Paul Verhoeven to direct ghostly Eternal

Paul Verhoeven

Paul Verhoeven, the director of Basic Instinct, Total Recall and, uh, Showgirls , is returning to saucy, provocative material with new film Eternal .

Bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘til death do us part’, the script follows a married man who has a sexual affair with a woman who turns out to be a ghost, and is apparently after his immortal soul.

The concept certainly seems to push all of Verhoeven’s buttons, with Eternal ’s male lead apparently a recovering alcoholic whose sanity is questioned by the sudden appearance of a striking, dangerous young woman. Yep, it’s got Basic Instinct written all over it in smeared lipstick.

Originally scripted by David Loughery, who also wrote infidelity drama Obsessed , Eternal will get a re-draft courtesy of Exit Wounds ’ Richard D’Ovidio, and should have a budget of between $10-25m.

Now where's Sharon Stone when you need her?

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.