Introduction
Here at Outsider Gaming, we have been lucky enough to explore the interesting relationship between video games and movies with a film making legend. Today, we’re thrilled to introduce a true maverick of the entertainment industry. This person has forged their own way in Hollywood, with credits spanning filmmaking, production, direction, and even the culinary arts. His work has been the subject of much debate and some controversy, and it has attracted fans from all over the world. I am honored to present our exclusive interview with the versatile and enigmatic Uwe Boll. Let’s get into it!
Paul
Welcome to Outsider Gaming. You’re here today with your host, Paul, and I’m lucky enough to be joined by a bit of a legend, somebody who kind of wears many hats. He is a movie maker, a producer, a director, even a restaurant entrepreneur. And he has mixed with all of Hollywood at this point, worked with many A-listers, worked with many movie stars. He is also sometimes controversial but always passionate. I’m so lucky today to be joined by Uwe Boll. Uwe welcome to the show.
Uwe Boll
Hello. Hello.
Paul
Hi. Hi. Good to see you. So, we’re predominantly obviously outsider gaming. We’re all about video games. That’s what we do. And you, sir, have probably produced and directed stacks more video games to movies than any other director. Like I would say double, triple anyone else. And what draws you to video games to turn into movies. Are you a gamer yourself?
Uwe Boll
I mean, when I grew up, there was not a lot of gaming possible, right? So I had the Commodore 64 and the Atari like this very early on, and we played like tennis and asteroids, you know, like, like shooting the Stones. Yes. You know, so and for us, the jump was to going to an arcade and playing in the bigger machines when you had like the electric connected guns and stuff like this. So it means I’m not the generation where video games grew to the peak where what we have basically now and what started with the super high end developed games like Call of Duty when they started Halo and stuff like this, you know, when I think it came to another level. Uh, maybe around 14, 15 years ago. And then since then it developed further into what we have now with Fortnite and so on. So, um, my kids, my one boy is 14, the other one is nine. They are like, outperforming me in every game and I have no chance, not in FIFA or Donkey Kong, whatever. Fortnite, no chance. So, um, but I recognized for me they were like comic books but more visual. They have like why they didn’t turn into movies. It was like, when did House of the Dead? That was 2003. That was my first video game based film, and that came to me from a company that already acquired the rights. They had a deal with Sega, they had the script written and they said, If I want to jump on it as a director producer to do that film. So that is how I did it. And then we really had a bidding war between Artisan, Lionsgate and Sony.
Uwe Boll
They were interested in buying the film and they released it. It was not an expensive movie to shoot. It was like seven and a half, 8 million bucks, and it did very well, especially then on DVD. In the movie theaters worldwide, I think it did only like 20, 22 million box office, but then it made over 30 million in DVD sales. So that kept me digging deeper into it. And I put out like this kind of board games out there which could turn into a film and who could be a successful film. And I made sure for myself that I don’t always do the same. You know, it’s like when you see a Paul Anderson or whatever who did Resident Evil, you know, like whatever he could do seven times the same film. That would be in a way boring for me. So I looked out to do different genres and that is how it came to Bloodrayne, Far Cry, uh, Alone in the Dark, Dungeon Siege, Postal. So, yeah. So that was the, the short story is basically it was a success to start with. And then besides, some of the films were not box office successes, but they all did very well later in TV and DVD and Blu ray, so I could continue doing it and work with big stars like Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez and Ben Kingsley and so on. So, uh, yeah, but, I mean, you have more questions. HaHa
Paul
HaHa! Just do it all at once! No, no, no, no. Yeah, like my experience of your movies, I think I’m blessed because they were just kind of at the right time for me. I was, you know, in my early 20s. I was renting. I was away from home, kind of college, a bit of part time work, living with friends and students and stuff like that. And you said it yourself, it was DVDs. Like, we went to the video store and we rented a DVD. And, you know, there was no critics. There was no social media. There was nobody telling you what to watch or what not to watch. You just went into the store. You looked at the cover. You said you read the back of it and said, Yeah, that’s kind of for me. And I’m a total geek, so I was big into gaming. And you’re wearing the t-shirt, like Blood-Rayne was for me the first two games…amazing! I had them on the PS1, and I think that was the first movie of yours that I picked up because. Blood-Rayne, I know that that’s a video game! You know, I read the back, took it home and kind of went from there. So, I mean, yeah, I can understand the DVD sales are probably the big thing for you because that’s how I experienced most of your movies and phenomenal! I know you get some flak for some of your movies, but when there’s nobody influencing you and nobody judging you and you just watch a movie for the sake of watching a movie. Very entertaining. Very, very good.
Uwe Boll
I agree. It’s kind of, you cannot expect from films like this that they’re turning into Oscar running candidates or something. It’s just entertaining. And it’s also done for a special in a way, age group. You know, when I go now to the movies last movie last week, I went to see the new Transformers with my son. Right. It’s this kind of like. It’s entertaining even for adults, even if, you know, you watch kind of a silly film you saw already seen six times before. And it’s the same art, right?
