In a 2013 interview, Paul Verhoeven explained his motives for doing the movie. He did not like Joe Eszterhas's initial script, and passed on the project in favor of doing "Crusade", based on a screenplay by Walon Green and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, that project fell through when Carolco Pictures could not afford to finance both "Crusade" and Cutthroat Island (1995). Since $10 million had already been spent on "Crusade", and Eszterhas already received $4 million for his Showgirls screenplay, Verhoeven felt morally obligated to do Showgirls as a personal favor to Mario Kassar to save Carolco from bankruptcy. Eszterhas' screenplay was extensively re-written with All About Eve (1950) as the main source of inspiration. Verhoeven intended it to be an over-the-top morality tale, populated with only amoral characters (except for the character of Molly (Gina Ravera), with Las Vegas as a metaphor for hypocrisy and extortion. However, the satirical intentions were not picked up by the critics, who regarded the movie as a simplistic portrayal of American culture, and the box office failure of both this movie and 'Cutthroat Island' made the bankruptcy of Carolco inevitable.
