Travel journalist Sander Groen explores an unexpected destination in the Netherlands every other week. This week: Dick Maas’s Amsterdam.
On Sunday, De Dick Maas Methode, a documentary about the turbulent life of the only maker of popcorn films in the Netherlands, will premiere. In the 1980s, Maas made De lift, for which he won a Golden Calf, and blockbuster Amsterdamned, two classics from Dutch film history. He let speedboats race through the Amsterdam canals, derail a tram in Raadhuisstraat and detonate an oil boat at Central Station. Due to regulatory pressure, permits, ‘yellow vests’ and protesting local residents, filming in the capital is becoming increasingly difficult, says Maas. Yet he came back again and again, also for his latest film, Prooi from 2016. Cycle through Amsterdam along five locations from Dick Maas’s films.
Kronenstede building The elevator (1983)
The new Kronenstede office tower (Laan van Kronenburg 14, Amstelveen) houses a psychiatric practice, brokerage and hi-fi importer, but most offices are still empty. On the top floor is the restaurant Icarus, where you can dine under the stars with a great view. To get there, one must first use The Lift – with the risk of suffocation, hanging or decapitation.
Groenburgwal Amsterdamned (1988)
A murderous monster emerges in a moat surrounded by sex shops, nightclubs, porn shops, brothels and prostitution windows. Because filming in the real red light district is too complicated, they are moving to the Groenburgwal. Dressing up the set with red lights and neon signs takes four days, the filming takes another two days: a week of work for a hundred seconds of film.
Hotel de l’EuropeDo Not Disturb (1999)
Even protagonists William Hurt and Jennifer Tilly can’t stop Dick Maas’ first Hollywood film from mercilessly flopping through a razor-thin plot and cardboard characters. Most of the action takes place in and around Hotel de l’Europe. The deaf girl Melissa escapes her attackers by jumping from the roof into the Amstel.
Roomolenstraat Sint (2010)
It is one of the most beautiful and quietest streets in Amsterdam, while it is still in the heart of the center: the Roomolenstraat runs between the Singel and the Herengracht. Here Niklas’s fungus crashes into a police car. The officers do not survive the blow, the horse and Egbert Jan Weeber do.
Prey (2016)
This pedestrian bridge over the Brouwersgracht has already been seen in Amsterdamned. In Prey, Lizzy and Dave cross the bridge on their way to her house. Lizzy gets the shock of her life when she thinks the murderous lion is walking down the Binnen Wieringerstraat.