Paul
Forget about the story or plot or any of that stuff. It’s just big on screen action. Good, Good. Chewing gum for the brain, as they say. Entertaining. Yeah.
Uwe Boll
Yeah. So I’m a big fan of genre films in general and that they survive and that they get done. I’m not the biggest fan right now about spending $250 million on every film because the studios, I think they feel this kind of we have to go bigger and bigger and bigger to get more and more audience. But that as we see right now with Mission Impossible, with a lot of other films, The Flash and everything that came out recently, there is a cap to what movies can do, you know, when now Tom Cruise has 80 million on the first weekend and everybody thinks it’s a disappointment. I think no, it’s not. But your expectations were totally outrageous. Not everybody goes every week to the movies and they created too many of these mega films. Yeah. And they are basically destroying each other, you know? I mean, now we have Barbie and Oppenheimer starting on the same weekend.
Paul
Yeah, It’s crazy actually yeah.
Uwe Boll
Yeah. You know, two totally different films, but they will take the audience away from each other because there are only so many people who go to the movies on a weekend. And a lot of people will be in between. We want to see something really serious. Christopher Nolan, it will be visually amazing, or we want to see something like, right? I mean, for me it’s a miracle how you can watch the Barbie film. But people will watch it and even adults will watch it, you know, and because it has good actors and it looks like it’s not necessarily a kid’s film or something, it’s more like a strange satire or.
Paul
Tongue in cheek poking fun. Yeah, yeah.
Uwe Boll
Yeah. You know, and that is the thing. It’s similar to genre films like Jaws or the horror films I grew up with. Halloween one came out, Friday the 13th one came out, all that final destination and so on. And for us it was almost like an excitement to go to that film because similarly you go to a live boxing event or something. It was like it took you and you were scared, you were laughing, and you know, and it was crazy. And that is, I think, what movies are in a way about. And also, when now kids are playing games, they just dive in, you know, and then you’re in a different world. And I don’t see, I mean, it’s not healthy to play ten hours a day video games, but I think overall, it’s not a passive thing. Yes. Like when you only watch films and you don’t play games, that ‘s just passive, right? So, you work in your brain with it. But with a game, you can change the outcome. And I think that that is not unnecessarily like necessarily a bad thing for kids to play, to play with games in general. And I was surprised when I started with House of the Dead, what was before me, there was Street Fighter, there was Wing Commander. There were a few little films done based on games, but there were already full on Batman and Superman franchises, Spider-Man franchises. They were already moving, right? And for me, it was kind of strange that the studios and that they were not so interested in that video game franchise, even if they clearly sell way better than comic books. I mean, now I don’t think of comic books Spider-Man.
Uwe Boll
I mean, my kids never read a Batman comic. They know all the films, but they never read comic books. So and that is with games totally different that people actually play those games.
Paul
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it’s as you kind of mentioned there, like at the time, definitely untapped potential, like nobody was really doing it much. Um, and then the other extreme is where we’ve gone now, like your Marvel movies and things like that where you can see the drop off, like people have lost interest because there’s too many of them. There’s too many things to watch on streaming and they all feel a bit the same. They’re all starting, they’re all big budget, they’re all over the top, but they all have the same kind of themes, the same kind of patter. You know, it’s the same sense of humor, the kind of Joss Whedon little, you know, we’re all going to die, but let’s crack a one liner, you know, that sort of we’re all getting a bit bored of that.
Uwe Boll
Absolutely and especially because CGI, CGI is so much developed that, you know, we grow all like my kids grow up with it. For them, it’s not visually necessary mind blowing to watch a Transformers film. They totally know and accept that you can put 3D animation things together with humans in a normal environment and it looks absolutely realistic. So but that said, it doesn’t blow them away anymore. Yeah, it’s just a given, you know, it’s a given. So now you have all this kind of then you have the streamers like Citadel and you have like Extinction on Netflix, you have also on the streamers stuff. You don’t have to pay what is the same budget level, what has the same kind of computer effects. And that additional destroys, in a way, the box office because you feel like, also not so excited about it anymore because you know, it’s fake. You know, you, you know, they use Chris Hemsworth’s face and put it on a basically animated body flying through a train over a hill down the ocean, whatever. Right? So, it’s not necessarily anymore, you feel that this could be real. Like the old James Bond films, they are physically doing the shit, the stunt people doing it and whatever. And then it’s maybe one of the reasons, also with James Bond, it went too much in this superhero direction of Fast and Furious. They went too much in the superhero world, even if they’re normal human beings, you know? And I hate that.
Paul
It should be grounded. It should be real. And yeah, yeah, they’re able to do these fantastical things.
Uwe Boll
Exactly. You know, and that is why for years, I’m not watching the Fast and Furious films anymore because I feel like you cannot fall off of a bridge with a car.
