Recently I had the chance to speak with Director Uwe Boll about his upcoming movie “Far Cry” which is based on the 3d Shooter from Ubisoft and Crytek. I want to thank Uwe and Bill for taking the time to make this interview happen and for answering my questions.
GVK: What is the Background and setting of the film?
UB: In FAR CRY we could really follow the game story this time. Jack Carver –an ex elite soldier – rents now boats out and the journalist Valerie charters his boat to check out the island of Dr. Krieger (Udo Kier) who is doing gene-experiments to form new soldiers .
GVK: What can you tell me about your greatest challenges and greatest moments making the film?
UB: We were lucky with the cast and the weather . Til Schweiger is perfect as Jack Carver – he got a sniper Education in the German army ..so he knows what he is doing.
GVK: What drew you to making this film and what are some other games you would be interested in bringing to the screen?
UB: FAR CRY is the biggest hit game I turned so far into a movie. It’s a great action game with a lot of fun included. I made now a lot of different genres inside the game to movie business.
I always look out for interesting new games.
GVK: Can you tell the readers please what was working with Til Schweiger, Udo Kier, and Emmanuelle Vaugier like, and a bit about their characters?
UB: Schweiger is physical really fit what he showed also in LARA CROFT and KING ARTHUR. Udo plays DR. Krieger so evil and so funny that we had a blast every day on set. And Emmauelle is a no attitude straight forward actress –easy to work with.
GVK: When I visited the set, I was told some changes had to be made from the video game, can you talk about this and explain the process behind it as many readers often ask me why movies of games differ so much from the games.
UB: There are no so many changes this time as normal because the FAR CRY story is really developed and working also as film. In Detail we had to adjust and change some stuff – because a game never really has a last act
GVK: Can you talk about the design of the film in regards to the sets and the look of the creatures and how this changed from concept to filming?
UB: Our production designer TINK made a great job (he did also HOUSE OF THE DEAD, ALONE IN THE DARK, POSTAL and SEED) and we developed Dr. Kriegers lab a little in the spirit of CLOCKWERK ORANGE (one of my favorite films). Heavy involved in the MUTANTS movement was our SFX producer Doug Oddy – who did all my movies after HOUSE OF THE DEAD. We had to isolate the Mutants in every shot and change their movements –so that we had two different speeds in the same shot.
GVK: Would you classify the film as horror or action, and what challenges did the action sequences in this film possess?
UB: I think its 70% action and 30% horror. The action sequences were heavy and especially the car and boat chase are on James Bond level. Scott Ateah –who did I ROBOT coordinated this chases Not only 1 helicopter crashed…
GVK : Since Far Cry can be argued to be the biggest and most successful game you have ever made into a film, are there extra pressures as opposed to say “House of the Dead” or “Bloodrayne”?
UB: No. I know only that UBISOFT was pissed because I bought the movie rights very early directly from the developers CRYTEK.
GVK: With the end of the Bush era in site, what do you think of the two candidates to replace him and what do you think their greatest challenges will be when one of them becomes the new President?
UB: OBAMA will make it or I will loose any trust in American intelligence. If this country hasn’t learned after 8 years of Bush – then they will never learn. Of course OBAMA will also not do it all right – but he cannot be worse as Bush and McCain is just to old . You can make a 72 years old guy a president?
GVK: With Postal coming to DVD soon, do you have a sense of vindication that your film will at last be available to the people, and how has the experience of getting the film to screen changed you as a person and a Director?
UB: I never traveled so much with a movie and I never felt better about a movie. I’m proud that I did POSTAL. For some people the movie is maybe to early made – and to insulting and to incorrect – but who cares? I think POSTAL was necessary and I’m proud that the movie will be now everywhere on DVD. The actor Chris Coppola said about POSTAL: “Postal will set a new standard for absurd comedy!”
GVK: Recently there was talk of a proposed censorship bill in Canada. Can you give the readers and update on this and can you tell them how filmmaking in B.C. has changed in the last few years?
UB: The Canadian $ is too strong …so it is not so really appealing anymore to shoot in Canada. If that censorship rule gets effective – then I THINK the film industry in Canada goes down the drain.
GVK: What projects are you working on next and which films and games are you most looking forward to?
UB: My prison movie STOIC is now done a I’m looking forward to get it out after “1968 TUNNELRATS” and “FAR CRY” are out.
