Never Give Up, Never Surrender

You've got to hand it to director Paul Verhoeven; clearly the man doesn't know when he's beat. Despite negotiations for Basic Instinct 2 having ended acriminously in the courts, Verhoeven is still convinced that a sequel is do-able. 'I've met with the writers,' Verhoeven tells Variety today, 'and despite the unpleasant business that went on, I think Sharon would do it under the right circumstances. Clearly, you need a script strong enough to compete with the first one, otherwise, you make it and look at yourself in the eye and say, 'what the hell did I do?' But I've never refused to think about it, and have become more opening to listening in the last couple of years.' While Verhoeven's friends and family try to get him to see sense, the director has been busy optioning more novels to film - this time securing the rights to a Russian detective novel Azazel, which he's hoping to turn into a film franchise.' 'The character is a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Indiana Jones,' Verhoeven explains. 'It is light, and with the exception of Robocop, I've not been able to inject much lightness in my U.S. films.