Paul
Yeah, well, they’re only getting worse as they’re only getting more and more ridiculous over the top. So, if they’re pulling off and they are, you’re right. They’re all, you know, just invincible superheroes like, you know, nothing will kill them. But yeah, you made me think of something there because, yeah, probably it’s again, a different generation. Like, I remember Jurassic Park for the first time in the cinema? And that had never been done. Never been seen. And. Jaw on the floor like everyone’s blown away. But you’re right. Now we’re just it’s just washes over you because they can do anything with CGI and it’s just and they do, and they do it all the time. So, it’s like, yeah, it kind of is. It’s lost that kind of sheen it once had. It’s now you can just pretty much see anything on the screen. And yeah, if you don’t want to go to the cinema, you can probably just wait a couple of weeks and it’s going to be on Disney Plus or Paramount or one of those streaming platforms. So, to kind of pull it back to your stuff. I know you have a new movie coming out and we’ll get to that at the end. And I know very little about it. So, I can’t wait to hear if you can tell me much about it. But kind of, I wanted to talk about some of the people you’ve worked with over the years. Like if I was to read off a list and you’ve mentioned some of yourself, Ben Kingsley, Jason Statham, Burt Reynolds was one, I noticed. And you’ve worked with Ray Liotta and you’ve worked with J.K. Simmons.
Paul
I mean, the list is huge. Was there anyone who had, and I don’t want you to single out a favorite or anything like that but is there anyone you thought it was where you were a little bit awestruck or they had that special something that you think, yeah, they are a movie star, not just a person kind of thing.
Uwe Boll
Yeah. I mean, you feel as I think as a director, I always treated them as normal human beings. And I’m in a way, in that way, their boss making a film, right? So, I didn’t treat them like I’m the boss of you or whatever, but I’m not like seeing up to them in a way. So, I treat them. You we do the film together and whatsoever and I think they appreciated that, that I was not I’m not starstruck or something right So but of course inside you feel respect. You feel this kind of, oh, that person really is a legend like Burt Reynolds or Ben Kingsley, right? When you have him in front of you and you are on set and you say, this guy got the Oscar for Gandhi, he did Schindler’s List and whatsoever and now he plays a vampire guy. In my film, you think it’s crazy, but they have to make money, too, right? So and, um, I, I felt like with this kind of name actors, you cannot really direct them. You put them in the environment. They worked it out before and then they deliver, you know, so and with Burt Reynolds because he was already old on Dungeon Siege. It was not so easy because he had the whole armor on it and was very hot. I felt very bad for him. You know, we had people with fans like who started cooling him down and so on. We had a scene where he passed out, and the stunt guy caught him. And, um, but it, I have to say, there were not a lot of actors I worked with where I had any problems with, Ron Perlman was great!
Uwe Boll
I mean, J.K. Simmons on Postal did only one day, I barely had time to talk to him. I was only proud that he said yes to the part, you know, and that he came to Vancouver to do it because he felt postal is really, really funny. I Want to be part of it. So, and with Jason Statham and so on, it was the longest time together. Like two, three months was the longest and biggest film I did. And he is. He was like, unbelievable, like normal, you know, no star bullshit. He walked alone. We went a lot of times, like to Vancouver Island, where we shot a lot of stuff. We walked to dinner, whatever. No. No bodyguard, no personal assistant. He gave a shit about all that. Yeah. You know, and he twisted his ankle and it looked really bad. And then he got a doctor, like, taped it like a sports guy gets taped, and he kept shooting stuff like this, so I enjoyed shooting with him. Ron Perlman and him, they got very good along, you know, and it was like total, total fun to shoot with him. Ray Liotta I shot two films with ‘Suddenly’ and that crime movie and ‘In the Name of the King: Dungeon Siege’ and he was problematic for me because he was like, very, closed. And he told me he doesn’t like this kind of film in general, but he just did it right. So, for the money basically. And so, he had his personal hairdresser and everything. So, it was a little, let’s say, yeah, uncomfortable, you know, you felt like, okay, here’s Claire Forlani and Jason, and they’re all ready to roll.
Uwe Boll
They want to shoot. And then he was like, oh, I have to do this and that. And then suddenly, years later, he was totally the opposite. He played the cop. He did that a hundred times maybe in his career, right? So he was super comfortable and totally enjoyed the shoot, with no problems at all. And he just delivered. I think it was the subject matter. What’s thrown him off, you know, he maybe never really had sword fighting before and stuff like this. And so that that was a thing that was a little different. And I mean everybody else also on Bloodrayne. Bloodrayne was always like this kind of hardest trilogy shot. Every Bloodrayne movie was a huge drama because of the environment. So, we had it in Romania. The problem was in Romania where we shot in those original locations. This let’s say the organization, the production organization was very hard. The food was shit; the hotels were shit. You know, you travel, you shoot night times, it’s pissing rain. Nobody cleans you. There were not enough, let’s say, servers for the size of the acting people we had. Right? I mean there was Geraldine Chaplin, Billy Zane, Meatloaf, Kristanna Loken, Michelle Rodriguez, Matt Davis and. And Ben Kingsley and Michael Madsen. And you feel like, in a way, they are now in an environment where they get nothing to eat because it’s crap. You know, the food was really bad. We shot really in the mountains and out of the main city, so that was a very hard shoot. And then Michael Madsen was at that point, I hope he’s over it, drinking too much, you know.
