Uwe Boll, the controversial director responsible for Postal, Blubberella, BloodRayne, and Tara Reid playing a scientist, is one of the most prolific living directors of this century, having directed and self-produced 30 films in his short career. Still, he’ll always be remembered, according to this Vanity Fair profile, as “the Donald Trump of directors, a brutish bully inclined to lash out against his detractors.” Boll is notorious for having gone after his critics, the culmination of which was the event “Raging Boll,” during which the beefy auteur literally beat the shit out of his attackers in a boxing ring (a 17-year-old victim apparently pissed blood afterward).
It’s hard to feel anything but scorn for someone such as Boll, but Vanity Fair’s profile effectively peels back the layers, depicting a man who’s driven by intense artistic impulses despite not quite having the patience or tact to make something truly resonant. In addition to exploring his life, career, and current business projects (he runs a successful Vancouver restaurant), the piece also chronicles the making of his final film, Rampage: President Down, which you can currently watch on Netflix. Or don’t. It’s bad.
The eminently quotable Boll drops a number of zingers here (“He’s a prick,” he says of Kevin Costner), and the article itself is positively overflowing with hilarious bits of trivia, including these:
- He named his son after Breaking Bad’s Walter White.
- He loves Minions (“They are totally anar-schistic,” he says.)
- “People were burning,” he says of a propane explosion that happened on the set of In The Name Of The King: Two Worlds.
- He’s read Jennifer Lawrence’s teenage diary.
Boll claims to be done with filmmaking now, so fans will have to venture to his restaurant, Bauhaus, to get their fill. Apparently, the veal tenderloin in demi-glace evokes a “voluptuous Boll-inspired warrior goddess easing into a mud bath.” Yum?