Andere tijden (2000–…): Season 0, Episode 0 - Floris - full transcript
OTHER TIMES
Good evening.
We're hoping to see a big crowd
in The Hague, next Wednesday.
Viewers and producers of the public
channel will be protesting...
against cutbacks of 100 million,
after earlier cutbacks of 200 million.
As a reminder that good TV programs
sometimes cost a bit of money...
we're broadcasting an adaptation
of a program we once made...
about a TV series that has become
legendary to anyone of a certain age.
Floris.
Run!
-Guards!
Guards!
Up the stairs!
Suspense, action, speed.
In 1969, Dutch TV mainly consisted of
a clown, his wife and their wagon: Pipo.
This was different.
This was quite something.
It was a bit like Ivanhoe,
with Roger Moore.
The big hit of those days.
We should be able to make something
like that too...
thought Carel Enkelaar, the head of NTS,
the public channel.
He was authorised to make more
than just news and sports programs.
He decided to reserve money for
a high quality series for young people.
And then fate brought three talented
young men together.
Director Paul Verhoeven, script writer
Gerard Soeteman and actor Rutger Hauer.
At that moment, they weren't a director,
a script writer or an actor yet.
They became that.
The money NTS invested in TV series and
the freedom they gave the three men...
permitted them to develop their
craft and benefited the series.
The series became a legend and its
creators became stars.
Let's see.
Let's see which episode this is.
Gerard Soeteman.
Julius Steffaro.
Beautiful.
Originally, it was called Floris and
the Fakir.
With Floris, a young man who had sailed
under the Portuguese for years.
The fakir, Floris' friend, who
was a magician and an alchemist.
Floris is short-tempered and brave,
but solutions to difficult situations...
have to come from Sindala.
He's the smart guy of the two...
but will never show anyone that.
The head of NTS television, Carel Enkelaar,
was so annoyed that...
there was a decent Flemish series,
Johan and the Alverman...
and a good French series and
a good English series...
that he said: "I want us to make
one too".
Good day.
-Hello.
Do you know where Willem Klaaszoon
lives?
Willem who?
-Willem Klaaszoon.
The miller.
Willem from the water mill.
Yes, I know him.
Is it far to the water mill?
It's quite a walk.
You won't get there before dark.
He was so very jealous that the Belgians
had made something...
that the Dutch were watching...
that he said at a meeting:
"There also has to be a Dutch series".
The idea was to make a film
series for the first time.
The film academy was already in
full swing.
But those people weren't very
interested.
In those days, television was below
them or so they thought.
They didn't want to have anything
to do with it.
They all wanted to become Haanstra
or Fellini.
Much better than before.
The sound's also excellent.
The movement is ok to me.
Is the action alright too?
I had just come out of military
service.
During my service, I made a feature about
the 300th anniversary of the Marine Corps.
During military service, I realised that
I preferred movies to math.
I wanted to become a movie
director.
That's what I found the most
interesting.
Working with actors and telling
a story.
The Marine Corps was a documentary,
of course.
Although I did it in James Bond
style.
It's got that drive, the teleshots
and the moving camera.
I was clearly very much influenced by
Dr. No and From Russia with Love.
Forward!
I wanted to make something big.
I'd made a list of the projects
I wanted to do.
It included Alexander the Great.
After the book by Couperus, entitled
Iskander.
It also included Anton Wachter.
The novels by Simon Vestdijk.
Dutch movie production didn't amount
to much.
We had Haanstra and a few other big
directors who occasionally made a movie.
It was very hard to get the money
together.
The big boom was still to come.
I also thought it was a big step from
Couperus to Floris.
It was even a strange step from Anton
Wachter to Floris.
I discussed it with him extensively.
Let's do this.
I was apologising a little bit...
This may not be what you had in
mind to do.
"No", he said, this is exactly what
I think we should do.
There was very little interest in
the Netherlands for my movie plans.
And it was very hard to get anything
movie related happening.
So I basically cut my losses.
