Dorkgasm Gonzo Is God

”Video game fans have their own movie in their minds. So, whatever you do as a filmmaker, bringing that game to screen, you make it wrong” - Dr. Uwe Boll on why the Internet public feels the need to vilify him EDITORS NOTE: Some of Dr. Boll's answers have been edited for spelling, grammer, etc. None of the actual answer content was changed at all. This all started because of the It Came From Lake Michigan Film Festival. I was at the fundraiser night and met Wayne Clingman, director of said festival and we exchanged phone calls for a couple of days. One night, I asked him a question about Dr. Boll, and he said something to the effect of “Ask him yourself”. He supplied me with Uwe’s e-mail address, and it snowballed from there. At first, I did not even think a man like Dr. Boll would take time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions from a little known (at the time) website, but he responded quickly in saying he would be glad to do it. Both Mike Riedlinger and I worked up some very astute questions for Uwe, and e-mailed them to him immediately. Imagine my surprise to find not the ramblings of a lunatic, but the thoughtful, insightful answers of a man who appears to be unjustly persecuted. To many people on the Internet, Uwe Boll, not America, is the Great Satan. If you believe the “hype”, Dr. Boll has taken their beloved video games and wiped fecal matter all over them, not to mention the urination and spitting. However, there is another side of Uwe Boll not everyone actually looks at. The forty two year old filmmaker enjoys good food, sports like tennis, squash, and boxing (go figure…), and hiking. He has two dogs, and a girlfriend from Vancouver. When he’s not working, he likes to listen to music by everyone from Billy Joel to Rammstein. Working seven days a week, however, does not leave him with a lot of down time. Well, that concludes the Tiger Beat portion of this article, so now it’s time to get down to business. I, like many people out there, had no idea where he came from. I know he is German, but how did this director suddenly spring up overnight and take the film world by storm? Turns out, we were just not noticing him. Starting in 1991, with some money and a dream, Uwe quickly learned the film game and amassed more than twenty film credits to his name. Kenneth Holm: I’m interested to find out how you got your start in movie making, as well as your decision to make video game based movies. What prompted this? Uwe Boll: I started in 1991 with thirty thousand dollars and my first movie; German Fried Movie. My first American movie was Sanctimony in 1999. My first video game movie was House of The Dead in 2003. So it took me a long time from German movies to American movies and then to the first video game adaptation. Kenneth Holm: German Fried Movie? I saw this available on Amazon, but it was only available in the German language. Is this in the vein of the Zucker, Abrams, and Zucker movie Kentucky Fried Movie? Are there any plans for an English release? Uwe Boll: Yes, we made fun of everything. Not now (for the English release) Kenneth Holm: Now, you’re more qualified than most directors (with a doctorate in Literature) to adapt literary classics to the screen, yet your resume has lately been full of video game adaptations. Is that a business decision or an artistic one? Uwe Boll: It’s both. I think videogames are the best selling books of the younger generation. Kenneth Holm: If you were to adapt a piece of literature to film, which book would it be? Uwe Boll: Thomas Bernhard’s books about his childhood, Kalte and Der Atem. He had a very, very hard childhood. Read them on your own. (EDITORS NOTE: These books are somewhat hard to find outside their native German.) Kenneth Holm: Now, with your doctorate, it’s a bit surprising that your films tend to encompass more pop-culture related genres like video games and horror. Why have you chosen to more of these films recently instead of more intellectual fare like period films or art films? Uwe Boll: I grew up with genre movies. I think genre films are not only more entertaining than arthouse movies, but they are also more important. I think in a hundred years, people will still enjoy a good Western or The Blues Brothers more than Lars Von Trier’s Dogville. Kenneth Holm: Your forays into smaller films, like your movie Heart Of America, have actually been praised quite highly. Your movie has been critically preferred to Gus Van Sant’s Elephant, which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Both movies deal with the effects of the Columbine tragedy on our society. Do you have any plans to delve back into a smaller, more intimate pictures? Uwe Boll: Yes. I have two projects in development. One is Inside, which plays in one jail cell. The other is The United States Of America, about an old guy falling through the social net. I have Burt Reynolds and Donald Sutherland interested in doing this. Kenneth Holm: Could you possibly tell us a little more about the plots for these movies? Uwe Boll: I’ll do this when I’m at the festival. I have not given any interviews about this. Kenneth Holm: Many critics have attacked your films for being little more than eye candy. Your response, challenging (the critics) to a fight, seems to be that of an artist defending his work. To what extent do you consider your work art? Uwe Boll: The fights were a result of my frustration, and, I won all of them, so it made me happier. I