By this point, you’ve probably heard of the online petition to stop Uwe Boll from making films. Essentially, the petition has been sitting around for a while and didn’t pick up steam until last week when FEARnet spoke with Dr. Boll and mentioned the petition. Rather than scoffing it off, Boll took it like a man and counter offered saying that 18,000 simply weren’t enough signatures. “One million. Now we have a new goal.” Web nerds everywhere headed the call and many a movie site posted links to the story and the petition to ban Boll from making films.
If you’ve listened to any of our podcasts, you’ll know that Colleen, Dale and I are Boll supporters (though some of us are more fervent than others). I once called him the Ed Wood of our generation and I stick by that so reading this story made me shake my head and smile. Are these people serious? Do they really believe a bunch of signatures will stop Dr. Boll from churning out another video game adaptation? I echoed the sentiments of Christopher over at Spout Blog and as a result have restrained from commenting on the entire issue. Until now.
Via the Movie Set Blog, Boll has put out a response to the petition and issued a challenge to Boll supporters: start a petition to support his work. What’s best is this fantastic video rebuttal which had me in tears.
I am not ashamed to say that I signed my name on the dotted line of the blog in support of Dr. Boll. If you’re interested in doing the same, just head over there and drop your name in the comments.
Let the hate fight continue.
Update: Official Boll support petition is up and can be found here.
That video is groundbreaking.
Nobody self promotes like the Boll-ster. He certainly doesn’t hold back in his dime-store criticism of all things Hollywood.
Genius. Fucking genius.
Where do I sign up?
Oh my… Boll’s promotional efforts have their own special “charm,” I won’t argue that, but I find it insulting to Ed Wood when the two men are compared.
Kurt are you the one who said that Postal was a good movie?
Swarez – go here.
Jonathan – sorry dude but that’s how I see it. There’s one major difference: I can’t watch an entire Ed Wood film from beginning to end in one sitting but I can sit through Boll’s films no problem. Other than that, I think they’re on the same level (though I think it’ll be years before the comparison is widely made). And in Colleen’s defence, she’s with you on that one. If I remember correctly, she nearly ripped my head off the first time I brought that up.
Yep, I don’t like comparing Mr. Wood, with any other director. I really like B-movies, and appreciate the work of John de Bello, Llyod Kaufman, Uwe Bole (starting to like due to postal, and the attitude), but there is something specially about Ed Wood.
Leeny – I’ll take your word of it because I don’t see anything “special” about Wood.
Henrik – I can’t recall if Kurt reviewed it but Todd had good things to say about it.
Marina’s right. I missed POSTAL at Fantasia last year, and the press office never bothered to send me a screener, so I’m just going to wait for general release. I’ll probably go opening night, when everyone else is in Indy Eye-Vee.
Bay and Roth bite back:
http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=20552
Signed. I am signature #892.
As entertaining as the man is, his movies stink and tie up a lot of good actors, so I’m on the other side of the equation….and 0.0001% of the way to stopping the good Doctor from sinning again. (That being said, I’m first in Line for Postal)
“Stop Dr. Uwe Boll”
hosted on the web by our free online petition service, at:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/RRH53888/
Your signature number for this petition is 161930.
No artistic expression should be stifled.
Plus, I love watching Boll do his thing. If he stopped making films, that’s one less director to personally bash online (Bay, Kauffman).
Said that, if it were up to me, I’d burn every copy of “House of the Dead” on the planet. Then “Driven” would be the worst movie of all time.
“No artistic expression should be stifled.”
I agree to this more or less, but Boll himself brought this up, so fair game.
And if we have to start down the slippery slope of ‘burning master prints of films” Then I nominate THE CAT IN THE HAT.
(I’d always rather praise than bash, filmmakers that annoy me (or even worse, make me feel smugly superior to what I see on screen) get a lot less of my time over ones that consistently challenge, engage and inspire me.
So, while the man is earnest and funny, he remains resolutely talentless, and shouldn’t be tying up effective people in his projects (like the House of Flying Daggers fight choreographer, or Ron Perlemen, Ben Kingley or heck, even Ray Liotta.)
I don’t give a shit about Uwe Boll, I have never even seen a copy of one in a DVDrental store (I hardly ever frequent them though, I’m sure they’re available in some blockbusters), but I hope he continues to make youtube videos like this one because it made me laugh.
If it’s between Uwe Boll’s hateful pettiness towards Hollywood and Jackass-style entertainment, I’ll take Uwe Boll. If that means he has to keep making movies, then so be it.
Boll’s most recent video message to the Boll Haters:
I’m loving this. It’s like he’s having a conversation with the web.
I signed the support one. Looks like the haters are up by 160.000+. WHATEVER. I’m 1026 btw.
Go UWE Go. Pentioner #186
comment #17 – both the video and Marina’s comment.
Brilliant.
“…track you down and rip you apart.”
“…ketchup and your little Brother.”
“It’s like he’s having a conversation with the web.”
I love this guy. Genious indeed.
I’m almost ashamed to be following this whole thing so closely but in reality, it’s one of the most interesting happenings in the film world of late.
Boll has put out yet another video. This time, he plays Ebert, and actually reviews a few scenes from a student film from one of the Boll haters who signed the anti-Boll petition. The funny part comes at the end when he essentially says that at least the kids are out there making movies, even if they are only for the internet and he urges other Boll haters to do the same rather than bashing him for continuing to make the movies he wants to make.
Frankly, I can’t hate this guy. I just can’t. Sure, he comes across as an asshole at times but he generally seems to be a good guy who’s just protecting his ass while drumming up attention for himself and his movies.
I’m making a pact with myself. I will NOT see Indy on the Friday it opens. Instead, I’m buying my ticket in advance for “Postal”. Uwe, you’ve got my money – and respect sir.