And I decided to do that crazy Floris
thing.
Maybe I can make something of that
childish story.
He immediately understood what
was being asked of him.
That it was going to be quite a
massive production.
If I can let a couple of hundred
marines land like in Normandy...
or blow up some bunkers, I can also
film two knights on a horse.
How hard can it be?
And a bit of fighting isn't
very hard either.
I've studied Dick Bos enough to
know how to film a fight scene.
I'm a big fan of Dick Bos,
of course.
Many of those pictures are film
scripts.
Scripts for action movies.
One move is filmed from one angle,
another from another angle.
Depending on what the best angle is
to make the hit look acceptable.
When you hit someone...
this is a known fact,
you see it in every movie...
If you want to hit an actor who's
in front of you...
you can't really hit him in
his face.
The idea is to approach the person.
If you come forward...
For once you can be in front of
the camera.
The idea isn't that I do this,
of course.
But I do this.
If you do it right, you immediately
pull your head back.
See?
I had studied all those tricks in
American movies.
And I thought I could do it with
the help of Mazure's drawings.
He loved to participate.
It was the first time that someone was
enthusiastic about anything.
So that was a very nice start.
I thought: At least it's with actors.
All the other things I had done
were without actors.
I had a friend called Wiebe Hoogendoorn.
He was a teacher at drama school.
I asked him if he knew someone with guts,
who could ride a horse.
Someone who can fence and who
looks a bit dumb.
He immediately said: Rutger Hauer.
Two young actors, Burny Every and Rutger
Hauer graduated last summer...
at the Amsterdam drama school.
And then they went north.
They're now part of the Noorder
Compagnie...
which is headquartered in Drachten.
So I went there on behalf of NTS.
To the Noorder Compagnie, where he was.
I saw Rutger there.
And I liked a lot what I saw.
After a rehearsal, Rutger takes Burny
back to his place.
A worker's cottage in Siegerswoude.
He was renting it at 12,50 a week
from an old farmer.
He looked very good.
He was not afraid to do anything.
And he was a very strange character.
Gerard Soeteman said: You could play
a knight in a TV series. Do you want to?
I said: "Yes, of course. I can ride..."
In my head, that is.
And I can fence fairly well.
We'll see about the rest.
How do you like it?
This shepherd's life.
Rutger Hauer wasn't even first
choice.
We had picked Carol Van Herwijnen.
I thought Rutger looked good.
But Carol Van Herwijnen was much
more of an actor.
He could put more into those
scenes.
Slightly embarrassed, but serious,
Stitskin walked through the room...
He smoked his cigar and said...
A few weeks before shooting started,
he dropped out.
It turned out he was under contract
with the Rotterdam Theatre Company.
They didn't want to let him go
for a period of three months.
That turned out to be six months.
When we lost Carol, Max Appelboom said,
and I agreed completely...
That one guy was good, that blond
hero type.
I said: "Yes, but can he act?"
He said: "Just tell him how to do it."
"And we can get him really cheap,
of course."
That must have been a factor
as well.
The Noorder Compagnie liked it.
They were all for it.
So at the very last moment, we switched
from Carol Van Herwijnen to Rutger.
Rutger Hauer received 975 guilders
per episode.
And that completed the core team.
A director, a script writer and
an actor...
who all had never made a TV series
before.
And it was going to be very complicated,
especially for a Dutch series.
Outside scenes, that were dependent
on the weather...
and that came with extra costs.
Historic locations, that also required big
spending on costumes.
Spectacular scenes,
including stunt men,
on a scale never seen
before in our country.
This meant a lot of
experimentation.
For three months, within budget,
with 80 actors...
2000 extras, seven horses and various
small live stock.
Although... three months became
six months.
Sound? Rolling. Camera? Rolling.
552/5, second time.
Paul was a film maker.
He thought: This will work.
We both thought that.
This will work.
But we had no clue how.
Action!
I didn't even know you had to use
a clapperboard.
