- Born
- Birth nameMartinus Wouter Koolhoven
- Height5′ 11¼″ (1.81 m)
- Born in The Hague, The Netherlands. Son of a prison guard. Attended several film schools in Sittard (The Netherlands), Brussels (Belgium) and the Dutch Film And Television Academy (The Netherlands). Graduated with the short movie De orde der dingen (1996). Koolhoven has a relationship with Dutch writer/director 'Tallulah Schwab' since 1993. They've got two children. The first film he made after graduating from the Dutch Film Academy was _Duister Licht (1997)_, starring a young Dutch actor/writer/director Marc van Uchelen , who was in his class at the Academy, and is a close personal friend. Producer Emjay Rechsteiner asked Koolhoven to direct the Television Feature Suzy Q (1999) , a script by Frouke Fokkema. This film was awarded both in Holland and abroad. His cinema debut is _AmnesiA (2001)_ that got a small release in the USA. He has been constantly making feature films ever since. In 2005 he made his first mainstream movie and it became a big success, both in Holland and abroad. He started making movies that were more accessible for a large audiences, which resulted in box office success. Yet Koolhoven is still loved by the critics and his movies play in festivals around the world. In the Netherlands he is also known for appearing on television shows about movies, which resulted in his own TV show De Kijk van Koolhoven. He also goes on tour in theaters.- IMDb Mini Biography By: jakobvo@hotmail.com
- Often casts actress Carice van Houten
- Uses no capitals in his closing titles and ends his final credits with: xxx!
- Often has stylistic references to spaghetti westerns (and other Italian genre movies)..
- Often has what he calls 'point of view' scenes. People eavesdropping, peeping through doorways, looking through binoculars, etc.
- His characters often end up in other people's clothes.
- All his films have won awards at the Dutch Film Festival. His films also won at several festivals abroad in such countries as France, England, Egypt, Japan and Spain.
- His first film AmnesiA got a small theatrical release in New York. I was his first movie to get a commercial release in the United States.
- Signs off his fiction films with: xxx! End credits of his fiction films are non-capital.
- Graduated Dutch Film Academy as a Fiction Film Writer & Director in 1996
- The triple-mark is not included in the end credits of Grot, De (2001). Some people say this is because this is his first fiction film where he does not have a writing credit.
- [on his Hollywood ambitions] I was asked a couple of times to direct something in Hollywood, but so far it wasn't interesting enough to say yes. I would like to make an international movie, but not necessarily in The United States. It's also possible to do it here (in the Netherlands). We'll see. If the right project comes along I'll consider going, but for now I'm happy here.
- [on David Lean's Brief Encounter] The best romantic film there is. There's nothing more beautiful then impossible love.
- [on Brimstone] I consider it my second film. When I started I said I wanted to make a movie a year to learn the craft. How many movies did Hitchcock make before he made a good one? Or John Ford? So I see all movies before Winter in Wartime as practicing. I'm proud of them and everything, but I found my voice when I made Winter in Wartime, which in a way is my debut. So then I stopped being in a hurry, I don't want to just practice, I want to make the movies I was put on earth for.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content