 film

Bill Simmons · Kyle Brandt

Aired August 5, 2025

Displaying 1 episode