I had always been shooting
without sound.
I remember the first day of
shooting.
You had to say: "Sound, camera". And then
I would immediately yell: "Action!"
And Ton Bun? would say:
"Wait, wait!"
His assistant would run onto the set
and go "Clap!" And I'd say: "What's that?"
"You have to do that first!"
And I said: "Oh, each time?"
"Yes, before every shot, every take."
And I said: "Ok".
We were really very young.
I had no idea how I was going
to do this.
I had to pretend that I was
a knight.
I didn't get this acting yet.
I'd been to drama school.
But they hadn't taught me anything
about what acting is.
Do you need anything?
Paul was honest.
He said: "I don't know how to do this".
"Act a bit angrier or faster,
because it's boring like this."
You start by saying: "Do you need
anything?"
This could use something because
the shot's so short.
We could use some atmosphere.
So that you feel a bit miserable.
-And lonely.
One more time, guys.
He often said: "Rutger, close your
mouth".
Because I was always looking
like this.
The actors aren't present
during the viewing of the rushes.
It might influence their acting
and make them insecure.
The producer didn't allow any actor to
watch the rushes..
Rushes are what you've shot on the day.
I thought it was nonsense.
And Rutger, who was also inexperienced,
except for some stage acting...
shared that opinion and was always under
the table, secretly watching the rushes.
You can see the same thing with
Rutger.
If you knew what has been shot
first...
and what has been shot later, you'd
see Rutger get better, just like me.
We're going.
-Yes, I'm coming.
It's risky.
What will you do with this?
-You'll see.
Get fuses and some thread.
Thread?
In the beginning he's a bit
like this...
Off we go!
I am Floris van Rosemondt.
-Van Rosemondt?
They imprisoned me in my own
castle.
The Tollhouse of Guelders.
It's the castle my brother left me.
I only had bread and water,
yesterday.
I was watching to see how it
looked.
Do I find it believable?
Yes, I believe it.
How are the two of us going to
do this?
How will the horse riding go?
And the sword fighting?
If I had to say a short sentence,
like "Let's go"...
Let's go.
Then I'd think: "At least it's short".
As an actor I thought: I should
do that differently.
But I didn't know how.
Yes, you can do it differently,
but I didn't know how.
Later, it became a lot more
elegant.
Almost like G?rard Philipe.
He learnt all that in secret,
sitting under the table.
Almost behind Max Appelboom's legs,
watching to see how he could improve.
How can we do better?
I thought that and Rutger thought that.
The first day on the set,
I thought: "Here I am".
And then I had this big
realisation.
I thought: "This is my friend".
That camera. Yes.
I don't know why, but I thought:
"This is my friend".
"I'll remember that."
Keep walking!
What was the original title?
-Floris and the Fakir.
Because it has to alliterate.
Cold. Autumn and spring
are coming.
You won't like it here.
-I'll get used to it.
You can still go back to India.
-No.
I'll stay until you have your
papers back.
I'll be needing your help badly.
The series is really about the smart,
nonviolent East...
versus the West, where they fight first
and think afterwards.
Throw them in.
When it goes wrong, Sindala has
to solve it all.
We're sucking.
It's working.
That's a strange thing in movies.
You can't make Rutger a dumb,
non-domineering character.
Jos Bergman, Sindala, had a lot less
presence as an actor than Rutger.
Welcome to the desert.
-So, what we'll do...
You start by saying:
"Do you need anything".
Paul is the type to act upon what
he sees in front of the camera.
He started paying more attention to
Rutger than to Sindala.
That changed the concept behind
the series.
Because Rutger had so much more
charisma than Jos Bergman.
Rutger was so domineering
within the frame...
that you'd place him a bit more
to the front.
With the camera a bit on his side.
Because he became the hero.
He developed into the hero.
As a director, you feel that
intuitively.
I had to play along with that.
The word 'fakir' was dropped from
the title.
Which angered Gerard a lot,
I believe.
Because he liked the alliteration in
Floris and the Fakir.
