Starship Troopers: Marauder (2007)
Interview with Casper Van Dien
Caspar Van Dien
He looks like a "Ken”-Doll, likes geeks and is married to the beautiful Catherine Oxenberg. He got his breakthrough as "Johnny Rico” in Starship Troopers and loves to talk movies, special effects and bugs. OutNow.CH met Casper Van Dien in a hotel in Zurich, where we sat down in an empty restaurant to have a chat, some great laughs and the possibility to shoot a lot of wonderful pictures. But read for yourself, what this guy thinks of Starship Troopers, why he was no part of Starship Troopers 2 and the famous nude-scene in Starship Troopers: Marauder. Have fun!
OutNow.CH (ON): Can you tell us shortly, how you got into filmbusiness?
Casper Van Diem (CVD): Wow, for this I have to take you way back. I grew up in New Jersey. My parents took me to a lot of Broadway- and Off-Broadwayproductions. And my Dad also took me to see films. We watched everything. The old movies, like Tarzan or Abbot and Costello and I came completely addicted to films. So it is completely my parents fault.
then I went to Los Angeles, because a manager was trying to find his "Lucky Seven”. And he got Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings), Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Home Improvement), Jennifer Love Hewitt (I know what you did last summer), Paul Sutera (The Brady Bunch Movie) and some other guys. There were seven of us and we were working all the time. I was the oldest of the group. A couple of years ago the manager died of AIDS. But he was the reason I’m sitting here.
The real break-trough was of course with Starship Troopers and because of Paul Verhoeven and Edward Neumeier. This movie kind of established me and gave me a shot of being in this industry. Edward Neumeier was the first who saw me, when I was sitting in the room with all the other guys, waiting for a meeting with him for a part in Starship Troopers. And Ed, wo also wrote Robocop, pointed at me and asked me to come over. He had a Rifle there and asked me to pick it up and do some stuff with it. I remembered some drills from military school and showed him a few things. He said later, that the minute he saw me, he knew, that I was supposed to be "Johnny Rico”. Paul Verhoeven always says that he know it the minute I walked into the room.
So they were always teasing each other with that. But the studio wanted to do a couple of tests first. They didn’t want a nobody to play one of the main characters. They wanted a Name. Like Tom Cruise or so. So they asked Paul to do a "couple of tests”. That’s exactly what he did. He tested a couple. Me for the part of Johnny Rico and Denise Richards for her part of Carmen Ibanez. They didn’t test anybody else. They just tested a couple. He gave the studio a couple to choose from. One for the guy, one for the girl. Thank you Paul Verhoeven, I Love you! ;-)
ON: Do you have any idea, why Starship Troopers was so successful?
CVD: I don’t think it was as successful as they wanted it to be. I think this movie has legs and is welcomed by a lot of directors. It was missed a lot the first time around, by the people in America. A lot of people saw it later and said, that they didn’t get it the first time, which always kind of amazed me. But then, I think because I was in it, read the script a lot and was totally involved, I got the humour better than those guys. I was always amazed, how people didn’t get the humour and got angry about the film.
Now in Starship Troopers: Marauder this kind of humour is back. The satire is back. And Edward Neumeier, the director, hammers it this time totally. He was scared, that maybe it is too much hammering humour, but then the people didn’t get the humour in the first movie, so why not hammering it this time. But, as I could see the reaction of the people, they were missing it again! I couldn’t believe it! He shoved it down their throats and they still didn’t get it? Come on! But to go back to your original question, it is a movie about bugs. Yes. But it has some substance, it has legs, the characters are fine and a lot of perverted people with twisted humour. And since you think it was a success, you’re a sick person too! And I’m glad to meet you!
ON: Don’t you think that the bugs should get more credit?
CVD: Absolutely. The bugs are the stars of the movie. The bugs and the satire are the reason, why Starship Troopers became such a big success. I’m greatful to be a part of it. I’m thrilled just to be in it. But the bugs and the satire are, of course, the stars. You can make movies about bugs, but you need something special beside it. And this "Ken and Barbie in Space” or "90210 in Space” kind of thing, that’s what they called it, was planned. They wanted this clean Image, so that they could break all hell loose and show the hard stuff as a complete opposite, like the monstrous bugs, the creepy things, the gore and all that. There is no way you can go and say "Lets have peace”. There’s "kill or be killed”. And this combination really makes the film for me. Oh, and the fact that it gets misunderstood. That should get credit too.
ON: Why where you not involved in the sequel, Starship Troopers 2?
