'THE HOLLOW MAN' IT'S WHAT YOU CAN'T SEE THAT HURTS YOU.Byline: - Glenn Whipp What would you do if you could make yourself invisible? Director Paul Verhoeven (``Starship Troopers'') suspects very bad things. ``Plato says you'd go into somebody's house, get what you want, rape the woman and kill the man,'' Verhoeven says. ``It's the constraints CONSTRAINTS - A language for solving constraints using value inference. ["CONSTRAINTS: A Language for Expressing Almost-Hierarchical Descriptions", G.J. Sussman et al, Artif Intell 14(1):1-39 (Aug 1980)]. of society that makes man good. Take away those restraints, and you take away the goodness.'' That's what happens when the Jekyll-and-Hyde scientist in Verhoeven's new movie, ``The Hollow Man,'' hones his disappearing act. Kevin Bacon plays the sinister sinister /si·nis·ter/ (sin´is-ter) [L.] left; on the left side. sin·is·ter adj. 1. Presaging trouble; ominous. 2. On the left side; left. scientist; Elisabeth Shue is his colleague who tries to steer him back to the straight and narrow. To give the movie a greater reality, Verhoeven insisted that Bacon actually be physically present during all his scenes. That necessitated a tiresome makeup makeup In the performing arts, material used by actors for cosmetic purposes and to help create the characters they play. Not needed in Greek and Roman theatre because of the use of masks, makeup was used in the religious plays of medieval Europe, in which the angels' faces process that turned Bacon various colors, depending upon the effect, while putting contact lenses contact lenses contact npl → verres mpl de contact contact lenses contact npl → Kontaktlinsen pl contact lenses npl the size of half dollars into his eyes. ``It was for the best because it allowed the other actors to interact with Kevin instead of talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to a blue screen,'' Verhoeven says. ``It makes everything seem more real, and thus more frightening.'' And an atmosphere of fear was what Verhoeven wanted, not the sort of camp that has characterized many previous invisible efforts. ``We're not going to have any pencils or cups flying through the air,'' says the director. ``You won't see Kevin eating a sandwich and then the food floating in the stomach. This is pure evil. The audience gets to watch evil encroach upon Verb 1. encroach upon - to intrude upon, infringe, encroach on, violate; "This new colleague invades my territory"; "The neighbors intrude on your privacy" intrude on, obtrude upon, invade a man soul. Verhoeven can barely contain the glee in his voice. ``Hey, people love to see something that starts out good and then morphs into evil. I know I do.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: ``Hollow Man,'' with Kevin Bacon and Elisabeth Shue, opens Aug. 4. |
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