And it is a good title.
But it had become all about Floris.
That happened between me and Rutger.
I think my confidence grew a lot
in the course of the series.
And at some point they became
aware, behind the camera...
that I was really the star and
that I could carry that.
What they had hired me for,
was coming out.
In several ways.
I didn't know it, but I enjoyed it.
I thought it was fun to do.
I was really trying to get to grips
with the material.
It wasn't really self-confidence...
but it was the tiniest start of it.
The realisation that it suited me
and that I was good for this part.
I hadn't felt that before.
I have a lot of presence.
I can't help that.
I overshadow people.
I don't do it deliberately.
So maybe it's that balance.
I don't know.
FLORIS AND THE FAKIR
EXPENSIVE YOUTH SERIES
FLORIS IS DELAYED,
BUT WILL BE VERY GOOD
FLORIS
COSTS 87 GUILDERS PER SECOND
After 4 weeks, almost one third of
our time had passed.
Everybody must have realised
that we...
hadn't shot a third yet, but
at most 10%.
Also because I took Gerard's scenario
seriously.
I never thought: "That's too difficult.
We'll leave that out."
I thought if it was difficult, it was fun.
But if it's difficult...
Doing a good action scene doesn't
take half an hour, does it?
That takes a day.
Get the goblet!
When you shoot a pursuit on horseback
they really have to go at a gallop.
Not at a trot.
And the horses were very
unpleasant.
They weren't trained movie horses.
When they'd see a camera, they'd jump
left or right or they'd stop.
It took days just to keep them
going at a gallop.
Careful!
Are you hurt?
I'm very sorry.
Normally, nobody comes here.
See, we have to go even further
from Oldenstein.
Oldenstein?
Are you from Oldenstein?
Is that where you're going?
Sir Wolter doesn't like disguises.
I remember that Anton Kortekaas,
my first cutter...
said to me during the first two
weeks...
"But Paul, that's not TV.
That's a movie."
And I thought: "Yes".
Or actually, I thought:
"Of course it's a movie".
He said: "But nobody shoots like this".
We thought it would be Pipo the Clown."
Pipo in the Middle Ages.
Get down!
Fire!
Floris was a very nice, one-off
adventure.
Nobody thought afterwards that we
should continue it.
It was once-only.
And when it was over, everybody said...
"We shouldn't do this again.
It was way too expensive."
It's a shame, because we had proven with
all these people...
that we can do this in
the Netherlands.
No.
What if someone had said back then:
"Floris is a nice idea..."
"but it's way too expensive.
We won't do it."
Then I wouldn't be sitting here.
Then we wouldn't be talking now.
Very simple.
To me, Floris means a whole lot
emotionally.
For me, it was the most
pleasant way...
of working with a crew and cast that
I've ever experienced.
Better than anything I've done
since.
Especially in the United States,
where everything's rather cold.
So I think there's a lot...
I have very fond memories of Floris.
Let's go.
On an iron horse, 44 years later.
In the ranking of best viewed TV programs
of the 2nd channel in 1969...
an episode of Floris comes 1st.
Number 2: Floris.
3, 4, 5 and 6: Floris.
And it's true, there was never
a sequel.
At the end of the series, the NTS had
a box full of bills and contracts...
paid or unpaid and so chaotic...
that no one has been able to find out
how much Floris did cost.
But estimates are around 1.2 million,
more than three times the budget.
And that's how Floris remained
a one-off experiment.
But an experiment with big
consequences.
Turkish Delight, Soldier of Orange and,
for both Hauer and Verhoeven, Hollywood.
So all that money wasn't a bad
investment.
This was In Other Times, back to ours.
Next week, a battle from WW2.
After the Battle of Arnhem, maybe
as important, yet forgotten.
The Battle of Overloon.
Can you imagine...
when 200 of these cannons
are shot...
next to each other, what that means?
You go nuts.
The Germans also went nuts.
200 next to each other.
