*Scroll down for the original, English version of the interview.

Kad su videoigre bile relativno neistražen medij u sferi filmske umjetnosti i kad su većina njihovih adaptacija bila komercijalni i kritički neuspjesi – „Super Mario Bros.“ (1993), „Mortal Kombat“ (1995), „Resident Evil“ (2002) – jedan je čovjek odlučio uhvatiti se u koštac s nekim od najvećih hitova u svijetu gaminga te ih sve ambiciozno adaptirati na znatno manjim budžetima od ostalih mainstream pokušaja, ali unatoč velikom zgražanju od strane kritičara, njegovi su filmovi danas kultnog statusa, a pogotovo u tom statusu uživa njegova adaptacija igre „Postal“ (2007) koja se i dan-danas smatra iznimno autentičnom svom predlošku.

Tko je taj čovjek? On je Uwe Boll (1965. –), njemački redatelj uostalom poznat po tome što je izazvao svoje kritičare na mečeve u boksu, i po tome što stalno kritizira Hollywood i kvalitetu filmova koji iz njega dolaze, a danas nam je dao malo svog vremena i porazgovarao sa mnom o svojim nadolazećim projektima, svojem filmskom zanatu općenito te o snimanju svojih filmova u Hrvatskoj!

Također, prije samog intervjua, Boll je s nama podijelio i želju da za jedan od svojih budućih projekta snimi remake „Rashomona“ (1950) Akire Kurosawe. Nakon što ga je ponovno pogledao, uočio je nekoliko velikih mana u 15., 32., 38., 41., 59., 77. i 99. minuti filma, i kaže da je „očito da Kurosawa nije imao pojma što je radio i vrijeme je da se to ispravi!“ Nadalje, Boll kaže da je „Schindlerova lista“ (1993) imala „loš odabir glumaca i da bi Jason Statham bolje odglumio Oskara Schindlera“ i da je „vrijeme da se ponovno snime svi filmovi Marlona Branda jer on nikad nije znao glumiti.“ Već je u procesu traženja glumaca za svoj „Rashomon“ i ožalošćen je što je njegov najdraži glumac Roscoe „Fatty“ Arbuckle preminuo te je stoga nedostupan da mu bude u filmu.

Je li Uwe ozbiljan u vezi toga ili se samo šali, na vama je da razotkrijete nakon što pročitate intervju i upoznate njegov stil humora, kao i filmski proces!

Boll na snimanju filma „Postal“ (2007)

Idemo se odmah baciti na ono najvažnije – zašto ste se odlučili za „Postal 2“ kao vaš ‘projekt strasti’ umjesto nastavka za bilo koji drugi od Vaših filmova, i bi li to bio izravni nastavak ili više reboot, koji su jako popularni danas?

Iako smo isprva htjeli napraviti „Postal 2“ uz pomoć naše Indiegogo kampanje, a danas smo odlučili da ćemo umjesto toga napraviti „California Fried Movie“ – jer taj filmski koncept možemo lakše realizirati. Kad sam snimio „Postal“, nisam imao pojma da će film postati kultni klasik i nisam imao pojma da je nakon nas komedija umrla. Trenutno živimo u svijetu u kojem se ljudi žele smijati, ali politička korektnosti, algoritam i ostale gluposti poput ‘kulture otkazivanja‘ uništile su mogućnosti stvarno smiješnog sadržaja. S obzirom na to, malo je vjerojatno da ćemo skupiti 2,5 milijuna dolara za „Postal 2“ pa zato sav novac koji prikupimo ide prema „California Fried Movie“ koji je nova verzija „Kentucky Fried Movie“ (1977), kao što je bio i moj „German Fried Movie“ (1992), ali s više humora u „Postal“ stilu.

Jeste li počeli raditi na scenariju?

Cilj je da napravimo lud, smiješan, odvratan film s uvredljivim šalama o svemu. Imamo dužnost prema svim našim obožavateljima, kao i prema umjetničkoj slobodi, slobodi govora i života – ovo će biti pobuna protiv svih velikih igrača koji nas žele isprati i pretvoriti u sretne ovce koje se slažu s njihovom usr*nom politikom.

Govoreći o samim igrama, koliko je bilo teško osigurati njihova prava za adaptaciju?

U to vrijeme, između 2002. i 2008. godine, bilo je jeftinije osigurati filmska prava za igre u usporedbi s time kako je danas. Filmovi prema igrama nisu bili voljeni od strane filmske industrije, a ja sam se njima bavio u prvom planu.