Uwe Boll
And, um, and Michelle Rodriguez, I love her. And she was super creative, but she always tried to change everything, you know? And that is the thing. When you, when you barely get the shit done, what is in the script, you don’t want to change the scenes because the other actors prepare to do the scene. And then, you know, and then you, you start discussing, no, we should do it this way, this way, this way on set. That is always, of course, what the director/producer, what you hate as a director, producer, you want creative actors, but they should tell you days in advance. You know, and say, look, in two days we shoot that scene. I thought about I could whatever, don’t come through the door. I want to dive through the lake, whatever. Right. But I’ll tell you two days before and not like you’re on set. And then it’s like, no, I should come with the horse or whatever. And you think like, we don’t have horses today as an example. So of course, I mean, there are a lot of anecdotes. And it’s interesting because Germany has three books from me out about me and stuff, and in English it’s almost nothing done. But I have more fans in the US or England than in Germany. So, I always hoped for a publisher in, in English to do my autobiography or whatever, right? So, and to, to release it. So maybe after the podcast people hear it because I have, of course, so many episodes to tell from so many films with so many stars.
Paul
Yeah, of course. Yeah.
Uwe Boll
It’s interesting you know, it’s interesting. But overall, I have to say, I never had a real drama with actors where you feel, okay, that is it. I, I need to fire that guy on the spot and.
Paul
That’s good. Work as a team. And is there anyone in particular you’d love to work with again in an upcoming project?
Uwe Boll
I mean, yeah. Jason Statham, I stayed in contact with, but now he’s so big, he makes so much money. With fast and furious. I’m not getting him anymore. Uh, and, uh, you know, so, I think all the other actors would work with me again when. If the offer is right, if the project is right. And then we, we, we see, you know, Elisabeth Moss was in my heart of America. She appeared in Hunger Games in The Handmaid’s Tale. Right. She’s a big star now. And, yeah, but of course, they all have agents. Yeah. You know, it’s like they always tell me.
Paul
So, then a conversation where even if they’d love to do it, it’s the agent who might say, No, the money’s not right. Yeah. Yeah, it makes sense.
Uwe Boll
Yeah, that is also a thing. What? I think all my friends and whatever they see, they see it like, why you don’t call them up, why you don’t do this? And I said, look, in the very end, every single actor I have a private email from or whatever will tell me I have to go through the agency. I cannot say on the phone I’m doing it, right, so they will not do it. And then the agents coming in, of course, and they want more money and they want this and this and this and you know, and or they don’t want the actor doing the film because it’s destroying his franchise. Yeah. So, there’s so much politics in Hollywood in general. Uh, so many layers of people, in between stars and decision making, you know, attorneys and managers and agents and so on. So it would be nice. Would be different.
Paul
Yeah. No, absolutely. And hopefully Jason’s watching. I’m sure. I’m sure he’ll do it. It’s no problem. Yeah, he’s listening. He’s listening right now.
Uwe Boll
I would work right away again with him because I know he’s very team oriented and very positive on set. You know, I mean, he was not a miserable star who everybody hated or something.
Paul
No prima donna stuff or anything like that. Just down to earth. That’s kind of what you want. Absolutely. You mentioned Postal, and I have to bring it up. First, I love that film, which, I don’t think is that popular of an opinion. So again, and you kind of hit it on the head as well. You said it’s a certain moment in time and it’s a certain age group and absolutely in my 20s, you know, sitting with the lads with a few beers or popcorn in the house, DVD like, that was on repeat. And for me it’s like and again, I know there’s controversy, but it’s not really because it’s done for the sake of comedy. It’s for fun. And comedy should push the boundary a little bit. Um, but yeah, my take on it, it’s like watching kind of a cross between Airplane and South Park. That’s kind of the feeling I get from watching it. And obviously, again, it’s another kind of loosely based on a video game. But the video games have gotten very popular and even there’s a new one out at the moment. I don’t know if it’s an anniversary release or if it’s a brand-new game. I think it’s a new game, but would you ever consider making a sequel and do you think you could do a sequel in this day and age, or would it just be cancelled? Cancelled? Cancelled?
Uwe Boll
I don’t think postal would get done again. If you come up with that script now, I think they see that you are crazy! And they would have no agent, no manager, nobody wanted to have anything to do with it if they would read it. But I see it exactly how you see it, or I think actually a few million people in the world love Postal because it was so outrageous, and it wasn’t all site offenders.