They shot 100,000 grenades.
100,000 grenades. 100,000.
Good evening.
We're hoping to see a big crowd
in The Hague, next Wednesday.
Viewers and producers of the public
channel will be protesting...
against cutbacks of 100 million,
after earlier cutbacks of 200 million.
As a reminder that good TV programs
sometimes cost a bit of money...
we're broadcasting an adaptation
of a program we once made...
about a TV series that has become
legendary to anyone of a certain age.
Floris.
Run!
-Guards!
Guards!
Up the stairs!
Suspense, action, speed.
In 1969, Dutch TV mainly consisted of
a clown, his wife and their wagon: Pipo.
This was different.
This was quite something.
It was a bit like Ivanhoe,
with Roger Moore.
The big hit of those days.
We should be able to make something
like that too...
thought Carel Enkelaar, the head of NTS,
the public channel.
He was authorised to make more
than just news and sports programs.
He decided to reserve money for
a high quality series for young people.
And then fate brought three talented
young men together.
Director Paul Verhoeven, script writer
Gerard Soeteman and actor Rutger Hauer.
At that moment, they weren't a director,
a script writer or an actor yet.
They became that.
The money NTS invested in TV series and
the freedom they gave the three men...
permitted them to develop their
craft and benefited the series.
The series became a legend and its
creators became stars.
Let's see.
Let's see which episode this is.
Gerard Soeteman.
Julius Steffaro.
Beautiful.
Originally, it was called Floris and
the Fakir.
With Floris, a young man who had sailed
under the Portuguese for years.
The fakir, Floris' friend, who
was a magician and an alchemist.
Floris is short-tempered and brave,
but solutions to difficult situations...
have to come from Sindala.
He's the smart guy of the two...
but will never show anyone that.
The head of NTS television, Carel Enkelaar,
was so annoyed that...
there was a decent Flemish series,
Johan and the Alverman...
and a good French series and
a good English series...
that he said: "I want us to make
one too".
Good day.
-Hello.
Do you know where Willem Klaaszoon
lives?
Willem who?
-Willem Klaaszoon.
The miller.
Willem from the water mill.
Yes, I know him.
Is it far to the water mill?
It's quite a walk.
You won't get there before dark.
He was so very jealous that the Belgians
had made something...
that the Dutch were watching...
that he said at a meeting:
"There also has to be a Dutch series".
The idea was to make a film
series for the first time.
The film academy was already in
full swing.
But those people weren't very
interested.
In those days, television was below
them or so they thought.
They didn't want to have anything
to do with it.
They all wanted to become Haanstra
or Fellini.
Much better than before.
The sound's also excellent.
The movement is ok to me.
Is the action alright too?
I had just come out of military
service.
During my service, I made a feature about
the 300th anniversary of the Marine Corps.
During military service, I realised that
I preferred movies to math.
I wanted to become a movie
director.
That's what I found the most
interesting.
Working with actors and telling
a story.
The Marine Corps was a documentary,
of course.
Although I did it in James Bond
style.
It's got that drive, the teleshots
and the moving camera.
I was clearly very much influenced by
Dr. No and From Russia with Love.
Forward!
I wanted to make something big.
I'd made a list of the projects
I wanted to do.
It included Alexander the Great.
After the book by Couperus, entitled
Iskander.
It also included Anton Wachter.
The novels by Simon Vestdijk.
Dutch movie production didn't amount
to much.
We had Haanstra and a few other big
directors who occasionally made a movie.
It was very hard to get the money
together.
The big boom was still to come.
I also thought it was a big step from
Couperus to Floris.
It was even a strange step from Anton
Wachter to Floris.
I discussed it with him extensively.
Let's do this.
I was apologising a little bit...
This may not be what you had in
mind to do.
"No", he said, this is exactly what
I think we should do.
There was very little interest in
the Netherlands for my movie plans.
And it was very hard to get anything
movie related happening.
So I basically cut my losses.
And I decided to do that crazy Floris
thing.
