‘De Lift’, ‘Flodder’ and ‘Amsterdamned’. They are icons in Dutch film history, created by director Dick Maas. Entire generations grew up with Ma Flodder and the most famous quote in film history: “Neighbor, what are you doing now?” The documentary ‘The Dick Maas Method’ looks back on 40 years of film history.
River tune
Who doesn’t know the Flodder tune? Jeffrey De Vore wonders. Taa, ta ta ta ta, ta ta ta taa. The maker of ‘De Dick Maas Methode’ sings it cheerfully. Cabarètiere Sanne Wallis de Vries also grew up with Flodder (1986). “It was a real hit in high school, from poops to alto’s, everyone went there.”
Dick Maas’ films are anchored in Dutch culture, says Jeffrey De Vore. “They have a clear signature.” Action films like ‘De Lift’ (1983) and ‘Amsterdamned’ (1988) were unprecedented for the Netherlands. De Vore: “Because of his American visual language, his films look much better than nine out of ten Dutch films.”
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Dick Maas is quite happy with the documentary. “That may be a form of vanity, but it is also a nostalgic look back at how you could make films in the Netherlands in the eighties and nineties. Nowadays you can no longer get films off the ground on that scale. That is too expensive because of the stunts and special effects. “
Decapitation
However carefully thought out the stunts were, they were not without risk. “The beheading of actor Gerard Thoolen for ‘De Lift’ was one of the scariest”, says Maas. In the film, the actor’s head is stuck between the sliding doors of the quirky elevator that zooms down at a terrifying pace.
Only during the recordings the elevator actually goes up. “Gerard had to ‘act backwards’ and we played it ‘in reverse’ later. Laughing:” Even though we said it was safe, I hadn’t put my head under that elevator myself. “
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The film maker does not exactly emerge from the documentary as an ‘actor director’. Wallis de Vries has fond memories of her first major feature film ‘Moordwijven’ (2007). “I just can’t remember a single direction.” Maas’s eyebrows were her only support. “If they were up, we would have done well.”
Maas himself cannot agree with the criticism. “I come out as an autistic taciturn man on set. Maybe that was the case in the past. I was a little scared of actors. Everything else I could prepare, from the color of the set to devising the stunts, but on an actor you’ve been extradited. “
Just take off your pants and you’re done
The ‘Neighbor what are you doing now’ scene in Flodder is one of the most famous in Dutch film history. A look back at Tatjana Simic, who plays the sexy daughter Kees, produces a scouring scene. Because she had great difficulty with it at the time, it turns out.
For those who don’t know him, in the scene, Tatyana ‘seduces’ the neighbor, a car dealer, to later blackmail him in exchange for a new car. The neighbor takes her over the hood of his car. “I cried a lot beforehand. I said: ‘I really have to be completely naked and that man will have to grab my breasts soon.’ People think that you just do that for a moment, but that is not the case. Yet I thought ‘ turn out and just keep playing ‘. “
Maas does not remember much of the recordings in question. “Or I suppressed it. Maybe at the time I thought: ‘Just take off your pants and be done’. The scene had to be recorded.”
Extra layer
Wallis de Vries still remembers the scene well. “When I hear now that Tatjana has cried a lot, I think it could have been guided a bit better. That wouldn’t happen now.”
Maas himself tells about what a real Dick Maas film is. “That is a film with a clear story and written for one reason only, namely to entertain the audience. It is said just a little too often that my films have no depth. Yet there is always an extra layer in it.”
The documentary ‘The Dick Maas Method’ can be seen in the cinemas from 1 October.
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