Tears in the Rain: Remembering Rutger Hauer

Hauer's first ever work in film, a bit part in the 1968 movie Monsieur Hawarden ended up on the cutting room floor. To this day his performance in the movies was never seen.

Hauer's breakthrough was in television and he later went on to appear in many television series over the years, usually as a special guest star. Hauer's television credits include, among others, "The Pathfinders", Waaldrecht, "Lexx", "The 10th Kingdom", "Alias", "Smallville", "True Blood" and "Channel Zero".

As much as television put Hauer on the map in the Netherlands, so did his collaboration with director Paul Verhoeven. Although Hauer worked a lot with Verhoeven in 1970's and 1980's relationship eventually went bitter and their last work together was Flesh+Blood (1985). Hauer refused to work with Verhoeven ever since due to creative differences, eventually loosing the leading role in RoboCop (1987). Much later Hauer also declined appearing in Verhoeven's The Black Book (2006). Interestingly enough, in 1996 Hauer narrated a documentary episode about Verhoeven.

Hauer's big break in Hollywood after a few solid appearances (first of which was Nighthawks) was famous cyberpunk neo-noir by Ridley Scott. Much of his famous final monologue was improvised by the actor, including the use of pigeon. It should be noted that Hauer's character, Roy Batty, dies in 2019 in the movie, the same year actor actually died.

"Good guy" or "bad guy", hero or anti hero; doesn't matter to me, what role I play, only the character have something magical." That was very much Hauer's motto in choosing roles. In particular case of this movie he was offered the role of villain Marquet, but declined it and expressed interest in main protagonist Etienne Navarre, who eventually turned out to be one of his most memorable characters.

Hauer was an avid professional race car driver but never had a proper driver's license because he was color blind. Nevertheless, when he had an opportunity he did his own stunts involving cars in the movies, The Hitcher being prime example. Hauer's stunt work impressed professional stuntmen who were working on the action-packed thriller. Hauer was also an avid motorcycle enthusiast, especially since he had valid driver's license for motorcycles.

Hauer portrayed many real-life figures over his lifetime, usually doing serious research to get into the role. Apart from real life Sobibor survivor Alexander 'Sasha' Pechersky his roles based on true events include Albert Speer in Inside the Third Reich (1982), Alfred Heineken in The Heineken Kidnapping (2011) and Michelangelo in Michelangelo - Il cuore e la pietra (2012).

Hauer often appeared in b-movies, but he never slacked in them as an actor, often elevating whole productions with his presence. Among such b-movies are The Blood of Heroes (1989), Wedlock (1991), Split Second (1992) and Blast (1997).

Hauer's only writing credit are dialogues from this 1989 underrated drama where he portrays John Knott, a newspaper reporter who finds out he has AIDS and is afraid for his family as a result. Hauer was greatly concerned about AIDS in real life, often appearing in a jacket with a red AIDS ribbon designed by a Japanese fashion stylist. He was also wearing it on his IMDb headshot until his death.

While in many cases "direct-to-video" means very cheap and shoddy productions, Hauer often elevated even them, given the right screentime and making a few cult classics in the process. One might still remember him fondly from Turbulence 3: Heavy Metal (2001) or Dracula III: Legacy (2005).

Hauer was also able to create memorable and mesmerizing performances with very limited screentime. In Knockin' on Heaven's Door he barely has a minute, while in both Sin City (2005) and Batman Begins (2005) he has less than five minutes. Roles are still so memorable, they often get mentioned in his obituaries.

Hauer appeared in some music videos and commercials, but not all of them are on IMDb as of 2019. So, as of year of his death his filmography is largely incomplete due to that and will expand even further with titles such as Guinness: Sauna (1989).

All Hauer's directorial works were short films, but they won him quite a few accolades and praise, as well as some awards. Hauer also loved to teach directing in his own school and on master classes such as one conducted in Ukraine, on the first ever Odessa Film Festival (now rebranded as Odesa Film Festival).

Speaking of directorial debuts, Hauer was a big fan of appearing in low budget passion projects, such as 2005's Minotaur and 2011's cult film Hobo With a Shotgun. He usually had very fond recollections of working on such odd, passionate movies, which he did all over the world. While visiting Ukraine in 2010 he outright said in the interview that he can appear for free in the movie if he likes the script and transportation was organized.

Sometimes Hauer barely missed the roles. Apart from aforementioned case of RoboCop (1987) he almost appeared in cameo in remake of The Hitcher. He was also the first choice and prototype for Lestate in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) but was deemed too old when movie finally went in production after years of development. He could have also been Cabal in Nightbreed (1990). Eventually roles went to Tom Cruise and Craig Shaffer respectively.

Despite his passing still seems to soon at age 75, we will see plenty of Hauer's new work in recent years as he was a very prolific international actor. Before his passing Hauer filmed roles in Journey to China: The Mystery of Iron Mask, Tonight at Noon, Emperor, Break and mini-series A Christmas Carol, where he will, appropriately enough, portray Ghost of Christmas Future. It is really hard to tell which posthumous release will be Hauer's last role, but it is clear that his legacy will be there long after his death, inspiring, charming and entertaining millions of people.