Maybe I can make something of that
childish story.
He immediately understood what
was being asked of him.
That it was going to be quite a
massive production.
If I can let a couple of hundred
marines land like in Normandy...
or blow up some bunkers, I can also
film two knights on a horse.
How hard can it be?
And a bit of fighting isn't
very hard either.
I've studied Dick Bos enough to
know how to film a fight scene.
I'm a big fan of Dick Bos,
of course.
Many of those pictures are film
scripts.
Scripts for action movies.
One move is filmed from one angle,
another from another angle.
Depending on what the best angle is
to make the hit look acceptable.
When you hit someone...
this is a known fact,
you see it in every movie...
If you want to hit an actor who's
in front of you...
you can't really hit him in
his face.
The idea is to approach the person.
If you come forward...
For once you can be in front of
the camera.
The idea isn't that I do this,
of course.
But I do this.
If you do it right, you immediately
pull your head back.
See?
I had studied all those tricks in
American movies.
And I thought I could do it with
the help of Mazure's drawings.
He loved to participate.
It was the first time that someone was
enthusiastic about anything.
So that was a very nice start.
I thought: At least it's with actors.
All the other things I had done
were without actors.
I had a friend called Wiebe Hoogendoorn.
He was a teacher at drama school.
I asked him if he knew someone with guts,
who could ride a horse.
Someone who can fence and who
looks a bit dumb.
He immediately said: Rutger Hauer.
Two young actors, Burny Every and Rutger
Hauer graduated last summer...
at the Amsterdam drama school.
And then they went north.
They're now part of the Noorder
Compagnie...
which is headquartered in Drachten.
So I went there on behalf of NTS.
To the Noorder Compagnie, where he was.
I saw Rutger there.
And I liked a lot what I saw.
After a rehearsal, Rutger takes Burny
back to his place.
A worker's cottage in Siegerswoude.
He was renting it at 12,50 a week
from an old farmer.
He looked very good.
He was not afraid to do anything.
And he was a very strange character.
Gerard Soeteman said: You could play
a knight in a TV series. Do you want to?
I said: "Yes, of course. I can ride..."
In my head, that is.
And I can fence fairly well.
We'll see about the rest.
How do you like it?
This shepherd's life.
Rutger Hauer wasn't even first
choice.
We had picked Carol Van Herwijnen.
I thought Rutger looked good.
But Carol Van Herwijnen was much
more of an actor.
He could put more into those
scenes.
Slightly embarrassed, but serious,
Stitskin walked through the room...
He smoked his cigar and said...
A few weeks before shooting started,
he dropped out.
It turned out he was under contract
with the Rotterdam Theatre Company.
They didn't want to let him go
for a period of three months.
That turned out to be six months.
When we lost Carol, Max Appelboom said,
and I agreed completely...
That one guy was good, that blond
hero type.
I said: "Yes, but can he act?"
He said: "Just tell him how to do it."
"And we can get him really cheap,
of course."
That must have been a factor
as well.
The Noorder Compagnie liked it.
They were all for it.
So at the very last moment, we switched
from Carol Van Herwijnen to Rutger.
Rutger Hauer received 975 guilders
per episode.
And that completed the core team.
A director, a script writer and
an actor...
who all had never made a TV series
before.
And it was going to be very complicated,
especially for a Dutch series.
Outside scenes, that were dependent
on the weather...
and that came with extra costs.
Historic locations, that also required big
spending on costumes.
Spectacular scenes,
including stunt men,
on a scale never seen
before in our country.
This meant a lot of
experimentation.
For three months, within budget,
with 80 actors...
2000 extras, seven horses and various
small live stock.
Although... three months became
six months.
Sound? Rolling. Camera? Rolling.
552/5, second time.
Paul was a film maker.
He thought: This will work.
We both thought that.
This will work.
But we had no clue how.
Action!
I didn't even know you had to use
a clapperboard.
I had always been shooting
without sound.
I remember the first day of
shooting.