Koliko ste bili upoznati s igrama koje ste adaptirali?

Proučio sam njihov koncept, potom ih igrao te iskoristio njihovo intelektualno vlasništvo za svoje filmove. Međutim, uvijek sam pokušao napraviti filmove na način da ih i ljudi koji ih nikad nisu igrali, ili nikad nisu čuli za njih, mogu razumjeti.

Sad se čak snimaju i filmovi prema društvenim igrama – postoji li nešto u široj sferi gejminga što biste voljeli snimiti?

Ne… Volio bih snimiti film prema „GTA: Grand Theft Auto“ igrama jer bi to moglo biti poput „Postala“.

S recentnim uspjesima adaptacija videoigara, zašto mislite da je „Borderlands“ najviše propao? Rekli ste na X-u da biste mogli snimiti bolji film – biste li prihvatili takvu ponudu, ili ne želite raditi s velikim studijima?

Naravno da bih snimio taj film! Ali, morao bi nositi oznaku R (18+), a ne PG-13 (12+)! Nedostajalo mu je krvi…

„First Shift“ (2024) označio je Vaš povratak u američki mainstream – postoje li razlike u Vašem procesu snimanja/pisanja kad radite film za američku publiku, u usporedbi kad ga radite za njemačku?

Napisao sam scenarij, ali sam onda od glumaca tražio da usavrše dijalog, da ga dotjeraju i razrade međusobno. Volim raditi s glumcima na tome što, zašto i kako kažu to što kažu, jer nisam u mogućnosti napisati savršen dijalog na engleskom.

Boll na snimanju filma „Run“ s Amandom Plummer u Baškoj na Krku

Možete li s nama podijeliti neke informacije o Vašem nadolazećem filmu „Run“? Koliko sam upoznat, cijeli je film snimljen ovdje, u Hrvatskoj – je li mu radnja također smještena ovdje, ili je zamjena za neko drugo mjesto?

Krk je zamjena za jedan talijanski otok. Boris Veličan iz BORVEL FILM-a producirao je film sa mnom u potpunosti u Hrvatskoj jer je tamo mnogo ekonomičnije, a uz to volim Hrvatsku i tamošnju filmsku ekipu. U Hrvatskoj sam još snimio filmove: „Max Schmeling“ (2010), „BloodRayne: The Third Reich“ (2011), „Blubberella“ (2011) i „Auschwitz“ (2011).

Postoji li određen razlog zbog kojeg se vraćate u Hrvatsku toliko često?

Boris je jedan od najboljih producenata s kojima sam ikada radio i vjerujem mu. Nisam imao takve sreće s producentima s kojima sam radio u Rumunjskoj i Bugarskoj, a u ovom poslu, najvažnije je znati kome možete vjerovati…

I za kraj, želite li sami još nešto podijeliti s našim pratiteljima?

Samo me zapratite na svim mojim društvenim mrežama… I pogledajte najavu za „First Shift“!

NAPOMENA: Zbog malog interesa u njegov crowdfunding projekt za “Postal 2”, odnosno “California Fried Movie”, a i bez pune podrške studija Running With Scissors (tim iza Postal serijala) Uwe Boll ovog je jutra zatvorio kampanju i svima izdao povrat novca na platformi Indiegogo. Navodi kako ne odustaje od tih filmova, ali da će ih producirati nekad dalje u budućnosti nakon projekata koji su mu trenutno aktualni. Ovaj je intervju proveden prije nego što su te informacije bile dostupne.

—————————————————————————————————————————

Uwea Bolla možete pratiti na njegovom X profilu, Instagramu, Facebooku i službenoj web-stranici!

GG Interview]: Uwe Boll – a pioneer of film adaptations of video games

When video games were a relatively unexplored medium in the realm of film, and when most of their adaptations were commercial and critical failures – “Super Mario Bros.” (1993), “Mortal Kombat” (1995), “Resident Evil” (2002 ) – one man decided to tackle some of the biggest hits in the world of gaming and ambitiously adapt them all on significantly smaller budgets than other mainstream attempts, but despite great outrage from critics, his films are now of a cult status, especially his adaptation of the infamous video-game “Postal” (2007), which is still considered extremely authentic to its counterpart.

Who is that man? He is Uwe Boll (1965 –), a German director known also for challenging his critics to boxing matches, and for constantly criticizing Hollywood and the quality of the films that come out of it – and today he gave us some of his time and talked with me about his upcoming projects, his filmmaking in general and about shooting his films in Croatia!