Paul
Yeah, it’s a cartoon. Like it’s not meant to be the real world. It’s, you know, none of the jokes have a hidden message or, you know, political kind of thing, just as I said, it’s like an over-the-top cartoon.
Uwe Boll
Yes! That is what I like.
Paul
Slapstick like.
Uwe Boll
Yes, that I liked in The Naked Gun, and Airplane in this kind of film. And right now, we have it really only in animation with South Park or Family Guy, you know, or American Dad. So, you have this kind of you go beyond. Let’s say, what the people would expect. Oh, that is too sharp. You go way beyond it. Like you. You basically blow it totally out of the park in having, of course, only Arabs who are terrorists. Of course, you have also. But because it’s completely through the film that you have only basically crazy people, including the whatever, the IRS people, the people who work for the Labor office. Like when she has a showdown in the thing and she gives a shit and whatever, like what whoever person is in coastal I think in whatever function, race, religion, whatever it is. Is crazy or a total fucker. You know, like or whatever, you know, like a total, like, over the top corrupt person only in for themselves. And I love this humor. Right? I’m also a big fan of stand-up comedy. Because they go at least. I mean, I have to say a lot of stuff. When I was in New York in March, I went to a comedy thing, and I was so disappointed because they tried to make it right. Right. And I hate that. Like if you go on stage and do stand up, you need to shock the audience. Then it starts to be funny, you know, that they think like, what the fuck? You know? So that is where I start. At least when I watch a film where I feel that it’s great. And I think comedy is the, the genre that was hit the most with the cancel culture woke kind of situation, you know, because now everybody is scared to go over the top and get like, oh, the people have no humor and they just think you meant it all serious and you are a total racist, you know, so.
Uwe Boll
And I think it’s sad because you need art in general, you need total freedom. You cannot censor yourself writing something already. You know, you should just let it go. And I feel that when Superbad was not shown anymore, Hangover was not shown anymore. You know, like when you see these films now you look at the streamers and they don’t have those films. They basically bury them because they felt, oh, there could be a little offensive. And especially I mean, you grew up with it. And I enjoyed it when I was almost 40. But those comedies. I love those comedies. Yeah. Something About Mary, Hangover, Superbad you know this kind of American Pie. They were funny and they were. They were funny because they got under the belt. They didn’t try to be PG, you know, So, I think for comedy that is so important to have this kind of film, that is really the genre of what suffered the most.
Paul
Yeah, yeah. And you’re right, the cancel culture is kind of nearly predatory, you know, if anyone’s toes step over that little line or, you know, it’s nearly a fake offense just to make a point that, oh, that could be offensive…so I’ve decided I’m offended. But yeah, it’s not funny.
Uwe Boll
Like if, you know, if you don’t, let’s, let’s use in Postal the scene where the black cop shoots the Chinese driver. Right? So, I love that scene. Of course, if you bring up that scene now, everybody will say, Oh.
Paul
You can’t do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.
Uwe Boll
But of course, the funny thing was that it was a Chinese female driver, you know, because there is a truth to it that they are very bad car drivers. And that is the thing. What makes it funny? Because you immediately feel I would shoot it too, you know, like that.
Paul
HaHa well stuck at the lights for sure. Yeah, stuck at the lights for that long we’ve all thought that. Yeah.
Uwe Boll
Yeah, you know and that is the thing. What, what I’m very proud of postal and it’s. Yeah. I mean the video game guys; they told me they want money basically for postal two. And I felt I supported with my film Postal a lot you know, and it shouldn’t pay a license fee because now it’s very important to put the money on the screen. And that was, for me, a knockout. You know, I said, I’m not paying you guys. I mean, you’re promoting them.
Paul
I mean, you’re promoting them, they’re not helping you. Yeah.
Uwe Boll
You know, and I felt like I feel we need to. See that as a like, we work together because I’m a character in the game. And Postal three I think was, you know, they could use my character for free. So, I felt like we were supporting each other and that was disappointing for me. So, Vince Desi, if you hear this show, uh, the rights to do Postal two because I think the world needs Postal two, you know.
Paul
Yeah, let go a little. Yeah. To have a laugh.
Uwe Boll
Yes. You know, and the thing is like, I mean right now look at that huge success of that film, The Sound of Freedom, right? So, with $85 million box office about the pedophiles, whatever, I don’t know if the film is good or not, but it showed a genre film about a subject matter where like child porn or whatever, or child trade, what hit the mark. People feel something about it, right? So, and people went to see it even without the big advertising campaign. And I think Postal two in a totally different way would also hit that. Yeah, you know I would think for postal, two people would go to the movie theater to watch it. If the trailer is showing, yes, they do it like in postal one. They don’t care what the repercussions are or if hundreds of people want to cancel the film. Right. I think it has a big crowd who is hungry for this kind of content and goes to the movies and says like, I give a shit. I want to see that film now because it’s funny. So, you know, that would be my plan if I would ever do a postal two.