You had to say: "Sound, camera". And then
I would immediately yell: "Action!"
And Ton Bun? would say:
"Wait, wait!"
His assistant would run onto the set
and go "Clap!" And I'd say: "What's that?"
"You have to do that first!"
And I said: "Oh, each time?"
"Yes, before every shot, every take."
And I said: "Ok".
We were really very young.
I had no idea how I was going
to do this.
I had to pretend that I was
a knight.
I didn't get this acting yet.
I'd been to drama school.
But they hadn't taught me anything
about what acting is.
Do you need anything?
Paul was honest.
He said: "I don't know how to do this".
"Act a bit angrier or faster,
because it's boring like this."
You start by saying: "Do you need
anything?"
This could use something because
the shot's so short.
We could use some atmosphere.
So that you feel a bit miserable.
-And lonely.
One more time, guys.
He often said: "Rutger, close your
mouth".
Because I was always looking
like this.
The actors aren't present
during the viewing of the rushes.
It might influence their acting
and make them insecure.
The producer didn't allow any actor to
watch the rushes..
Rushes are what you've shot on the day.
I thought it was nonsense.
And Rutger, who was also inexperienced,
except for some stage acting...
shared that opinion and was always under
the table, secretly watching the rushes.
You can see the same thing with
Rutger.
If you knew what has been shot
first...
and what has been shot later, you'd
see Rutger get better, just like me.
We're going.
-Yes, I'm coming.
It's risky.
What will you do with this?
-You'll see.
Get fuses and some thread.
Thread?
In the beginning he's a bit
like this...
Off we go!
I am Floris van Rosemondt.
-Van Rosemondt?
They imprisoned me in my own
castle.
The Tollhouse of Guelders.
It's the castle my brother left me.
I only had bread and water,
yesterday.
I was watching to see how it
looked.
Do I find it believable?
Yes, I believe it.
How are the two of us going to
do this?
How will the horse riding go?
And the sword fighting?
If I had to say a short sentence,
like "Let's go"...
Let's go.
Then I'd think: "At least it's short".
As an actor I thought: I should
do that differently.
But I didn't know how.
Yes, you can do it differently,
but I didn't know how.
Later, it became a lot more
elegant.
Almost like G?rard Philipe.
He learnt all that in secret,
sitting under the table.
Almost behind Max Appelboom's legs,
watching to see how he could improve.
How can we do better?
I thought that and Rutger thought that.
The first day on the set,
I thought: "Here I am".
And then I had this big
realisation.
I thought: "This is my friend".
That camera. Yes.
I don't know why, but I thought:
"This is my friend".
"I'll remember that."
Keep walking!
What was the original title?
-Floris and the Fakir.
Because it has to alliterate.
Cold. Autumn and spring
are coming.
You won't like it here.
-I'll get used to it.
You can still go back to India.
-No.
I'll stay until you have your
papers back.
I'll be needing your help badly.
The series is really about the smart,
nonviolent East...
versus the West, where they fight first
and think afterwards.
Throw them in.
When it goes wrong, Sindala has
to solve it all.
We're sucking.
It's working.
That's a strange thing in movies.
You can't make Rutger a dumb,
non-domineering character.
Jos Bergman, Sindala, had a lot less
presence as an actor than Rutger.
Welcome to the desert.
-So, what we'll do...
You start by saying:
"Do you need anything".
Paul is the type to act upon what
he sees in front of the camera.
He started paying more attention to
Rutger than to Sindala.
That changed the concept behind
the series.
Because Rutger had so much more
charisma than Jos Bergman.
Rutger was so domineering
within the frame...
that you'd place him a bit more
to the front.
With the camera a bit on his side.
Because he became the hero.
He developed into the hero.
As a director, you feel that
intuitively.
I had to play along with that.
The word 'fakir' was dropped from
the title.
Which angered Gerard a lot,
I believe.
Because he liked the alliteration in
Floris and the Fakir.
And it is a good title.