Also, before the actual interview, Boll shared with us his desire to shoot a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s „Rashomon“ (1950) as one of his future projects! After watching it again, he noted several major flaws in the 15th, 32nd, 38th, 41st, 59th, 77th, and 99th minutes of the film, and says that “It is obvious that Kurosawa had no clue what he was doing and it’s time to make it right” Furthermore, Boll says that “Schindler’s List” (1993) was “sloppilly cast and Jason Statham would give a better performance as Oskar Schindler” and that “it’s time to redo all Marlon Brando films because he could never act in the first place!” Boll is already in the casting process and regrets that his favorite actor of all times Roscoe „Fatty“ Arbuckle is dead and not available anymore.

Whether Uwe is serious about this or just joking is up to you to discover after reading the interview and getting to know his style of humor as well as his filmmaking process!

Boll on the set of the movie “Postal” (2007)

Let’s just get straight into it – why have you decided on „Postal 2“ as your ‘passion project’ instead of a sequel to any of your other big films, and would it be a direct sequel, or more of a reboot, which are very popular nowadays?

We just decided we will do „California Fried Movie“ instead with our crowdfunding campaign – because we can do this movie concept easier. When I did POSTAL I had no clue if the movie would turn into a cult classic and I had no clue that after us – comedy died. Now we are living, in regards of comedy, in a world where people want to laugh – but the political correctness, algorithm bullsh*t, woke and cancel culture destroyed all possible funny content. Based on the facts that it is unlikely that we will raise 2.5 million dollars to do „Postal 2“ – we decided to change the funding to „California Fried Movie“, a new version of „Kentucky Fried Movie“ meets my film „German Fried Movie“  – of course meets the „Postal“ humor.

Have you started working on a script?

We will just make it crazy funny, disgusting, with insulting jokes about everything. For all our fans it is almost a duty for the freedom of art, speech and life. A rebellion against the big players who want to brainwash us – who try to conform us in happy sheep agreeing to their sh*tty politics.

Speaking of the games themselves, how hard was it securing the rights to the video-games you adapted?

At that time – between 2002 and 2008 – it was cheaper to aquire the movie rights for games than it is today. Game movies at this time were not loved by the industry and I was on the forefront of making them.

How familiar are you with the games you’ve adapted?

I looked at their concept, played them and used their IPs (intellectual property) for my films. But I always tried to make the films in a way that people can understand the film even if they never played or even knew about the game.

There are now even films based on board games, is there anything in the wider sphere of „gaming“ that you would genuinely love to make?

No… I would love to make a „GTA: Grand Theft Auto“ film because it could be like „Postal“.

With the recent success of video-game films, why do you think „Borderlands“ was the one to fail the worst? You’ve said on X that you would make a better film – would you accept such a task if you were offered it, or do you not want to work with major studios?

Of course I would’ve shot the film! But R-rated! And not PG-13! It needed some blood….

„First Shift“ marked your return to mainstream American cinema – are there any differences in the writing/filming process when you make a film for the American audience, as opposed to when you make a film in German?

I wrote the script and then had the actors polish their dialogue and develop it themselves.  I like to work with actors actually on what, why and how they say what they say. I cannot write perfect English dialogue in English.

Boll on the set of the film “Run” with Amanda Plummer in Baška (Island Krk)

Can you share with us any details of your next film, „Run“? From what I understand, the whole film was shot here, in Croatia – is it also set here, or is it a stand-in for another place?

Krk is standing in for an Italian island. Boris Veličan from BORVEL FILM produced the film with me completely in Croatia because it is more economical there and I love Croatia as well as the crew there. I shot „Max Schmeling“, „Bloodrayne 3“, „Blubberella“ and „Auschwitz“ in Croatia, too.

Is there a particular reason you keep coming back to Croatia?

Boris is one of the best producers I ever worked with and I trust him. This was not the case with the producers I worked with in Romania and Bulgaria! Who you can trust is in this business everything….

Lastly, is there anything you wanted to share with our followers?

Follow me on all the stuff below… And watch the „First Shift“ trailer!

DISCLAIMER: Due to small interest in his crowdfunding project for “Postal 2”, that is “California Fried Movie”, and without the full support of the team behind the “Postal” franchise, Running With Scissors Uwe Boll has shut down the campaign this morning and has started issuing refunds to backers. He claims he’s not giving up on those films, but he will be making them sometime in the future after the projects he currently has in production. The following interview has been conducted before this information was made public.

—————————————————————————————————————————

You can follow Uwe Boll on X, Instagram, Facebook and his official web-site!