Monday, April 07, 2008

Uwe Boll is the director of such cinematic masterpieces as BLOODRAYNE and RETURN OF THE KING: A DUNGEON SIEGE ADVENTURE. Last year he made news by challenging his critics to a boxing match. He clobbered all of them, which shows that for a director, he's a pretty good boxer. He has now apparently offered to quit making movies, but only if one million people sign a petition asking him to. I'm not sure he has reckoned with the awesome power of the interwebs...

Meanwhile, he's prepping BLOODRAYNE 3.

Labels: apropos of nothing at all

8:28 AM

7 Comments:

I'm torn. He makes awful movies, but it's always nice to have him around to make fun of.

By  Tim W., at 1:06 PM  

This is actually a terrible thing and anyone who thinks about signing this should seriously look inside themselves first before doing so. Really? A petition to thwart the menace of Boll? I agree this man is an atrocious filmmaker, and lord knows -- who the funk finances this guy -- but to put pressure on him to stop "creating"... It just seems so high school and juvenile.

As bad as this man's movies are... do we not believe in his right to make "something?" Okay, none of his pictures contribute to mankind or shed light on the human condition... but it's his right to make films... good, bad, or piece of shit...

I would rather be him and make shit films in my life, than simply dream of making films while working as a janitor literally cleaning up someone else's shit.

Who's the fool? He, for making the movies? Or us, for watching them ...

I never watch his pictures...but I believe in his right of free speech and the right to make "something"...

We all should champion this...

What if in ten years from now, we have a whole society of internet freaks who create a petition to stop writers from working... what studio or production company would ever want to hire you then? I'm not saying that's where we are ... but it's heading there... So your writing produces a turd for the studio, but the screenplay was solid, yet filmmaking-by-committee turns out too many cooks in the kitchen, and what worked as a script, fails as a film, and we the writers take the blame... then hate campaigns spread and beg the writers or the studios to never let them work again...

Sheesh. C'mon people. Hate all you want, but respect the right to make films, good, bad, and the boll.

Alex, you are a wealth of wisdom and I read your site daily for insight and inspiration, (I even bought your book) but seriously, you should reconsider this posting.

Ryan

By  Ryan Covert, at 2:18 PM  

Oh, for God's sake, Ryan, have a sense of humor! No one told Uwe Boll to say "I'll stop directing if a million people ask me to," and I'm not asking you to sign the thing. I didn't, either.

All's I'm saying is, you gotta hand it to the guy. For a director, he's a really great publicist.

By  Alex Epstein, at 2:48 PM  

Alex,

fair enough. I guess this was a shoot the messenger type of thing... and shouldn't have been directed towards you as a personal issue.

Holy shit, did I come off as some radical militant type or what? Not necessarily my intention. My real concern is with internet snobbery... and it seems my post embodied this in my fight for resistance. Ironic, and remarkable peripetia... worse, it's quite humbling. (Isn't it odd when we write something we believe in, yet upon re-reading you have to ask yourself...is this really what I was thinking? Alas, I digress...) I suppose Boll did open his mouth first... and continues fostering his own ill repute. This is also a case of "reaping what you sow..."

And if he was faulted for trying to say "too much" with his films rather than creating drivel, this debate would be apropos...

As is... I'll just shut up and exercise the right to simply not watch...


All in good fun.

Cheers.

By  Ryan Covert, at 3:12 PM  

I briefly met him at the After Dark Film Festival here in Toronto. It was the premiere of Dungeon Seige and he actually stood around on stage to chat with us all after the movie.

I've gotta admit, as a human being, I like the guy. He's funny and open and completely lacking in tact. It's refreshing to hear him say things, confirm things, we may have already suspected (He was not kind to Micheal Madson).

As an avid gamer, well, I have to say 'go nuts'. Realistically, the games that he's 'adapted' are nothing special. I certainly wasn't playing through BloodRayne or House of the Dead and chomping at the bit for a theatrical experience.

And I mean, sure, Alone in the dark was amazing for its time, it was a fantastic game - then. Try playing it now.

All in all, at least with Dr. Boll you know what you're getting. He hasn't tried to hide it. Sure, maybe one day he'll learn to do more than one take, but chances are, he won't.

If you really don't like his work then protest in the most effective and telling way: Don't go. Don't pay to see his flicks.

Still, in person, he's funny as hell. If he quits directing I hope he goes into stand up.

By  Brandon Laraby, at 3:26 PM  

I actually signed the petition. The franchises that he has currently abused are not my favorites but I would hate to see one of my favorite games despoiled in that fashion. So in solidaroty with other gamers, I feel the need to encourage Dr. Boll to find a new outlet for his "creativity".

By  Hawise Gadarn, at 8:40 AM  

Obviously his genius is in self-promotion, rather than any talent for film-making. I'm in awe.

Most directors of his abilities would self-destruct from mortification after the first turkey. He's become kind of a po-mo Ed Wood, only more successful, at least in terms of career and notoriety.

By  Jack Ruttan, at 9:58 AM  

Post a Comment

Back to Complications Ensue main blog page.