But it had become all about Floris.
That happened between me and Rutger.
I think my confidence grew a lot
in the course of the series.
And at some point they became
aware, behind the camera...
that I was really the star and
that I could carry that.
What they had hired me for,
was coming out.
In several ways.
I didn't know it, but I enjoyed it.
I thought it was fun to do.
I was really trying to get to grips
with the material.
It wasn't really self-confidence...
but it was the tiniest start of it.
The realisation that it suited me
and that I was good for this part.
I hadn't felt that before.
I have a lot of presence.
I can't help that.
I overshadow people.
I don't do it deliberately.
So maybe it's that balance.
I don't know.
FLORIS AND THE FAKIR
EXPENSIVE YOUTH SERIES
FLORIS IS DELAYED,
BUT WILL BE VERY GOOD
FLORIS
COSTS 87 GUILDERS PER SECOND
After 4 weeks, almost one third of
our time had passed.
Everybody must have realised
that we...
hadn't shot a third yet, but
at most 10%.
Also because I took Gerard's scenario
seriously.
I never thought: "That's too difficult.
We'll leave that out."
I thought if it was difficult, it was fun.
But if it's difficult...
Doing a good action scene doesn't
take half an hour, does it?
That takes a day.
Get the goblet!
When you shoot a pursuit on horseback
they really have to go at a gallop.
Not at a trot.
And the horses were very
unpleasant.
They weren't trained movie horses.
When they'd see a camera, they'd jump
left or right or they'd stop.
It took days just to keep them
going at a gallop.
Careful!
Are you hurt?
I'm very sorry.
Normally, nobody comes here.
See, we have to go even further
from Oldenstein.
Oldenstein?
Are you from Oldenstein?
Is that where you're going?
Sir Wolter doesn't like disguises.
I remember that Anton Kortekaas,
my first cutter...
said to me during the first two
weeks...
"But Paul, that's not TV.
That's a movie."
And I thought: "Yes".
Or actually, I thought:
"Of course it's a movie".
He said: "But nobody shoots like this".
We thought it would be Pipo the Clown."
Pipo in the Middle Ages.
Get down!
Fire!
Floris was a very nice, one-off
adventure.
Nobody thought afterwards that we
should continue it.
It was once-only.
And when it was over, everybody said...
"We shouldn't do this again.
It was way too expensive."
It's a shame, because we had proven with
all these people...
that we can do this in
the Netherlands.
No.
What if someone had said back then:
"Floris is a nice idea..."
"but it's way too expensive.
We won't do it."
Then I wouldn't be sitting here.
Then we wouldn't be talking now.
Very simple.
To me, Floris means a whole lot
emotionally.
For me, it was the most
pleasant way...
of working with a crew and cast that
I've ever experienced.
Better than anything I've done
since.
Especially in the United States,
where everything's rather cold.
So I think there's a lot...
I have very fond memories of Floris.
Let's go.
On an iron horse, 44 years later.
In the ranking of best viewed TV programs
of the 2nd channel in 1969...
an episode of Floris comes 1st.
Number 2: Floris.
3, 4, 5 and 6: Floris.
And it's true, there was never
a sequel.
At the end of the series, the NTS had
a box full of bills and contracts...
paid or unpaid and so chaotic...
that no one has been able to find out
how much Floris did cost.
But estimates are around 1.2 million,
more than three times the budget.
And that's how Floris remained
a one-off experiment.
But an experiment with big
consequences.
Turkish Delight, Soldier of Orange and,
for both Hauer and Verhoeven, Hollywood.
So all that money wasn't a bad
investment.
This was In Other Times, back to ours.
Next week, a battle from WW2.
After the Battle of Arnhem, maybe
as important, yet forgotten.
The Battle of Overloon.
Can you imagine...
when 200 of these cannons
are shot...
next to each other, what that means?
You go nuts.
The Germans also went nuts.
200 next to each other.
They shot 100,000 grenades.
100,000 grenades. 100,000.