Always been an outcast. Always having to fight an inferiority complex. Never really heard of it. And yet became the most important TV and theater producer in the Netherlands. That’s the image that predominates in a special episode of Full Halls, which celebrates Joop van den Ende’s 80th birthday. The TV program is a tribute to the man who grew up in a simple Amsterdam family, was touched by the magic of the theater as a 13-year-old, and grew into a producer, billionaire and patron.
In terms of journalistic approach, presenter Cornald Maas mainly opted for psychological interpretation, not for critical questions about, for example, the commercial TV entertainment and the sale of Endemol that made Van den Ende rich. Nor is it about his rather unexpected departure from Stage Entertainment and the split with his successor, Albert Verlinde. We do learn that Van den Ende was depressed at home due to the corona crisis, and that he felt paralyzed. His wife Janine also saw this and became sad about it. ‘What did you find sad about it?’ Maas asks. Tears.
Joop and Janine, a close two-unit, that is apparent in the entire documentary, in which their children Iris and Vincent also speak. In that sense, ‘Portrait of a successful family’ could be the subtitle. As for daughter Iris, she is now the boss of MediaLane, the company that now also makes theater in addition to successful television. Van den Ende is an advisor there. In fact: when Iris was producing the musical Diana & Sons went on maternity leave, father Joop took over the job with all sorts of pleasure. ‘Dad is enjoying it,’ says Iris. The fact that Van den Ende is always involved in every detail in his company is clearly visible. Press photos, costumes, Freek Bartels’ role, the sound, the direction – everything and everyone has to deal with him: ‘I smell ignorance.’
Maas and his team filmed their protagonist at home in the Gooise villa and in his office on the Zuidas, which has an impressive trophy cabinet and also houses the VandenEnde Foundation. The office with 24 people looks like a chic law firm. At home in the bookcase, especially art books and biographies of Bob Marley, Nelson Mandela and John de Mol. Two pipistrello lamps and beautiful glass and earthenware provide tasteful class.
Full Halls starts with footage from the premiere of Diana & Sons in its own DeLaMar Theater and ends there too. We see the producer musing on his legacy (making theater possible for the common man and a wider audience), as he walks through the corridors hung with theater posters from a rich past. In fact, this is his third and perhaps most important home: the theatre.
Full Halls: Joop van den Ende 80 years, 22/2, 8.25 pm, NPO 2