CVD: I wanted to be involved. They didn’t want me. They didn’t want any of the characters of the first film. He didn’t want the humour or the satire of the first film. He wanted a zombie movie in space. A gore fest. And nudity. And Sex. I think they got that pretty well. But thank god, they did good, so that we could do another one. A lot of people said, that they didn’t like it, but obviously enough people bought the DVD that we could do another film. I was really mad at the guys, for not wanting me in the movie. When I heard about a sequel, I said "yes I’ll do it”. Even when they told me, they had a small budget, I said "No problem, I’m in”. They said, that Paul Verhoeven was not directing it, I said: "okay, I love Phil Tippet”. But they still didn’t want me in this movie. I was crushed! But as Edward Neumeier was asked what he needed, to do another film, he said "I want Casper Van Dien back as Johnny Rico”. And I love him for that!
ON: Your wife, Catherine Oxenberg, has a small part in the movie. Is there a different way of working, when she is around?
CVD: Yeah, we threw her in there. In a scene we were all naked, men and women, and she was really shocked to be in there. She was just horrifed. But she checks me out in the movie. She checks out my ass in the movie. You’ll see it. But of course, it is different when she is around. Usually we have so much fun, but this time I think I terrified her and she did not appreciate it very much. So I recommend you don’t do that to your wife. But I love having here around. I love being with here, how creative she is, how fun she is. We have five kids together and we do a lot of projects together. And I truly miss her, when she’s not with me. So I love having her around on the set. And she is always brutally honest. That’s part of her magic.
ON: What are your experiences with the green screen?
CVD: It is like working with most actors in Hollywood… (laughs) Oops, did I just say that? My wife will kill me! But I love the magic of green screen. I love that part of us that hasn’t grown up. The imagination of a child is beyond belief. Anything is possible. We actors get trained to go back to that state. Fortunately in some aspects, and unfortunately in others, I never grew up. So I love it. I love green screen, blue screen, acting, the movies, I just love it. I love being a freak of nature. A geek.
ON: Will there be a fourth part?
CVD: YES! If I have anything to say or to do with it, it is a definite "yes”. I would love to do more films or a tv-series. Or cable movies, whatever. Well, if you want the nudity and the gore, it has to be a cable show. You can’t show that on regular tv. But stuff like beheadings can’t be shown, even on cable. And John Davison (producer of Starship Troopers) called Edward Neumeier after Starship Troopers: Marauder did so well on DVD and said: "You know what that means? Troopers 4!” So, we’ll see.
ON: What are your future plans?
CVD: I’m trying to put together a project with my wife. It is gonna be a documentary about her Grandfather. He is the Prince of Yugoslavia and the English press wanted him to declare War on Hitler, so that England could have more time to prepare for battle. They were willing to sacrifice the smaller countries for England. So a country went down in six days, just to give England a bit more time for preparations. His name has been cleared lately and we are putting together a project to show this.
I want to produce it, direct it and I might star in it. My wife is going to star in it, she is going to play her own Grandmother and my little girl is playing her own mother. They are playing their ancestors. That hasn’t been done yet. That would be an interesting concept. Plus, we have private letters written from Prince Paul and Princess Olga to british Royalties and the letters who came back. All that was going on is on those letters that have never been published.
We have actual lines, when he was meeting Hitler for five hours and said afterwards, that he saw evil in the eye and that this man (Hitler) was crazy. We have that dialog, we have those documents. And it is simply fascinating. Catherines Father suggested this in the first place. And the more you do the research, the more interesting it gets. I did also an Episode of Monk lately. Actually I shot the episode a month ago and it aired just last week. I’m a big fan of Tony Shaloub and really enjoyed to be a part of this show. It is in season seven, so you have to wait some years to see it. (laughs)
ON: To close this interview, I shoot a few pop-ups at our face and you just shoot back with the first thing that pops into your head.
CVD: Cool, let's go!
ON: Casper, the friendly Ghost
CVD: My Mentor
CVD: Tori Spelling
ON: Bugs
CVD: (screams) Buuugs! Kill em all!
ON: The part I always wanted to play and never did
CVD: Captain Jack Sparrow. I love him!
ON: Internet
CVD: IMDb.com. I’m a regular there. I’m addicted to this. How sick is that?
ON: Hollywood
CVD: Movies
ON: Switzerland
CVD: Movies…Chocolate… Movies about Chocolate (laughs)
ON: Princeses
CVD: My Wife and my little baby girls
ON: Tarzan
CVD: (screams the "Tarzan”-Scream very loud and scares the shit out of us…)
ON: My favourite Movie of all time
CVD: True Romance
ON: OutNow.CH
CVD: Geeksquad. I love those guys!