Paul
So, is that your next film? We’ve confirmed it! HaHa
Uwe Boll
I would love it. I would love to do a Postal two. I have other films in development. I made Wesley Snipes an offer on the film Asylum. What’s what would be his, his John Wick, basically. So, it’s like a similar thing. I felt Wesley Snipes should come back as a real action star. He was. He now plays more like Sideways and dramas. I don’t know why. You know, I think I want to bring him back in an action film. And then I have a film I want to shoot in South Africa, Kingmaker, where I’m looking also for the main actor. What is now with the strike all on hold. Nobody reads scripts right now. You cannot make an offer. So, but that is a guy so basically his family gets kidnapped. He has to kill five people in 12 hours, or his family is dead. It’s a little like what we know with Liam Neeson or whatsoever, right. This kind of film. But it plays in Africa in a very, let’s say, exotic environment where he also has no support because he’s American. So, he has nobody there to help him. So, he has to figure it out on his own. And then he gets chased, of course, by the law enforcement, everybody as soon as the first person is dead. So, it’s a crazy action film, a little like crank in a way. Like we stay on him the whole time, you know, and we just don’t know. With him together, we have to find out why. Why that five people, right. So, and everybody he confronts, they have no clue. They’re like, don’t kill me. You know, like, let’s figure it out. And so, but he’s pinned like on the phone though, so he has to. I love this kind of film where you have this a clear, straightforward path, you know.
Uwe Boll
And I also like when films are 100 minutes long and not 2.5 hours.
Paul
There’s no need a lot of time. There’s absolutely no need for these big juggernauts. And it’s just empty space in the middle a lot of the time. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
Uwe Boll
Totally! And I hate that in all like Avengers two, two hours, 40 minutes. I mean, I barely can do that for 110 minutes and they are all so long. And where are the 100-minute films? Yeah, you know, so, uh, I like it to be like in the movie theater in and out in two hours and not, like, sitting there for three hours. It’s horrible.
Paul
That’s your day gone. Absolutely.
Paul
So, I wanted to ask you about something I saw in the documentary. It’s not something I’m overly familiar with, but I wanted to check because it sounds genius to me. On the set of Bloodrayne Third Reich, you were using the set and using all the costumes and all the things to make a parody film, Blubberella at the same time. Is that true? And if it is true, why is everyone not doing that? Or you should at least copyright that? Because that is brilliant!
Uwe Boll
Yeah, it’s true and brilliant. I brought Lindsey Hollister from Postal because she was so hilarious in the job interview scene that I felt like let’s have her as an overweight Blood-Rayne. And it was, I think it worked out and it didn’t work out because we didn’t have enough time really to focus on the comedy also. So, it was really 90 over ten and Lindsey was waiting at a trailer in her in her costume to go to set when we were done with the Blood-Rayne scenes. And then she came in and I convinced all the other actors to do the comedy version, too. They had a blast actually doing it. But there were days that were so tight. They were so stressful to do. And then you do the comedy version where everybody is over it, right? So, it’s like this kind of like, Oh God, now we have to do this stuff. The other, the funny stuff. But I think it was worth a try. And it would the film would end up better as it is if I would just add a few more days to the shooting schedule.
Paul
This is Blubberella now. Yeah. Yeah, it’s a bit short. Yeah. Yeah, makes sense. But like, when you think back, looking at the National Lampoon stuff and, you know, all those kind of Scary Movie, all those kind of parody films, Not Another Teen Movie, all that stuff, it’s amazing that, you know, it’d be great that the similar idea and all that sort of access to the same set, same costumes, same actors. I just mean, you should copyright it. You could make it for sure. Go on Dragons Den or something and make yourself a fortune with that idea because. Yeah, stellar. Stellar. So, the last thing I want to talk about is your upcoming. So, first shift. What I can tell, and I did as much searching as I could is I found a few set photos and a synopsis of the movie is it sounds like it’s going to be a kind of gritty cop drama, kind of similar to Training Day or a film like that. I could be totally wrong! Can you tell me any more about it?
Uwe Boll
Yeah. So, I basically wrote it in a way to do like a road movie through New York, you know, where we follow two cops that work the first day together, and he doesn’t want her as a partner. She’s all excited. She comes from Atlanta. And they are turning into, of course, in a way, buddies during the day because of all the shit what is coming on and it has scenes of very violent. But overall, I tried to keep the tone light, you know, because it’s their job and it’s not like they’re getting super emotional about everything what is happening. Instead, they have this kind of Bad Boys kind of competition going on. And so, I like it. It’s. It’s we are almost done. We’re now in the coloring and sound mix stage stadium. We also have a trailer soon, so August 20th around we will have the film finished. And I think I never made a film like this before because it’s not like this kind of super dark stuff. What a lot of times did with like Rampage and stuff like this, it has also like Kristen Renton and Gino Pizzi, they’re really working well together. He’s like the bone-dry New York cop who is like this kind of like, let me be depressed and let me do my job right? So, and she brings the light in his life back.
Paul
Which he doesn’t want to begin with, I’m guessing.
