Uwe Boll Talks BloodRayne, Dungeon Siege & More

December 01, 2006 | By: John Gaudiosi

| More

In this exclusive, controversial movie director Uwe Boll (right) talks about his new Dungeon Siege movie (which debuts in Germany next summer), his upcoming sequel to BloodRayne and plans for the franchise, Far Cry and Ubisoft's involvement, and the next Alone in the Dark.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, the $60 million fantasy movie directed by Uwe Boll and based on Gas Powered Games' PC game franchise, will make its worldwide debut in Boll's homeland of Germany by summer 2007 courtesy of 20th Century Fox. Boll is currently shopping the film for North American distribution. Boll said the film, which is completed, will make its North American debut at some point next year.

In the Name of the King features an all-star cast that includes Jason Statham, Burt Reynolds, Ron Pearlman, Leelee Sobieski, Ray Liotta, John Rhys-Davies and Matthew Lillard. Boll has two finished versions of the film. The theatrical release will clock in at just over two hours, while he also has a director's cut of the film for DVD that will incorporate an additional 45 minutes of action sequences and story into the movie. The theatrical version of the movie screened at the American Film Market recently and has received positive reviews from both journalists and Hollywood execs. I've seen a rough cut of the film and it's definitely an entertaining movie, and by far the best film Boll has ever done. It plays like a big budget fantasy film with a cast of solid actors.

Boll, the busiest man in the videogame-to-film business, raises all of his own funds for his projects through German investors. The director is currently filming an $8.5 million BloodRayne 2 film with Natassia Malthe (Rayne), Michael Pare (Pat Garrett) and Zack Ward (Billy the Kid) in Vancouver through Christmas. That film, which pits the new BloodRayne against Billy the Kid, who's a vampire, will be released theatrically in 15 territories in Asia, Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and will likely debut on DVD in North America next year in May.

The original BloodRayne DVD sold over 830,000 copies in the U.S., which prompted distributor Visual Entertainment to ask for a sequel to release in May 2007—one year after the first DVD. The first DVD, which shipped May 23, came bundled with Majesco's BloodRayne 2 PC game.

Boll said the sequel will be an R-rated, dark and creepy Western, although this film won't have as much gore as the original because there will be more gunfights.

"Rayne's still using her swords to fight with, but she also has weapons because it's the Wild West," said Boll. "It will be a darker, creepier atmosphere with lots of vampire bloodsucking, but not the type of butchering we did with the first film."

Boll also said that the new Rayne will not be fighting her inner demons this time around.

"We're going more bad ass in a way because BloodRayne does not have the internal battle of morality and integrity," said Boll. "In the first one, she was sad that she was a vampire. 100 years later, she's used to being a vampire and a Brimstone warrior trying to track down vampires and kill them. She's more like an avenging angel."