“FUCK YOU ALL: THE UWE BOLL STORY is a feature length documentary that looks at the life and career of notorious German filmmaker Uwe Boll. Love him or hate him, Uwe Boll is an undeniably interesting figure on the fringes of Hollywood. Outspoken and honest, Boll has always been a PR nightmare, yet somehow he has produced and directed 32 films and has worked with some of the biggest stars in the film world. This documentary looks at his unorthodox career path and where he ended up.” Director Sean Patrick Shaul on FUCK YOU ALL: THE UWE BOLL STORY which screens at the 2018 edition of WFF!
Congratulations on your film playing and welcome to the wonder that is Whistler Film Festival! So is this your first time here and are you planning to attend your show?
Yes, this is my first screening at Whistler Film Festival and I couldn’t be more excited! Myself and co-producer Kayvon Saremi will be attending the premiere and are hoping to taking in some of the other films showing this year. It looks like a great crop of films and we are really happy to be a part of it.
When was the moment you said to yourself “I want to get into the movie business” and what have you worked on in the past?
I knew I wanted to make films since I was about ten years old. My grandfather bought a massive, clunky video camera in the early 90s and would let my brother and me play around with it. I was immediately fascinated by the magic of it all and never really put a camera down after that. I moved to Vancouver from Edmonton right out of high school to take a shot at a career in film and haven’t looked back. My first full length documentary was 2009’s OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND SAY MR. CHI PIG, then I followed that film with ALONE UP THERE in 2012, CATCH THE WESTBOUND TRAIN the next year, and SILENT LEGEND: THE MACK SENNETT STORY in 2016.
So how did the idea of doing a doc on Uwe Boll, of all people, come together?
I was looking for another documentary subject and by coincidence the TV show I was working on was shooting in Uwe Boll’s restaurant Bauhaus. A lightbulb went off and I sent Uwe an email pitching the idea. After meeting with Uwe and assuring him I wanted to make an honest and even-handed film and wasn’t interested in just making a documentary that mocked him as “the worst filmmaker of all time”, as most articles and coverage have done, he agreed and we started shooting within weeks.
The production was one of the best experiences I have had making films. We were so happy to include so many characters that truly know Uwe and everyone we spoke with was really accommodating and open in their interviews.
Post-production is my favourite part of any project. Acting as my own editor has its pros and cons but I can’t imagine crafting the whole production only to hand it off to someone else to assemble it.
What keeps you going while making a movie? What is your drive?
I love the process. Even when its completely unrewarding I can’t imagine NOT making films. In the tough times I always tell myself that nobody else is going to make your movie for you, its completion depends 100% on yourself.
So if you were to pick one moment that you would consider the biggest challenge of making the movie, along with the “a-ha, we GOT it” moment, what would each of those be?
The moment we knew we had a good project on our hands was the first on-camera conversation with Uwe, after about 15 minutes of the interview I was already starting to piece the edit together in my head, he was so open to us and giving us so much material to work with right out of the gate. The biggest challenge making this film was trying to trim the story down to a manageable time without losing important pieces of Uwe’s story. My first cut was 3 hours, which obviously is too long, so trimming that down by more than a third was tough.
Could we get technical for a second? For my tech-savvy and filmmaking readers, I would love to know about the visual design of the movie and how it was photographed.
We tried to keep the feel of having a private conversation with our subjects and compliment that as much as possible with archived footage and B-Roll.
After your WFF screening, where is the movie going to go next? Theatrical? Online? Any dream screenings or exact theatre in mind?
We are working with a sales agent out of Germany who will be handling our sales worldwide with the exception of Canada, where we retained our own sales rights and are currently seeking the right outlet to bring this to Canadian audiences. Make me an offer!
We do have a lot of people out there looking to be inspired and work in the industry in one way or another. What is a piece of advice that you would give to anyone looking to get into the motion picture business?
If you want to make independent films the key word is “independent”. Don’t wait for someone to hand you a bag of money, just get out there and start creating.
And finally, what is the single greatest movie you have ever seen?
That’s an impossible question to answer! But probably THE THING!
This is one of the many movies playing at this year’s Whistler Film Festival. For more showtime information and on the festival itself, point your browser to www.whistlerfilmfestival.com!