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Boll to unleash another travesty upon the world

Posted: 2005-07-02 12:20am
by Joe
blah
Scott Weinberg writes: "After putting the finishing touches on his upcoming "BloodRayne," controversial German director Uwe Boll ("House of the Dead," "Alone in the Dark") has announced the cast for his next project: a big-screen adaptation of the video game "Dungeon Siege" -- and wait till you get a load of this eclectic ensemble! (Full press release follows below)

Based on the popular video game of the same name, Dungeon Siege follows the hard life of lowly Farmer on a mighty mission to save his wife and child. An unspeakably evil army is rampaging across the land, destroying everything in its path and focusing on conquering the mighty Castle Ehb, and vanquishing the King himself. This evil army threatens an otherwise ideal world of peace. Dungeon Siege is a passionate epic adventure, a solid heart at its core and story line that reveals more information and adventure with each passing minute.

Jason Statham ("Cellular") is Farmer, our hero. Ron Perlman ("Hellboy") plays Norick, an old friend of Farmer's and his stalwart companion. Matthew Lillard ("Without a Paddle") plays Duke Fallow, the nephew of King Konreid, who is played by Burt Reynolds ("The Longest Yard").

John Rhys-Davies ("Raiders of the Lost Ark") is Merrick the Magus, the court sorcerer. Leelee Sobieski ("The Glass House") is Muriella, Merrick's daughter, and Kristanna Loken ("Terminator 3") is Elora, an enchanted tree-like creature whose support proves critical to Farmer.

"We're fortunate to have such a depth AND breadth of talent on this picture," says Boll. "So many faces with great experience, talent and audience appeal. This picture's going to be a superb showcase for their talents."

"We are excited about the tremendous cast members who have chosen to join us this summer in shooting Dungeon Siege," added producer Shawn Williamson. "We are confident that they will bring the magic of this story to life."

With all this firepower, there are some choice parts remaining to be cast: Gallian, the antagonist, is a former Magus turned bad and has enlisted the Krug using magic to gain power. Duke Fallow has partnered with him. In exchange, Gallian would be future Magus when Duke takes over as King. Solana, Farmer's wife; Zeph , Farmer's son who is killed early in the story; Bastian, Farmer's brother-in-law and Solana's brother; and Commander Tarish, who gives all of the military orders for the King.

Based on Gas Powered Games' wildly popular game, Dungeon Siege is directed by Uwe Boll from a screenplay by Doug Taylor, David S. Freeman and Glenn Benest. The film is executive produced by Boll KG's Uwe Boll ("BloodRayne," "Alone in the Dark") and Wolfgang Herold ("BloodRayne," "Alone in the Dark"). Brightlight Pictures' Shawn Williamson ("White Noise") and Daniel Clarke ("The Long Weekend") will serve as producers. Shan Tam ("Rumble in the Bronx") will serve as line producer. The behind-the-scenes team will be led by director of photography Mathias Neumann ("BloodRayne," "Alone in the Dark"), production designer Jim Steuart ("The Long Weekend," "Scary Movie 3"), costume designers Carla Hetland ("The Butterfly Effect") and Toni Rutter ("Man of the House"), and editor David M. Richardson ("House of the Dead"). Tony Ching -- best known for his work on "House of Flying Daggers" and "Hero" --just signed on to helm the film's action sequences.

And the following tidbits come courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter:

-Shooting begins this weekend in Vancouver.
-Boll has a $60 million budget for this movie.
-"Boll said "Dungeon Siege" will transcend the video game genre and appeal to mainstream audiences. He added that the film's blend of action and fantasy should appeal to fans of "The Lord of the Rings." A three-hour running time is envisioned.""
Jason Statham, John Rhys-Davies, Ron Perlman, Burt Reynolds, hell even Leelee Sobieski - these are all competent, if not downright good, actors. Not only that, but look at the crew - the guy who is choreographing the action scenes is a real talent. And he got a SIXTY MILLION dollar budget? Alone in the Dark barely broke six million worldwide - and he somehow convinces someone to give him SIXTY MILLION dollars to work with?

At this point I'm truly baffled by Uwe Boll's apparent success. My only possible explanation for all this is that someone is cooking the books at Boll KG, and making his movies appear much more profitable than they actually are. Either that, or humanity is a cursed, evil, demonic race, irredeemable and deserves to be cleansed permanently by nuclear fire.

Posted: 2005-07-02 12:25am
by Shinova
Noooooo, this travesty to Chris Taylor's work must not go unpunished!!!!

Posted: 2005-07-02 12:45am
by HemlockGrey
Holy shit. After two complete bombs, he somehow managed to get *two* new movies? And one of them with a relatively big budget? Who's cock is he sucking? Is it just that no one else is willing to direct videogame movies?

Posted: 2005-07-02 01:17am
by neoolong
Somehow I don't think that the people giving him rights and money have even watched the movies he's made.

