Rutger Hauer: From Cinematic Villain to Humanitarian and Festival Founder

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By Executive Editor Nicole Holland and Online Editor Todd Konrad

Actor, activist, filmmaker, author, Rutger Hauer can certainly count these among the varied pursuits over his life. To many audiences worldwide he is singularly identified with his attentive, nuanced portraits of villainy whether as the more-human-than-human replicant Roy Batty in Blade Runner, the existential psychopath John Ryder in The Hitcher or more recently his pitch-perfect turns in both Sin City and Batman Returns. And yet despite the decades of acting work that has shaped the bulk of his reputation, Hauer has devoted his time and attention to other worthy pursuits.

What you may not know is that the man known for playing vicious killers so damn well has sought to use his influence to help stem the tide of damage instigated by HIV and AIDS through his charitable foundation, The Rutger Hauer Starfish Association. In addition, he has also championed the exhibition of short film via the I’ve Seen Films: International Short Film Festival as well. IFQ took the opportunity to speak with him to discuss his intriguing festival venture and storied career and found an individual who is guided by both hard-earned experience and inspirational passion.

IFQ: Can you tell us the overall objective of I’ve Seen Films: International Short Film Festival? Also, Robert Rodriguez and Sir Ridley Scott are once again members of the jury. Can you fill us in on your International Jury and their involvement with the festival?

Rutger Hauer: The cream of the crop of my jury tends to be the best working filmmakers in the world as well as the most interesting ones. I am honoured that they will take their time to judge the short films, even as they are working. Some of them will also be present on the Awards night in Milan, even though – due to their work commitments – a final attendance confirmation will be given just few days before the Festival. And the filmmakers who are there to possibly win are as proud as I am with their votes.

IFQ: Your film festival is independent. What’s the difference between independent film festivals and festivals that only screen films that already have distribution or named stars attached to the projects? Also, how important are short films in the industry?

RH: The difference and the reason to start the short film festival is that I like short films. They tend to be free and are now affordable to make since the digital tools are available. I am interested in talent, power and quality. The internet seems to offer a very fresh way to distribute these works and it gives them a life with an audience. They are now in our lives. The key element is that a professional will sort out the quality. The main difference with any other film festival is that shorts and their authors are the real focus, and we honour them by presenting their works in a masterfully high-definition digitalized version. This important aspect, which requires a highly professional technical know-how, uncommon for the majority of other short film festivals, has already garnered, since its first edition, very enthusiastic praises from audience and film authors alike. We ask for English subtitles if the original language is different. It is amazing and very exciting.

IFQ: We recently read your autobiography All Those Moments: Stories of Heroes, Villains, Replicants, and Blade Runners, and had a great time with it. How was the process of trying to distil years of both life and work down into a couple hundred pages of text?

RH: What is there to tell on a bookpage? And what is too private? I feel I wrote a very personal book about a handful of key moments where the tracks were changed. I also wrote it as a possible fundraiser for charity. I was also working and travelling during the two years of putting it together. It was hard to work only from the brain without any pictures.

IFQ: In addition, all proceeds from the book are donated to The Rutger Hauer Starfish Association; for readers who may not be in the know, what is the organization’s purpose and is there any website people can visit to learn more?

RH: The goal and target is to help HIV-stricken children and pregnant women, anywhere, hands-on. As I travel, I visit orphanages and organizations who deal with this on a day to day basis. South Africa is an important part of our focus. I also try to find filmmakers who are interested in this. Part of the ‘I’ve Seen Films’ festival in Milan is dedicated to awareness films, too. My non-profit organization’s website is www.rutgerhauer.org/rutgerhauer.org. It can also be reached through my official website.

IFQ: One story in the book that’s particularly intriguing to me is your experience on making your first American film, Nighthawks, with Sylvester Stallone and how arduous that shoot was (even though it contains, in my opinion, one of your best performances and is the main reason I go back to it). My question is, looking back on the difficulties you experienced, were there any particular lessons you gleamed from it professionally and what importance do you place on it in your career now, if any at all?

RH: What I learned from the shoot of Nighthawks was that I had a chance to work in American films. I had dedicated a whole chapter in my book on this, my first international job in the industry. But what I wrote was too angry and I decided to cut it in the final phase. Basic bottom line: “If I can get through this and survive in a good way, it still serves a great purpose.”

IFQ: Over the years, you’ve worked with a wide variety of talented, high-profile directors from of course Paul Verhoeven to others like Ridley Scott, Sam Peckinpah, Ermanno Olmi to more recently Christopher Nolan and Robert Rodriguez. What do you feel distinguishes the work of filmmakers operating on that calibre versus other, lesser-known people in the industry? Is it simply a matter of talent or luck? And ideally, what sort of working relationship do you prefer to have with a director on-set?

RH: Luck has a mysterious timing. One does not earn it. Or deserve it. But it finds you. I have not figured out the elements, but I am not blind to the hundreds of moments of “coincidence” that offered me the choice. In a director I hope for a solid first connection on which to build. Strange enough, the only way to find out is to work with them. I don’t mind these risks. In my opinion, I have worked and still work with great masters. It is a hell of a game. A love story. And I cherish them forever.

IFQ: Even though I know everyone asks you about this film, I’d like to briefly touch on Blade Runner and your thoughts on it; specifically given that it took ten years for the public to catch up and appreciate everything that film says both thematically and visually? What were your feelings on the material going into the shoot and finally seeing the film’s original cut?

RH: Blade Runner was my third international film. I had a major crush on all aspects of the story and screenplay and designs. I loved my “Roy” like a first toy. I learned to loosen up, and I danced through the shoot charged with a most inspiring energy mostly because of Scott’s vision. I felt I knew it and knew where to take it from the beginning, including the ending although details came to me later. The final cut of the film was only recently released and I understood what happened to it all. Very ironic for this film to live underground and surface in a total reworked version of the original cut over 25 years ago. The new format allows the film to live longer into the future. This would have never happened if it was not for the long and slow discovery because the tools were not there. Great stuff for a story that says the future is old.

IFQ: Ten years later when the film’s director’s cut was re-released and the film finally received the acclaim it deserved, how did you react to all the sudden fanfare as well as the variety of different versions that continue to be released for it?

RH: The film never really received the acclaim it deserves. It is still going on. For instance, the new distribution two years ago was planned for a worldwide, big time release. By the time the owners were ready to decide on it, most theatres were already booked, so by mistake the film could only be released in a limited amount of theatres. A second release of a masterpiece screwed up for the second time. It is funny. And I think it is great. Blade Runner is still underground. It is where it belongs. Limited edition.

IFQ: As someone who has always kept working in a notoriously fickle industry, do you feel that you are still continuing to develop and refine your craft and if so, then how? Or do you think you have stayed fairly consistent in terms of your abilities?

RH: I would say one is never old enough to learn unless the body of blood, brains and guts decides to give up. Growing older means different things to people and it does dictate different roles. My transition from action films to anything else took ten years. It is an unlikely event but it does broaden the spectre. I went into the biz – roughly speaking – to learn. It never ends.

IFQ: Speaking to young actors getting their start today, how important is perseverance in this industry versus simply having the talent alone?

RH: A filmmaker, be it any of the hundreds of different professions from prop-master to writer to set-designer, should know that it is unlikely to make a living out of it. So it is a big gamble. God help them. One third of my work is dedicated to working with less experienced filmmakers. And many of them are good. If it works, it shows. And it is the bliss we look for.