Casper Van Dien on set of ‘Starship Troopers’ in 1997.Photo:TriStar Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty
TriStar Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty
WhileCasper Van Dienhas starred inAll American,the short-lived primetime soapTitansand in movies likeSleepy HollowandAlita: Battle Angel, the actor will likely be most remembered for playing Johnny Rico in theStarship Troopersfranchise, which kicked off with the 1997 sci-fi action movie about an interstellar war with an alien species.
AlthoughStarship Troopers— which has become something of a cult classic, with the cast recently reuniting atNew York Comic-Conon Oct. 17, 2024 — featured several memorable moments, the most infamous one is the group shower scene, which saw Van Dien, Meyer, Busey and other cast members strip down as their characters revealed their reasons for enlisting.
From Left: Paul Verhoeven and Casper Van Dien on set of ‘Starship Troopers’.TriStar Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty
“When I read that scene, I basically, if you want the dead honest truth, I was like, ‘Oh s—, no, I gotta do that scene. Oh my God, what am I gonna do?’ " Van Dien admits to PEOPLE. “So, you know, you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I’m gonna be naked in front of a whole bunch of people and in the shower for a long time.’ "
Adding that “it takes a long time to shoot a scene,” the actor says that it was roughly an 11-hour shoot. “That’s alongshower,” he quips.
When it came to actually filming it, he recalls that he was initially “really uncomfortable” and “really nervous,” but then after a while, “I didn’t even care anymore. I just wanted to do the scene, get it done and make sure I was doing the job right.” He deadpans, “It was not thehardestscene to shoot, but it was definitely challenging.”
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When it comes to rumors that the crew also got naked on set, Van Dien clarifies that they did not (“They were not. That was not true”), but does confirm that Verhoeven did strip down before filming. “Paul did drop his pants,” he says, adding that it was only after Meyer’s urging him to.
“Paul goes, ‘Are you ready to shoot?’ And Dina goes, ‘Well, if it’s so easy, Paul, why don’t you do it?’ And he dropped his pants. And I go, ‘Oh God,’ " the actor recalls, adding that after the director took off his pants, cinematographer Jost Vacano, “who used to live in nudist colonies,” also dropped trou.
But when it came time to call action, Verhoeven “pulled up his pants. He goes, ‘Okay, let’s shoot.’ And I’m like, ‘Thanks a lot, Dina.’ She goes, ‘I had no idea he would do it.’ "
While he laughs off the moment, Van Dien does admit that it “is probably inappropriate now. They would probably get in trouble nowadays,” adding that “now, forever, it’s something I saw and I have Dina to thank for that.”
From Left: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer and Seth Gilliam at New York Comic-Con on Oct. 17, 2024.Craig Barritt/Getty
Craig Barritt/Getty
When it comes to how thescene was received, he agrees that “usually people don’t talk about the subversiveness of it too much.” In fact, he still believes that most audiences missed the point of the movie when it first came out, saying that “they didn’t understand that it was satire.” The actor added that Verhoevern — who is also known for directingBasic Instinct,RoboCop,ShowgirlsandTotal Recall— “is incredibly smart and wanted to make movies that get people into discussion.”
That said, Van Dien is okay with “still talking about it 28 years later.” It’s also why he’s still happy to be part of the franchise. Since the initial film’s release, he’s reprised his role as Johnny inStarship Troopers 3: Marauderas well as the animated installment,Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars, and various video games, including the newly releasedStarship Troopers: Continuum, which is available on Meta Quest 2 and 3 as well as PlayStation VR2. (“Killing bugs in VR world is amazing,” he says of the latest game in the series.)
Looking back on the first movie, Van Dien says it “gave me my career, basically.” He adds, “It’s something that people always associate with me. I can’t go anywhere without people yelling quotes at me.”
“When you can have a movie that affects people in that way, in that depth, it doesn’t matter what it is,” he says of fans who have told him how muchStarship Troopershas had a lasting impact on them over the years, “This movie, for some reason, really resonates with people.”
source: people.com