Posted: 2005-07-02 01:21am
by Uraniun235
I knew there was a Penny Arcade strip about this guy...

Image

Posted: 2005-07-02 03:27am
by The Grim Squeaker
Make him stop, please make him stop :cry: :x :banghead: :kill:

How the hell did he even get decent actors and a license to keep making movies? I mean even hollywood has to notice when someone is so incompetent that he loses ten's of millions of dollars and makes 2% rated movies right? :roll:

Posted: 2005-07-02 05:18am
by VT-16
Does Boll spit or swallow? :P

Posted: 2005-07-02 05:26am
by The Grim Squeaker
VT-16 wrote:Does Boll spit or swallow? :P
Probavly ze just Zuck's azz in dik.

Posted: 2005-07-02 06:45am
by Erik von Nein
Why do people keep giving this guy money?

On a side note, I know someone who loved the movie House of the Dead.

Posted: 2005-07-02 07:31am
by HemlockGrey
Mystery solved.
Boll essentially is a modern-day B-movie director. He's able to secure the investors (mostly German, in Hollywood often derisively referred to as "stupid German money"), secure the rights for cheap, picking games with only moderate brand recognition, does all of the actual production himself, and swiftly cranks out a film. While under normal circumstances a director's movies could gross so little he's eventually shut out from every operating studio, Boll is exempt because he funds them under a loophole in German tax law that is supported by contributors and actually rewards films that perform badly, via a writeoff at the end of the year.
He's not so much a modern day Ed Wood as he is a modern day Max Bialystock.

Posted: 2005-07-02 06:34pm
by 2000AD
So he gets paid for deliberately making bad movies?
Is that what that thing is saying?

Posted: 2005-07-02 08:05pm
by Tatterdemalion
Let me see if I've got this right: Basically you’re saying Boll gets backing for his movies because as long as he can keep abusing German tax law they're a low risk investment?

I'm guessing he's blowing large amounts of this budget on hiring competent people, relying on their sense of greed to make them overlook his track record.

Now the question is (aside from why don't the Germans fix this obvious money sink) can a competent and in some cases genuinely talented staff make up for a crappy director and produce a halfway decent movie? I remain pessimistic, but I'll probably still go see it for laughs.

Posted: 2005-07-02 09:38pm
by The Prime Necromancer
Uraniun235 wrote:I knew there was a Penny Arcade strip about this guy...
Penny Arcade is even more prophetic than your think:

Image

Posted: 2005-07-02 09:50pm
by Utsanomiko
That comic was done when it was announced Boll aquired aquired the rights. PA's version sounds better, though.

At least we know why he keeps getting money. I wonder if that tax writeoff deal explains his bizzare, hipocritical ramblings about what a movie should be like to 'be good'.

Posted: 2005-07-03 12:48am
by Silver Paladin
The Prime Necromancer wrote:
Uraniun235 wrote:I knew there was a Penny Arcade strip about this guy...
Penny Arcade is even more prophetic than your think:

<snip image>
Fuck. I'd pay to see the donkey.

Posted: 2005-07-03 01:08am
by VF5SS
I imagine Lohn Leguizamo could play a donkey just as well as he played an Italian plumber named Luigi. I you wanna talk about video game movies, I think nothing can top Super Mario Bros. Filmed entirely in an old cement plant!

Posted: 2005-07-03 07:21am
by Dooey Jo
There was an Alone in the Dark movie? :shock:
Did it... Did it have purple monsters that died if they saw their own reflection?

Posted: 2005-07-03 07:44am
by Mr Bean
Dooey Jo wrote:There was an Alone in the Dark movie? :shock:
Did it... Did it have purple monsters that died if they saw their own reflection?
No.. the only thing Alone in the Dark shared with the video game was....

Hmm...
Wait I know! The Lead Good guy was a MAN AND he had a FLASHLIGHT!

Thats freken it.
It could not have less to do with the game if it stared Harrison Ford and was about a bunch of Space Marines on Mars who sit around for two hours and talk about fasts spaceships and loose women.

Posted: 2005-07-04 01:11am
by SylasGaunt
Alone in the Dark's sole redeeming features were..

1.) Creature Design
2.) Minigun sentry turrets

That's pretty much it though.

Posted: 2005-07-04 01:42am
by DPDarkPrimus
SylasGaunt wrote:Alone in the Dark's sole redeeming features
Is that not an oxymoron?

Posted: 2005-08-03 06:14pm
by Civil War Man
I was largely unimpressed by the Dungeon Seige game. If movies based off of video games I like sucked, I shudder in horror as to what this will end up as.

Posted: 2005-08-04 12:08am
by DPDarkPrimus
By the way, he gets money because he and his investors are all profitting off a loophole in German law that pays you if your movie does badly.

Posted: 2005-08-04 12:40am
by Faram
Do not necro old threads.