According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony Pictures Classics has acquired North American, Australia/New Zealand and Indian rights to Paul Verhoeven's perverse World War II drama BLACK BOOK (ZWARTBOEK).

The film was roundly ridiculed among distributors at the Toronto International Film Festival as "'Schindler's List' meets 'Showgirls'" (the latter film, another type of camp drama, was notoriously directed by Verhoeven).

Scenes often cited include the Jewish female lead character graphically dyeing her pubic hair blonde to infiltrate the Nazi party as a member of the resistance, captors dumping a vat of dung on her and several ribald sexual encounters.

The bad word-of-mouth was turned around a bit by some positive reviews and the Netherlands selection of the film as its official foreign language entry for this year's Academy Awards. Some attributed this decision to the film being the first project Verhoeven has directed in his native country in 23 years. His last feature was 2000's "Hollow Man."