Floris (TV series)

Infobox Television
show_name = Floris


caption = "Screenshot of Rutger Hauer as Floris on the right"
format = Television drama series
camera =
picture_format =
runtime = 500 minutes
creator = Paul Verhoeven
developer =
executive_producer =
starring = Rutger Hauer Jos Bergman Hans Boskamp
narrated =
country = The Netherlands
network = NTS
first_aired = October 15, 1969
last_aired = December 21, 1969 [ [http://members.lycos.nl/fthomassen/rose.html Floris ] ]
num_episodes = 12 episodes
website =
imdb_id = 0063897
tv_com_id =

"Floris" is a 1969 Dutch television action series, written by Gerard Soeteman starring Rutger Hauer and Jos Bergman and directed by Paul Verhoeven.

Concept

The success of television series like the British "Ivanhoe", the French "Thierry La Fronde" and the Flemish "Johan en de Alverman" inspired Carel Enkelaar, manager of NTS (forerunner of Nederlandse Programma Stichting) to make a similar series, set in the Netherlands. It was written by Gerard Soeteman. The series, though filmed in black & white, was very successful, and had many reruns through the years. It has also been shown in East Germany and Scotland.

It has Count Floris van Roozemond (spelling varies with o/oo, s/z and d/dt), returning home after a trip around the world, and accompanied by the Indian Sindala (Bergman), only to find his castle occupied by Maarten van Rossum, upon which he sides with Wolter van Oldesteijn, who is allied with Burgundy against Karel van Gelre, the duke of Gelre, who is allied with the Frisian pirate Greate Pier. Note that, apart from Sindala, these are historical figures, but if this Floris would have been Floris V of Holland he would have been an anachronism because he lived in the late 14th century and the others around 1500. A clear anachronism is the presence of the "pirate" Greate Pier, who was indeed a contemprary, but not active as pirate or such before the death of Philip the Handsome. In the series, Pier is always guarded and surrounded by at least three Arumer Black Heap-members (Gelderse Friezen, as been called in the series).

Although meant as a children's series it was very popular with adults too. Considering this, Floris' sword fight with two swords in the castle in the first episode looks surprisingly realistic. The series also has an educative element, with customs (like timekeeping with bells) and the origin of words (such as 'vernagelen') explained by example. Floris is portrayed as a typical knight hero, not too bright, but with good swordsmanship. Sindala is the clever one who applies oriental scientific knowledge in a practical manner (which also has educational value). The locations include the medieval castle "De Doornenburgh", close to Doornenburg in the Dutch province Gelderland, and the Belgian cities Bruges and Ghent. [http://geschiedenis.vpro.nl/programmas/2899536/afleveringen/16152547/items/16225617/] VPRO's Andere tijden (in Dutch)]

The series was the first major work for both Hauer and Verhoeven and marked their first cooperation. Later, "Turkish Delight(Turks Fruit)" and "Soldier of Orange(Soldaat van Oranje)" would follow. The ideas that were not used for the series were later used in the movie "Flesh & Blood", also directed by Verhoeven and with Hauer in the lead role. Verhoeven: "Floris in Hollywood".

Production

Finding actors for the series was a problem because television was still regarded as inferior to the theatre. Hauer was introduced to Verhoeven as "maybe not such a good actor, but he will do and dare anything". Verhoeven was indeed worried by Hauer's lack of acting experience, but he looked good physically, could handle swords and ride horse well and did most of his stunts himself. The original name of the series was 'Floris and the Fakir' and Verhoeven used 'two shot' filming just in case. Hauer learned the TV acting fast enough.

For the time it was a major production with 80 actors and 2500 extras. Verhoeven overspent the budget of 355.000 guilders by more than 300%, (the total production costs cannot be calculated exactly anymore, but are estimated to be ƒ1,200,000 or €545,000). When this became clear, it was already too late to stop the production because Verhoeven used 'vertical planning', in which the filming was done per actor instead of per episode. Stopping the production would mean that all work was lost. As a TV production of this scale had never been done before in the Netherlands, there was a lot of pioneering. Recordings were usually made in the studio, but Floris was mostly shot outside. Everyone on the set, including Verhoeven, had to learn the trade as they went. Tasks were also not strictly delineated, like they are these days; everyone was a bit of a jack of all trades. "We didn't stand with our arms folded smoking a cigarette when it wasn't our turn". Ironically, finding good locations for this TV production was difficult because the popularity of television had resulted in transmitting antennas being ubiquitous.

Follow up

Audio plays

Two of the unproduced scripts were produced as audio plays, they seem to be the same adventures as #6 and #8 of the newspaper comic adventures and #7 and #10 of the German remake.

Newspaper Comics

Starting in 1972 15 scripts for the Floris-series (not taken into production) were made into newspaper comics published in de Telegraaf by Gerrit Stapel. The art and dialogue were Stapel's, but the story Soeteman's, so the newspaper comics should be considered a canonical source of information about Floris's further adventures. Most important event in the comics is that Floris regains ownership of castle Rozenmondt in the 7th comics adventure.

German remake

1975 saw a German remake of the series, "Floris von Rosenmund", again starring Rutger Hauer, but with German actor Derval de Faria as Sindala.

Floris the movie

:"Main article: Floris (film)"

The movie "Floris" (2004) was shot in 2003. It was directed by Jean van de Velde and features Michiel Huisman as grandson of the original Floris. The new side-kick is "Pi", a role by popstar Birgit Schuurman. In the movie some of the 1969-footage with Hauer and Bergman is included. Originally Hauer was asked to play the father of young Floris, but he declined.

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0063897|title="Floris" (1969)