Exclusive Interview with Uwe Boll for ‘In The Name of the King 3’

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in-the-name-of-the-king-3

The critic-boxing director Uwe Boll is back with another “In the Name of the King” movie.

This time around, the film stars Dominic Purcell (“Prison Break”) as a modern day hit man in Bulgaria who travels back in time to save a kingdom from an evil warlord.

It also stars Ralitsa Paskaleva and Bashar Rahal.

Boll talks exclusively with Latino-Review on why he returned to this franchise that was once based off the Dungeon Siege video game series. And he also explained his passion for making political movies now, and how he kept attracting certain stars towards his projects.

“In the Name of the King 3: The Last Mission” is available On Demand, Blu-Ray and DVD today.

Read the transcript of the interview below.

Latino-Review: Could you tell me what attracted you to this script? Especially since this is one of the few movies you didn’t write.

Uwe Boll: Yeah. To do another “In the Name of the King,” we need something different than what we did before—not only the actor—but with something fresh and new. So we had the idea of getting Dominic Purcell, who I worked with on “Assault on Wall Street.”

And we wanted to develop something with a dragon. We achieved way much more dragon action than the second part [of the series]. We also moved [the story] all to Bulgaria.

So I felt like we should film this movie more in my style like “Rampage” or “Assault on Wall Street.” [These movies] are more hand held and gritty. I think this comes across very nice. I’m very happy with “In the Name of the King 3.” It’s way better.

Latino-Review: The movie was technically based off the video game series “Dungeon Siege,” but the name had been dropped. It no longer is based off the video game series?

Uwe Boll: No, it’s just like “In the Name of the King.” We felt that it was sufficient and I didn’t want to tie any video game stuff in it. We didn’t want the video game company to come out and say it has nothing to do with the game. I felt to skip all that. Let’s do a new franchise with “In the Name of the King” like the first movie and the second movie had.

Latino-Review: What attracted you to keep on going back to this type of fantasy genre?

Uwe Boll: To be honest, it’s an established franchise. It’s doing good on DVD and on TV. We are able to finance it. I like making movies and shooting movies. For me, this is just a chance to make another movie. I felt like, “Hey, let’s do it!” It’s basically more a business decision. As a producer and director, I had to fight so hard to make “Assault on Wall Street” or “Rampage 2.” They’re not always turning a profit. I was able to compensate that with movies like the “Blood Rayne” series or “In the Name of the King” series.

Latino-Review: You previously used Dominic Purcell on “Assault on Wall Street.” Why did you decide to use him again?

Uwe Boll: This is the thing…..I really got along with him in “Assault on Wall Street,” which is the best movies I’ve ever made. I told him, “You know what, Dominic? If you want to do a movie like this, so let’s do it! I hire you and we’ll make a script that you’ll know how to play.” So we develop the script more on what his fans like to be for his character. It was a great experience with him.

He’s physically super fit. He’s able also to be in character. He’s a good actor in comparison to Dolph Lungren. Dominic could not just play the type, but also actually a human being.

Latino-Review: So do you plan to use Dominic again in the future?

Uwe Boll: I would totally work with him again on part four if he would do it. But, it depends on and see what the sales are from part three. Then we can decide to go into part four.

[Laughter] Then it also depends if he wants more money than he got inpart three. With actors, you never know.

Latino-Review: [Laughter] Is that why you can’t use some actors like Jason Statham got too expensive?

Uwe Boll: Absolutely, I would love to make another movie with Jason Statham. After “In the Name of the King,” his price went up to five, six or seven million dollars for a movie. This is just some crazy amount of money. I’m not willing and cannot pay so much money for an actor.

Latino-Review: You used Bulgaria as a setting. I found it kind of funny that Dominic is an American in Bulgaria. But, it seems that everyone in Bulgaria can speak English. [Laughter]

Uwe Boll: Yeah but, they all speak with an accent, right? It’s clearly not their first language. I felt like it was kind of cool since he’s in the normal modern times in Bulgaria. They speak English with an accent, but not perfect.

And of course, when he goes to the medieval times—they all still could speak English. They have to otherwise, you cannot understand the movie. [Laughter] If they spoke Bulgarian, then [we would have a problem].