don’t regret that. And what art is and what it is not – I don’t care. I think film should be entertaining. If it is also art on top, good. A lot of [the] time, boring movies are getting the ART status to cover up that they are pieces of shit. Kenneth Holm: Wow, that’s pretty inflammatory, but it does seem to cut to the quick of the independent film industry. Why do you feel the term “art” is being thrown about too liberally these days? Uwe Boll: Because a lot of those festival movies are boring. Kenneth Holm: Moving on to your more recent movies, I have to confess. Some of the movies you have made are not the way I would have made them, but your movies seem to be more about the experience of playing the game and not the actual storyline of them. I think that’s a very different and interesting choice. How did you come to this decision? Uwe Boll: I wanted to make, with House of The Dead, something really close to the game with ego-shooter perspectives, and even cutting game footage into the movie. Basically, I did it as an homage to pop culture. Kenneth Holm: I have only seen House of The Dead and Alone in the Dark so far. However, I do believe you can see a progression as far as quality goes. Uwe Boll: I’m happy that you saw that. Also, Bloodrayne is better than Alone in the Dark. Every movie got better. Better scripts, better actors, and I got better. Postal, Seed, Tunnelrats and In The Name Of The King (the Dungeon Siege movie) are actually great movies. Kenneth Holm: While you were making Bloodrayne, a lot was said about your choice to move the story to the 1700s instead of a story involving Nazis, like the game. I know a lot of German money goes into your movies. Was this a conscious decision to avoid any further stereotyping of the German people, or did your financiers insist on it? Uwe Boll: [Neither], it was my decision to do it as a trilogy. Bloodrayne 2 is now a vampire western. Bloodrayne 3 will be the Second World War, like the game. Kenneth Holm: With Bloodrayne 2 you decided to go direct to video. Why for this one? In addition, Kristanna Loken is out as Rayne in this one. Instead, you went with Natassia Malthe, an actress best known to dorks as Typhoid Mary on Elektra. Why the sudden change of leads? Uwe Boll: Bloodrayne 2 goes theatrical in countries like Russia, the Middle East, etc. In the USA, after the first one bombed in the theaters, it makes no sense. Direct to video is better. Loken couldn’t do it because she was shooting Painkiller Jane. Kenneth Holm: In the past, you have mentioned that you are in possession of several other licenses, including Far Cry, Hunter: The Reckoning, and Fear Effect. We all know Far Cry is coming soon, but which of these would be the next video game movie? Uwe Boll: We just finished Far Cry with Til Schweiger as Jack Carver. It will be very good. Fear Effect, I sold, but I hope I can do Hunter soon. Kenneth Holm: Now, Hunter: The Reckoning was originally published as a role-playing game by White Wolf. I know several people who are concerned with their beloved RPG, so maybe you can help me allay their fears. Is this movie going to be based on the RPG itself or its video game incarnation? Uwe Boll: On the W[hite] W[olf] property, Mike Tinney even wrote the script. It’s like a hard X-Men. Kenneth Holm: Postal is getting some very good reviews so far, surprising some of those who have criticized you as a modern Ed Wood. How has the positive attention changed the way you will look at making future films? Uwe Boll: I know that Postal is a great movie and I know King and Tunnelrats are great. My best movies I ever did. So, if the reviewers give me a chance, they will actually start liking me. Kenneth Holm: Onto some more focused questions about the business aspects. You’ve gotten a lot more credit for your business acumen than your filmmaking. You have produced most of the films in your career yourself. Has that independence been more of a blessing or a curse? Uwe Boll: It’s both. I don’t have a boss, but (I do have) a lot of work because I develop, produce, and sell the movies. Kenneth Holm: There are many people among us who have no idea what it’s like to develop, produce or sell. Can you give us a quick outline about the many hats you wear? Uwe Boll: I’ll talk more at the festival about this. Kenneth Holm: Well, I think that’s about it for me. I do have one last question, though. Do you have any sage advice to hand out to the leagues of aspiring filmmakers all over the world? Uwe Boll: Start working on sets. This brings more than film school. Write scripts. Make short movies. You learn only through experience, learning by doing.

This interview was conducted over a couple e-mail sessions. He’d write something, I’d write back. After it was all said and done, I called him. That’s right. I have Uwe Boll’s personal phone number. I didn’t get to talk to him much, as the plane he was on was about to take off, but he seems like a really cool guy. He remembered who I was, even. I thanked him from myself and on behalf of Dorkgasm. He laughed a couple times and said you’re welcome. I can’t wait to get some questions out of him at the ICFLM Film Festival. Maybe he will even let me get a picture with him punching me out. Here’s hoping. A big thanks goes out to Wayne Clingman for making this interview possible. Go buy your tickets to the It Came From Lake Michigan Film Festival right now! Thanks for tuning in, dorks. Kenneth Holm www.dorkgasm.com Senior Staff Writer