Controversial German director Uwe Boll has just completed principle shooting on his new feature, “In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale.”
The film follows the hard life of a lowly farmer (played by Jason Statham) who’s on a mission to save his kidnapped wife and avenge the death of his child. But, of course, the plot’s a bit more phatasmagoric than that.
There’s a whole fantasy backdrop of war between an evil sorcerer and a king, as well as an evil army of animal warriors rampaging across the land, destroying everything in its path.
Interviewed as the actors went through their paces on a rain-soaked, mud-laden British Columbia lakefront on the last day of shooting, Boll described the $60 million production as a dark epic. He is, he said, a big fan of of such grand-scale tales.
“I always wanted to do that genre,” he said. “You have in that period-piece atmosphere a clearer world. You have clear goals, clear adventures. You don’t have any motivation problems to drive the story forward. You can escape a bit out of your own world. The big success of ‘Lord of the Rings’ shows that a lot of people want to exit the real world for a few hours. They found out it was a real spiritual adventure for people.”
With its video-game connection, Boll is confident there is a built-in audience for “In the Name of the King,” which is expected to run three hours.
Besides Statham, the cast includes Leelee Sobieski, Ray Liotta, John Rhys-Davies, Burt Reynolds, Ron Perlman, Kristanna Loken, Matthew Lillard and Will Sanderson.
While obviously a bit premature, there have been some comparisons drawn between “In the Name of the King” and director Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
Rhys-Davies, who played the dwarf Gimli in the “Ring” films, isn’t buying such talk.
“No one, I think, involved in this production would seriously wish that comparison to be made,” he said. ” ‘Lord of the Rings’ is one of the iconic trilogies of our generation. No small, independent company is ever going to rival ‘Lord of the Rings’. That’s a false comparison and it invites failure.”
Rhys-Davies is, however, full of praise for Boll, who has another film, “BloodRayne,” also based on a video game, ready to hit theaters in January.
“He’s found a market,” said Rhys-Davies. “He’s found a niche and he’s trying to turn that into an expanding franchise. I think he’s got huge determination. He reminds me of another Hollywood rebel in his own way. I mean George Lucas.”
Boll has long been considered an outsider in the German and U.S. film industries.
He said that’s because Germans are more geared toward art-house films while in the U.S., he is considered a maverick because he raises his own money outside the studio system.
He said he plans to release “In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale” outside that system, as well.
Source: Yahoo Entertainment News, Written By: Jeremy Hainsworth (AP)