Uwe Boll
Yeah. You know, I think it’s kind of a roller coaster ride. I hope the people will like it. I’m a big fan of cop films in general and I always mean shot in New York scenes from South and Wall Street and alone in the dark two parts we shot there. I shot an advertising spot in New York, but I never shot a full film in New York. And I always wanted to do it. And now I know why I never shot a whole film. Because, I mean, it’s very hard, right? So, it’s this kind of town that is so big and it’s so much traffic jam and everything is a big hustle. It’s just like very hard to keep the logistics going, especially if you drive and you have a camera car and you have the police car and you have a van following and I’m sitting in a van. So, a lot of car driving happens in Manhattan, Queens, in Brooklyn. And it was very tough because you get lost, you know, like whatever they turn, the light turns red because you cannot have block, you cannot block the roads the whole time. You do that only in the few action scenes you have where you really have to block the road. The rest you just drive because you need the normal traffic too. And it’s it was sometimes like not easy. So, but you cannot really copy it when you’re in New York yourself and you shoot was shot under that bridge where French Connection was and all that stuff. It was just great. The film looks really great. And on purpose, I didn’t shoot it for the streamers, I shot it Cinemascope like. So, we really have a widescreen theatrical 4K.
Paul
Movie feel to it.
Uwe Boll
Yeah, yeah. You know, so and I felt like, I don’t want to compromise here with how we do it all for 8185 and 16 to 9. No, I wanted it so wide that you sell New York the whole time that you see more around in the corners of the picture from the surroundings. And what a big asset is in New York is of course, the actors. You have so much talent there, you have so many people there. You cannot like, you know, when you try in Toronto to do New York, the Canadians talk different. Right? So, it’s very tough. And there you just have it because everybody is from New York. You hire and you don’t have that authentic like. Feeling that it’s not New York. So, you really see it as, So I really enjoyed it. Yeah.
Paul
Brilliant! And the strikes haven’t affected, obviously your past kind of those stages where there’s no more writing and stuff to do, is there? No.
Uwe Boll
We are done with the with the film. And that was lucky in a way, you know, that we shot it like in March and but yeah, we will see now. I mean in a way the strike is maybe helping me to get a good deal for the film.
Paul
They need movies. There’s going to be a there’s going to be a gap.
Uwe Boll
So, it’s definitely available. And we, we didn’t have, of course, it hurts me too, because of the projects I have in the pipeline. I’m not getting further along with it right now. You know, I really hope they do a deal soon. Um, and meet in the middle somewhere. What always happens in, you know, because nobody is interested to never work again. And at the same time, I understand why that strike now was really necessary. You know, we talked in the very beginning of the interview when we talked about the blockbuster stores and the video rental. That was where your movie could generate royalties. You know, that was the thing, selling DVDs and renting DVDs, that was massive. And that is all gone. If you sell to a streamer like, you know, they give you one paycheck and you’re out forever.
Paul
There are no residuals in streaming, and they never give away the figures, the real figures, how many times, how many viewers it has.
Uwe Boll
But they have to. I mean, look at all the TV stations. They had to go to Nielsen, all the ratings and everything. So, you need the truth at one point. You cannot just hide it and always say, oh, that film was so big hit. And that is number five in Germany right now. And it’s all bullshit because they want to push films forward. They’re not successful. And then they put them in the top three. And so, they trick, they do so many tricks in a way, you know. And I think you need as a filmmaker, at least I don’t have to put it in the news. But as a filmmaker, you need to get a report. How many people watched your film, especially if it was only on the streaming service and nowhere else? Then it’s all you ever get is basically the knowledge. 100 million people watched it, or 1 million people watched it. I mean, it gives you feedback also what you should produce in the future and stuff like this.
Paul
Yeah, what’s working, what’s not working, what’s, you know, what’s popular. It’s all hidden now.
Uwe Boll
Yes. And I think they need to find a revenue, a royalty kind of residual thing going and especially we I mean me as a freelance director, producer, writer for years and years and years, in the last ten years, I think the one thing the streamers accelerated in a very bad way is that some actors are getting way too much money. Yeah. And a lot of actors get nothing.
Paul
No work.
Uwe Boll
And it’s ridiculous. You know, you cannot seriously pay any actor when you’ve 30 million bucks for a streaming movie. What has no theatrical revenues, what is never going on DVD or Blu ray, what is never in pay per view in the hotels, in the airplanes? Never. So, it’s ridiculous. And I think the big actors should also sign on to accept the pay cut in the benefit that the smaller actors each get 100 or 200 bucks more a day. You know that that is the thing. And then the CEOs and whatever the Ted Sarandos of this world, they should also accept the pay cut. You know, like so many people, when you look at the business news, whatever they’re reporting, billions of debts and losses and every year they get 50 million bonus, 60 million bonus. You know, it’s like the soccer players, you know, it’s just ridiculous. Like in earlier years, people had to play ten years of good soccer or good football or whatever to be rich enough to retire. Now it’s one season and you’re done forever.
