Paul Verhoeven, the director of genre classics like RoboCop and Starship Troopers, has signed on to adapt the Dutch novel The Hidden Force by Louis Couperus, reports Variety.
The novel is officially described as concerning, “a colonial official who is undone by his willful application of reason to a culture that is steeped in the mystical and irrational.” It was written in 1900 and has been translated internationally.
Verhoeven’s film work has been divided between his mainstream Hollywood fare and the Dutch language films that launched his career. He returned to the Netherlands for his most recent work, 2006’s Black Book. Though it is not specified by Variety, The Hidden Force is likely another Dutch language effort. It is expected to go into production soon for a winter 2011 release.
