Caffeinated Clint
A veteran of over fifty films, Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbe is one of the most versatile actors working today, constantly swimming into the chanels of different genres with each film. He played General Georgi Koskov in "The Living Daylights" (1987), the nasty Gianni Franco in "The Punisher" (1989), the sinister Dr. Charles Nichols in "The Fugitive" (1993), Auguste De Barbarac in the eternally-popular "Ever After" (1998), and recently, van der Woude in the all-star blockbuster "Ocean’s Twelve". His latest film is an all-out comedy, "Deuce Bigalow : European Gigolo", in which the amiable artiste plays policeman Gaspar Voorsboch. CLINT MORRIS caught up with Krabbe.
How did u get involved in the film?
I was aked by Rob Schneider personally. He came to my place and literally begged me, on
his knees, to participate in his movie. I thought he was quite funny.When I said yes, he sent me a huge bunch of flowers. When I saw his first "Deuce’ I didn’t know what to make of it, but after 15 minutes I was sold. I laughed and laughed. Furthermore, my youngest son Jakob wanted me to do it badly, he’s a big fan of Rob. Jakob himself worked on the movie as an assistant and had a small role, but it was cut out of the movie unfortunately.
Is it harder working on a comedy?
I did a lot of comedy on stage in the beginning of my career: Alan Ayckbourn, Noel Coward and a few Shakespeare comedies. Indeed it’s a totally diffirent cup of soup, so to speak.You need to have a very precise feeling for timing – which Rob has!
Tell me about working with Rob?
Rob has a way of working that I haven’t seen before. He just lets the camera roll and tries diffirent ways of interpretation. For instance: He says a certain line 15-20 times in many diffirent ways.Later he chooses in the cuttingroom which one works best.
Did you have the chance to work with Aussie actor Alex Dimiatrides?
Alex introduced himself to me on the set, but I didn’t get to know him because we weren’t much on the set together.
Did Schneider make good use of the locals there?
A lot of Dutch actors and actresses he used, almost anyone that was around. So I was surrounded by a lot of my collegues.
What else have you been up to?
A new movie comes out soon, a very scary one ‘Snuff’ directed by Bernard Rose. Originally this horror movie was called ‘A Man with a Moviecamera’ but they renamed it. It really is a very good movie. I have no idea when it’ll hit the screens. Furthermore, I’m in a stage production of Amadeus in which I play Salieri. It’ll keep me busy until December, but it’s quite nice to be back on stage, after 20 years.
DEUCE BIGALOW : EUROPEAN GIGOLO starts Thursday across Australia
