Blond, Blue Eyes

Documentary by Simone de Vries on Dutch actor Rutger Hauer.

The documentary has premiered on October 4th 2006 at the Netherlands Film Festival in Utrecht.

Rutger Hauer is by far the most famous Dutch actor ever. Forever known for “Soldier of Orange”, “Turkish Delight” and “Floris”, a still popular children’s series (all by director Paul Verhoeven). And of course “Blade Runner” and “The Hitcher”. But this is all older work. People assume he left for Hollywood a long time ago and he is now semi-retired.

But they are so wrong. First of all, Rutger never left Holland, he lives in the province of Friesland on a farm with his wife Ineke, with whom he has been together for over 35 years.

He still is, and has been all these years, a working actor in Hollywood, and he appeared in over 100 movies. But he keeps to himself. A man of mystery.

Why is he so secretive? No one seems to know what he is doing and most of all… what he is really like. He turns out to be completely different from his on-screen persona: the dangerous, strong and sexy villain he plays so well. In real life he is timid and soft spoken. But yet he has been able to work inside the Hollywood industry, he too has a manager, two agents, a lawyer and a publicist.

He is very down to earth and easygoing, a real outsiders attitude. But is he able to get the roles he really wants? Is he on a quest for that one perfect role? How do you stay true to yourself in the Hollywood system?

Blond, blue eyes is a coproduction with NPS Television, funded by Dutch Filmfund and CoBO-fund).