Bobby Boermans, who lives near the Apple store in Amsterdam’s Leidseplein square, still remembers the surreal sequence of events that unfolded on the night of Feb. 22, 2022. Boermans, who directed the new Netflix movie iHostage (currently #1 in the US), had just finished filming The Golden Hour, a separate Netflix series about a fictional terror attack in Amsterdam, when a real one unfolded inside the city’s Apple store there. A man took a hostage, in broad daylight right there in the heart of Amsterdam, and demanded €200 million in cryptocurrency — the equivalent of more than $226 million at the time.
That terror forms the basis for iHostage, Boermans’ movie about what happened after the armed man, dressed in camouflage, took a 44-year-old Bulgarian man hostage inside the Apple store — subsequently trapping people on the upper floors inside the mixed-use building, as well. Shots were fired as soon as police arrived, at which point a multi-hour standoff ensued.
“We changed the dialogue and gave all characters fictional names so they couldn’t be traced back to the individuals involved,” Boermans told TIME. “In reality, hundreds of people were involved in the stand-off, but we focused on five main characters — each from a different background, each offering a unique perspective.”
iHostage shifts between the perspectives of the gunman, the hostage, and the first responders as the hours drag on and tensions reach a boiling point. The confined setting and Boermans’ tight direction amplify the claustrophobia, while the script explores themes of fear, desperation, and the human instinct to survive under impossible pressure. It’s a thriller that’s also a dramatized window into the ripple effects of real-life terror, showing what it actually feels like to be caught in the middle of the unthinkable.
According to Flixpatrol, Boermans and Netflix have a hit on their hands here, with iHostage hitting #1 worldwide and scoring a top position in 72 countries. Boermans has said he hopes the thriller is not only a source of entertainment for viewers, but that it sparks meaningful conversations around mental health— particularly around marginalized communities that might feel overlooked, unsupported, or pushed to extremes.
