This is probably the smartest marketing move Uwe Boll has made during a career built solely on saying crazy things to get attention. Back in January, Boll’s IndieGoGo campaign to crowdfund Rampage 3: No Mercy failed to the tune of $6,300 out of the $100,000 goal, so he set up a more modest campaign at Kickstarter, and with 3 days and $30,000 left to squeeze from potential donations, Boll has released this video to tell everyone to go fuck themselves. To be clear, he thanks the few hundred who gave money, but everyone else (including, naturally, Hollywood) needs to self-fornicate.
“It’s all fucking bullshit, and I will never do it in my life again,” Boll says in the video. “For me, crowdfunding is absolutely dead. Goodbye.”
The video was posted at Reddit, mislabeled as a response to his latest failure, but his latest attempt hasn’t failed quite yet. It’s important to remember that many successful Kickstarter campaigns get an influx of money at the last minute, and being a showy, scream-at-the-moon windbag is Boll’s go-to move. He could still meet his funding goal and make a movie that only its backers will ever see.
What’s more interesting than Boll’s rant (but nowhere near as entertaining) is that his cult of followers either doesn’t seem to exist or doesn’t want to help him make his movies. I was once booed by half a festival audience during a Q&A for asking Boll a critical question, so where’s that passion now?
Regardless, the video is another entertaining stream of nonsense from a crass director who has been out of the spotlight long enough for me to miss him just the tiniest bit.
Plus, it feels like one last blast from a defective cannon. He’s had an impressive, improbable career crafting state subsidized movies that were neither good nor profitable (Tommy Wiseau is laughing to himself right now), and that ride had to fizzle at some point.
Boll at least expresses a hint of self-awareness underneath all the blame he’s doling out, though. “It looks like nobody gives a shit about Rampage 3 so, pfft, maybe I shouldn’t do it then,” he says. “I have enough money to play golf until I’m dead.”
Naturally, he also says he’s shooting Rampage 3 in January in a follow-up video where he – echoing his main character from Rampage – says “we have to fucking kill the rich.”
So, we can find you on the golf course, right?