Paul
Never have to play ball again. Yeah. And then how are you motivated then? You know when it’s silly money.
Uwe Boll
And I think that, I mean, it’s society’s tendency for the rich getting richer right so known for years and years and I think it’s unfair. You need to make sure that the working class or the middle class survives and that is not really visible in a lot of businesses I feel, you know, so there will be no deal if the big actors do not also accept a pay cut. And, you know, so and but then they could do if they would say this, they do this then now the pressure would be all on the studios and the streamers to make a deal happen. Yeah. So, I mean the disaster for my future films is of course bad as long as the strike. As more films get, I mean, it’s shut down now and then they have to get finished means nobody will be available to shoot in January February next year with me a film because if they strike now two months, they will be all filming till the end of the year with the staff. What just stopped and that got stopped and a lot of other big things. Yeah.
Paul
Everything has to pick back up where it left off. Yes.
Uwe Boll
You know, and who will suffer first are the filmmakers with not so much money. You know, the big stuff always gets done in the end. And of course, the 100 million more, but they still do it.
Paul
And they’ll still make all the money. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I’ve got to be really cheeky. I know we’re really pushed for time. I’m going to ask one small last question, and before I do, just to the viewers and the listeners out there, if you like this stuff, if you like this content, if you love the chat that I did with Uwe today, please, you know, like and subscribe, hit the bell. Leave us some comments. Let us know. Absolutely. And last question I have to ask, and I know you probably get asked this in every interview, I’d imagine, but I need to I absolutely need to, because I saw it in a documentary and I was like, I can’t let it go without asking. So ‘Raging Boll’, the incident and I’ll let you tell quickly what it what it was, what happened. But my question to you is like, was it you getting back at the industry a little bit, like was it personal or was it more it’s a promotional thing. I’ll be a bit of a showman! I’m going to, you know, just put on this kind of a, you know, promotional stunt.
Uwe Boll
It was personal. And it turned into, of course, a show in a way. Right. But the boxing was no show. And I said from the beginning, I’m not doing your show boxing. Like, if you want to fight, we fight and you better train.
Paul
Yeah, and just for the viewers, what was the fight about?
Uwe Boll
Yeah, it was like it was the bad reviews, right? So about like when Bloodrayne came out, I felt a lot of the reviews were the same, like Alone in the Dark, almost the same written about it. And you had the feeling these people don’t even watch the films. They just bash them. And so, I wanted to get back at the critics. So, we said four people I fight in one night in Vancouver, in the Plaza of Nations. And it turned into a real event with what, live on stream and, you know, there were over 1000 people bought tickets for it to watch it. And Michael Perry was the ring announcer. Kristanna Loken was in the audience. So, it was great. It was a great evening for me….HaHa
Paul
HaHa.. Not so good for them.
Uwe Boll
Yeah, yeah. But I’m still in contact with most of them, Jeff Schneider and so on. And they got over it. I think they’re also in a way happy they’re part of history now.
Paul
A little moment in time that will never be forgotten. Absolutely. Yeah.
Uwe Boll
But I got after this, 25 invitations to film festivals where I should box people. And I did it one more time in Austin at the Alamo Film Festival. And that was it, right? So, and I felt like, look, that we have to shift away from it. Yeah. And so, but it was, it fit to the way we did it during postal, when we were shooting Postal, that was, we did that event and I think it fit totally to the craziness of Postal.
Paul
Tonally. Yeah. Yeah. A mad spectacle. Yeah. Makes absolute sense.
Uwe Boll
Why not, right? So, I feel you live only once and just go for it and, you know, and try to make the best out of it. And I always try this.
Paul
Well fair play to you. Four against one is no mean feat, even if you are a boxer. And it’s been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for today, Uwe. It’s been amazing talking to you. I hope your new film is ultra successful. I hope we see more video game adaptations. I’d love to see Nicolas Cage in Grand Theft Auto. There’s an idea for you. But yeah, you can write that one down. You can have that one. Absolutely. Um, but thank you very much. And on behalf of Outsider Gaming, thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge today. It’s been wonderful. Thank you.
Uwe Boll
Send me the links. I will post it everywhere too.
Paul
Absolutely brilliant. Cheers.
Conclusion
There you have it folks. As our time with Uwe Boll concludes, we find ourselves thinking back on the fascinating path taken by film adaptations of video games. With his unapologetic approach to genre filmmaking, Boll’s perspective provides a unique insight into the evolving landscape of entertainment. Through his lens, video games transform into cinematic experiences that captivate and engage audiences, transcending mere pixels and polygons to create immersive narratives on the silver screen. Uwe Boll’s legacy exemplifies the limitless potential that may be achieved when imagination and enthusiasm combine in the film and gaming industries. If you’d like to see more content like this, why not check out this interview.
Also check out this interesting conversation we had with DeLabs’ Quinn Kwon.