The Untold Truth Of Starship Troopers

Ever since its release in 1959, "Starship Troopers" has been considered one of Robert A. Heinlein's best novels. In fact, it is so respected among military circles that the book can be found on the U.S. Marine Corps' reading list, which is unsurprising given how pro-war the narrative is. However, director Paul Verhoeven and screenwriter Ed Neumeier took a very different approach to frame the fictional story of mankind's battle with big bugs. The duo created a clever critique of fascism and far-right ideology by taking the novel's themes and events to the extreme. 

Verhoeven explained to Digital Spy, "Ed and I disagreed with Robert Heinlein and we felt that we needed to counter with our own narrative. Basically, the political undercurrent of the film is that these heroes and heroines are living in a fascist utopia — but they are not even aware of it! They think this is normal." Transforming the original novel was easy enough for the director, especially since he was not beholden to the original writing. The director told Empire, "It is really quite a bad book. I asked Ed Neumeier to tell me the story because I just couldn't read the thing. It's a very right-wing book. And with the movie we tried, and I think at least partially succeeded, in commenting on that at the same time... All the way through we were fighting with the fascism, the ultra-militarism. All the way through I wanted the audience to be asking, 'Are these people crazy?'"

Unfortunately for Paul Verhoeven and the rest of the team that put the giant "Starship Troopers" patchwork together, the satirical message of the film went over many viewers' heads. Not only did it seem like a lot of critics misunderstood "Starship Troopers," but they also had the same complaints the director had received for his previous movies — that there was too much gratuitous nudity and graphic violence.

Verhoeven explained his irritation to Empire, saying, "We were accused by the Washington Post of being neo-Nazis! It was tremendously disappointing. They couldn't see that all I have done is ironically create a fascist utopia. The English got it, though. I remember coming out of Heathrow and seeing the posters, which were great. They were just stupid lines about war from the movie. I thought, 'Finally someone knows how to promote this.' In America, they promoted it as just another bang-bang-bang movie."

For the 4-month-long shoot, the crew needed to construct a gigantic set in a remote location to depict the alien worlds of Klendathu, Tango Urilla, and Planet P, along with the human fortifications built there for the interplanetary war with the Arachnids. Production did not have to travel too far from Hollywood as ideal sites were found in the U.S. at the Badlands of South Dakota and especially in a massive 300-acre canyon called Hell's Half Acre with bizarre rock formations that cause many people to think of the underworld upon entering the area.

Roads were made in order to transport the materials to build the set, yet some parts were so large that helicopters had to lower them into the pit. Despite the nightmarish logistics and natural features, Neil Patrick Harris certainly appreciated the location. In his book, "Choose Your Own Autobiography," the actor described the unique locale and said it "looks like a cross between 'Lawrence of Arabia' and Carlsbad Caverns."

Neil Patrick Harris may have been in the same boat as the other stars in terms of his career, but his character was not in lockstep with the others, which meant time away from his co-stars. The actor explained his unfortunate position in "Choose Your Own Autobiography," saying, "As someone who's come to love the process of bonding with the theater castmates, you look forward to the same thing happening here. But it's not to be. Your character, Carl Jenkins, is the smart one who doesn't get involved in the exciting man-on-alien fight action, so the director deliberately excludes you from the three-week paramilitary training session the rest of the cast has to go through."

On the other hand, Richards got to participate in the boot camp, along with the numerous training sessions to mold the cast into fierce, alien-slaying soldiers. The actress admitted that the process was tough, especially when they were hit by a sudden blizzard during the paramilitary training, but overall, the cast was able to grow much closer as they used the warmth of each other's bodies to survive the cold nights — except for Harris, of course, who sadly missed out.

Paul Verhoeven's justification for the notorious shower scene was enough for the actors in the scene to go through with it — especially with the filmmakers' willingness to bare it all right alongside the cast — but he could not convince another cast member to do the same in a separate part of the film. Denise Richards (who has apparently been open to on-screen nudity for other films where it made sense for the role, like in "Wild Things") did not see a reason for her character Carmen Ibanez to strip down for a love scene in "Starship Troopers." 

Fortunately, the director was respectful during the whole encounter, as she wrote in her book, "To his credit when Paul asked, he did it with no strings attached. He truly left it up to me, and after careful consideration, I said no. I didn't think it related to my character or the movie, which had more than enough going on between the action and the undercurrents of social and political commentary. Though he tried to persuade me otherwise, Paul didn't try so hard that I felt pressured, and ultimately, I didn't do it. Thankfully, I never experienced any fallout."

Before "Starship Troopers," Paul Verhoeven had previously only worked with smaller, independent film companies, such as Orion and Carolco, until they went bankrupt. Even though they did not last, these studios were responsible for many classic movies in their prime, such as "Dances With Wolves," "First Blood," and "Pulp Fiction," along with "The Terminator" and "Terminator II: Judgment Day."

The director explained to Empire how filmmaking used to work for him with the independents and said, "these were led by people that all felt that after choosing the director then everything should be in his hands, which is very European, of course. He's responsible, he gets the glory — or the blame, of course, if it doesn't work. It was only very late when these smaller companies began to disappear, I became aware slowly about how American studios in general work. I had been protected by studios who were much more director-oriented."

Carolco fell apart in 1995 and Orion was acquired by MGM in 1997, so Verhoeven worked with Sony to make his huge budget sci-fi epic "Starship Troopers." Instability at the film studio with rapidly changing leadership allowed the filmmaker to get away with much more than he normally would have, but he still got a taste of what it was like to work for major companies in the U.S., and he did not like it. Verhoeven tried one more time with "Hollow Man," and then he decided to take a long break from American filmmaking. 

While most of the action in the film is centered on the courageous exploits of the Mobile Infantry, these ground forces require the fleet to get them to the fight. Denise Richards' Carmen Ibanez is the central figure soaring through space and the skies of alien planets upon the starship Rodger Young. The name of her vessel was not random, though, and instead was chosen to honor a recipient of the U.S. Medal of Honor, Rodger Wilton Young.

In World War II, U.S. Army Private Young was fighting the Japanese soldiers on the Solomon Islands when his platoon was ordered to make a strategic retreat, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. While carrying out this maneuver, the opposition spotted them from several dozen yards away and began firing with a heavy machine gun. Even while wounded, the heroic soldier continued to distract the combatants long enough for the rest of his platoon to safely withdraw. Young died, but his actions also gave cover to other troops and brought down several adversaries.