Look at “Die Hard 4,” they all started talking Russian and then they all talked English [for us to understand]. It’s the way they do it in the movies.

Latino-Review: As a European filmmaker yourself, why do you always be attracted to making movies for Americans? Is that your biggest fan base?

Uwe Boll: I go by the fan base. But, I also look at the numbers. If you see where my money comes from, then you can say that fifty to seventy percent of my revenues come from Germany and U.S. So all the other countries together will only make around thirty percent.

So I focus on the products and subject matters for Germany and U.S. It’s also a good thing. When I do stuff like political movies like “Assault on Wall Street,” they are the main things that are interesting for me. I’m not really into Brazil politics. [Laughter] I only follow up on the big subject matters. Of course, the U.S. is the driving force in the world. The subject matters discussed there, like the financial crisis, will be affecting the whole world. That’s the reason I focus on [these countries].

Latino-Review: Would you make more German films since that’s where you’re from?

Uwe Boll: I did start with German films. I made a German film a few years ago about that boxer, Max Schmeling, who fought Joe Louis during the second World War. He knocked him out, but got knocked out by Joe Louis in a rematch. I think that movie is finally out with eOne Entertainment in the U.S., but this is in the German language.

If you shoot it in the German language, then it is problematic. The worldwide distribution is way tougher and the revenues are way lower. So this movie was almost completely financed from Germany financiers and with German subsidies. I can do it, but it wouldn’t be a financial success outside of Germany.

For this reason, I shoot [movies] in English and American actors are well known worldwide. So it’s better to make American movies in general.

Latino-Review: How do you attract a lot of name actors [to your films] compared to other directors?

Uwe Boll: There are two different ways. One way is [to approach] them with a movie and just pay them the money, but it depends onyour budget. The other way is if you have a movie like “Assault on Wall Street,” “Rampage,” or “Darfur,” you would go more to the agent and say, “Look! This is a movie that has a very good potential to change something like the people’s opinion on the subject matter.” And now it’s also not just about the money.

What’s a shame, to be honest, is that there are a lot of those A-list actors who only work with the same directors or with scripts from specific production companies. They are not opened to even look at the materials. I’m not the only one, but it affects hundreds of filmmakers like me. They try to attract an A-list actor to do a part, but they just won’t do it.

Maybe they won’t do it, but it’s me! Or maybe it’s not Steven Soderbergh. [Laughter] Look at [Steve] McQueen, who just won the Oscar for “12 Years a Slave.” He had the “Hunger” movie with Michael Fassbender very early and Fassbender later turned into a star. What would his career be if he didn’t get an actor who turned out to be big? He would have a huge problem to finance his movies.

Latino-Review: And here’s my last question, I understand you’re making a movie called, “Rampage 2.” The first movie was one of my favorite movies, which I thoroughly enjoyed that. Could you tell us more about that movie and why did you decide to revisit that again?

Uwe Boll: I felt that he got away with it [in the first movie]. I felt like he had always had to come back. I also loved working with Brendan Fletcher on it. After “Assault on Wall Street” came out, I had a lot of passion on the subject matters that’s going on. It made me want to do “Rampage 2.”

Since Brendan is now on a TV show called, “Rogue,” he is very busy and actually made good money. I told him that here is no money. There’s little pay, but let’s do this movie together. Let’s make it so harsh, so cynical and so well thought more than the first part. We developed a storyline and he went over with his dialogue. We got all of our crew who we worked on the previous movie—and they’re all excited to do it.

We started shooting in the beginning of January in Vancouver. This time, he goes out there and kills some people. He even revisits the bingo hall. He takes over a whole TV station as hostage this time. He looks like a suicide commando, but [the audience] knows him. He may have a different agenda than what everybody thinks. I’m very happy with the first cut and very happy with the shoot. I think we have a very strong “Rampage 2.” Yeah, I’m very excited for that movie.

Latino-Review: Perfect. I thank you for your time. Good luck with your movies.

Uwe Boll: Thank you.

“In the Name of the King 3” is currently out on digital download, Blu-Ray and DVD today.

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