If people hate me they hate me.
Alone is a much better film than House of the Dead and better than most horror movies out today.
The thing is, I think as a director or a writer or whatever, you have to have a vision. And you have to be maybe sometimes too early, somewhere.
Of course there are a lot of books that are interesting to make movies out of, but on the other hand, I think video games are also kind of like bestselling books for the younger generation, and the younger generation is the one going to the theaters.
Actors don’t have real value.
Maybe you know it but it’s not so easy to finance movies in total. And the reason I am able to do these kind of movies is I have a tax shelter fund in Germany, and if you invest in a movie in Germany you get basically fifty percent back from the government.
I produce for a low price and I sell it on my own to 80 countries.
You don’t need any courage today in Germany to make a movie about the Nazi time. You get all the subsidies, you get the TV stations, you get the good reviews. But you need courage to kick in the balls all the people that are still hiding under the blanket, and to say, “Oh, Adolf Hitler was maybe not so bad.” And with my little Nazi jokes in Postal, I offended the Germans in a harsh time.
I had $60,000 for my first movie. I was 33 before I made any money off of movies. I worked my ass off for free. To get that I’m “enemy number one” among young kids is a little absurd.
Any asshole can make a good movie for $100 million. I think it’s way harder to make a movie with no money, and to start with no contacts and work your way up to international productions.
We thought about it, what we want to tell, and I didn’t want to move it directly into the Nazi times. I thought it’s much more interesting to see how BloodRayne became BloodRayne.
I think the harsh reviews helped, in that I spent way more energy in the preproduction and development. From this point of view, I’m very thankful for the harsh critics. I still think the critics were unnecessarily insulting in a lot of things, but I think it helped.
Interview with a Vampire was lots of sex, so I’m not sure.
I think the Matrix effect is over-used and I don’t do it anymore.
So if you want to have a great video game-based movie you have to keep the mood of the game, use the normal character setup – but you have to flesh out the story and provide more background for the characters.
We did casting in L.A. and a lot of people came against the advice of their agents. The agents said, “You shouldn’t be in Postal, it will damage your career.” So Zack Ward came to casting and played one of the cop parts, and then later I looked at the DVDs again and said, “This guy is Postal Dude.” He’s like white trailer trash. He’s had a long time in the film industry, but no real success. He needs money; he’s two-times divorced in real life. He said he works only to pay off his Philippine ex-wife.
In the Seventies, a lot of executions via electric chair failed because of technical problems. Seed tells the true story of someone who survived and sought revenge. They buried him alive to make it seem he was dead.
Homer is the nice side of Al Bundy with the same intellect. I really like him and Al Bundy.
House of the Dead 2 I gave away. Alone in the Dark 2 I will also not do; even if the DVD movie made money. BloodRayne 2 in the Wild West is what I really want to do.
In Germany, people are saying, “George W. Bush is an asshole. Osama Bin Laden is an asshole.” But then I make jokes about Auschwitz, and how the Germans are lederhosen-wearing sausage freaks – and they hate me for this! And I’m like, “You all are sitting there because you want to relax and have a nice evening, and now you’re pissed because I put also a mirror in front of you.”
Postal will be so politically incorrect and harsh, it’s like a mirror to American society, and I don’t think the movie will be well received by everybody. For example, Osama Bin Laden will be one of the lead characters – I think that shows the mood of the movie.
In The Name of the King is the right title. To be honest, I don’t know who had the final idea for the title but I liked it and it has a strong connection to the movie’s story.
I think video games are a great kind of entertainment. They have replaced a lot of games people normally play with their friends and neighbours, like Monopoly.
Slater’s a big star and he’s been in the business a long time. He’s always in a good mood and easygoing but he takes his character very seriously.
Heart of America is a movie I’m very proud of. The young actors are great and the story has impact.
