Overview
Uwe Boll was born June 22 1965 in Wermelskirchen, Germany. He is a producer, screenwriter and director who finances his films through his production company Boll KG. He gained a reputation among the gaming community in the 2000s by producing and directing a series of films based on video games, all of which became known for their poor quality.
Boll's first name is often drastically mispronounced by English native speakers who tend to lengthen the 'e' too much and pronounce it as a mid-high front vowel [e] like the 'e' in the English word 'ten', but more lengthened than in that word. However, in German an 'e' at the end of a word is short and a mid central vowel [ə] like the 'a' at the end of the English word 'cobra' or the 'a' in 'about'.
Films
Far Cry film posterA majority of Boll's films are adapted from popular video games such as:
Title - US Release Date (MM/DD/YYYY)
Additionally, Boll produced, but did not direct, Alone in the Dark II, which was release in 2008. A sequel to House of the Dead was produced without Boll's involvement and saw its premiere in 2005.
Boll had also shown interest in directing a World of Warcraft movie and claimed that he had received a copy of the script for an adaptation of the Metal Gear Solid series. Blizzard and Hideo Kojima were quick to announce that Boll had nothing to do with either project.
Many of Boll's films have been panned by reviewers and audiences alike; in addition to poor reviews, his films have also failed in the United States box office. Boll's adaptations of House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark both appear in IMDb's Bottom 100 films list, and as of August 2013 are ranked 34 and 79 respectively. BloodRayne II: Deliverance also appeared on the list for a period of time but has since made its way off of it.
Response to Reviews
Boll likes his movies as much as you don'tBoll stands by his films and has no problem defending them to anyone who has a harsh word about them. He claims that his harshest critics have their own idea about what a video game movie should be and that they flip out whenever his final product doesn't match their expectation. Boll also feels that the reason many video game film adaptations fail is due to the lack of support from the game companies once the license has been sold.
After the release of Postal, Wired published a negative review of his film. Boll wrote a harsh email to the critic that insulted his taste in movies and told him to "go to your mum and hurt her." Boll claimed that he had spoken to the editor of Wired in person, who had told him that he loved the film prior to the negative review's publication. According to Boll, his experience with the editor is what caused him to send the email, not the review itself.
Raging Boll
Raging BollIn June of 2006, Boll KG issued a press release inviting five of his harshest critics each to a series of ten-round boxing matches. In order to participate in the matches, the challenged reviewers had to have written at least two negative reviews of his films in print and/or on the internet. The event was given the title "Raging Boll" by the online gambling site GoldenPalace.com who had volunteered to sponsor the event. In August 2006, the list of opponents was drawn up:
- Rich Kyanka, writer for Something Awful
- Chris Alexander, writer for Rue Morgue Magazine.
- Carlos Palencia Jimenez-Arguello, webmaster of Cinecutre.
- Jeff Sneider, writer for Ain't it Cool News.
- Chance Minter, website critic and amateur boxer.
The first match against Carlos Palencia Jimenez-Arguello took place on September 5, 2006 in Malaga, Spain and all other matches took place on September 23, 2006 at the Plaza of Nations in Vancouver. Boll, who is an experienced amateur boxer, won all five of his matches. Footage from the event was to be included with the DVD release of Postal.
Retirement
As of October 20th, 2016, Boll claims he will no longer be making movies. Citing the failing DVD & Blu-Ray market and his inability to make money on his films, he said in an interview that he could no longer afford to make films. In an interview with Metro News he said, "I’ve been using my money since 2005 and if I hadn’t made the stupid video game based movies I would never have amalgamated the capital so I could say, ‘Let’s make the Darfur movie.’" He also claims he can't just got back to making cheaper films at his age because he's made so many other films in his career.
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