Amsterdam hostage drama becomes a film

6 May 2004

AMSTERDAM — Dutch actors Jan Decleir and Jeroen Krabbe are to play the main roles in a new film called Kleisterlee, which is based on the hostage drama at the Rembrandttoren in Amsterdam in 2002.

The film will be directed by Pieter Kuijpers, who is was also involved in the film Van God los (2003), Dutch public news service NOS reported on Thursday.

A 59-year-old man of Uithoorn took dozens of people hostage in 2002 at the Rembrandttoren, located near Amstel Station in Amsterdam. The man was protesting against the rise of wide-screen television.

Decleir will play the role of the hostage taker and Krabbe will play the role of Gerard Kleisterlee, the chief executive of Dutch electronics company Philips.

In the film, Kleisterlee is kidnapped, but he was not part of the real-life kidnapping. The gunman was protesting against Philips for making wide-screen televisions, but he stormed the tower next door by mistake. He took hostages and the crisis ended when he committed suicide.

Philips is currently in talks with producer Rinkelfilm about the film script, which is being written by Hugo Heinen, who was involved in successful television series such as Pleidooi and De zomer van ’45.

Filming will start in June and the movie will hit the big screen mid-2005. Kleisterlee is the working title of the film.

Subject: Dutch news