Through friends of friends we got in touch, and then things suddenly developed. Rutger was into it from the very start. He loved the idea of working with an old Dutch family business. The only requirement on his end was that he could connect his foundation 'Starfish association' to the campaign. With this foundation, Rutger was raising awareness of the worldwide issues around AIDS. No problem of course!

Having Rutger Hauer on board gave us the confidence to try and add another legendary Dutchman to the project: photographer Anton Corbijn. Anton is famous around the world for his work with U2, Metallica, Nirvana, Depeche Mode, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and an almost endless list of other global superstars. Anton and Rutger turned out to be old acquaintances who had gotten out of touch a bit. They decided a photo shoot was a great way to reconnect. The shoot took place in early 2007 in Beesterzwaag, where Rutger lived.

To introduce the campaign we organised a press event in a small venue at the Tuschinski theatre in Amsterdam. Rutger wasn't exactly a public person at the time, and never gave interviews. He mainly lived on film sets abroad. That made our press event extra 'hot'. It was one of those times where photographers literally climbed on top of one another to get a perfect shot of him.

I've met Rutger a couple of times during our campaign and that was always an impressive experience. One time, he even visited our factory in Moergestel. As we walked out of the building to get lunch, he insisted to take a selfie. He drew my brother and myself in close, said 'smile', and took the snap. You’ll find the proof of this moment below. The most special encounter I had with him was shortly before the big press event in Amsterdam. We had agreed to meet around the corner from the Tuschinsky theatre, after which I would escort him inside. Upon meeting him however, he mentioned that he was hungry. He knew of a cafe that served good cheese croquettes. We dashed through some alleyways, Rutger went into the tiniest little cafe, and as a seasoned celebrity instantly disappeared behind a stone column. There we sat, at the tiniest table. As I was bumping knees with the great Rutger Hauer, watching him try not to burn his mouth on the scalding hot cheese croquettes, I pinched myself and took a mental picture."