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German-born film director Uwe Boll is becoming a bit of a Hollywood legend—but perhaps not in the way he might hope.

Most of his films have been rated between two and four out of 10 by users of the Internet Movie DataBase. The respected on-line film resource also reports one of his less glamorous nicknames to be "The Master of Error."

But despite his reputation, the Vancouver-based fim maker has had no problem finding work. Since 1991 he has directed several comedies, horror films and dramas, and has now apparently found a niche for himself: movies based on video games.

For better or worse, Mr. Boll already has two video game-based movies to his name: House of the Dead (2002) and Alone in the Dark (2005); both of which tanked with North American critics and audiences.

Mr. Boll is quick to point out, however, that House of the Dead did quite well in international markets — and perhaps that's why he appears to have become Hollywood's go-to guy for lower-budgeted video game properties.

BloodRayne, a movie based on the vampire/Nazi-themed video game of the same name starring Ben Kingsley and Michelle Rodriguez, has wrapped and is slated for release later this year, and Mr. Boll just began production on an "epic" adaptation of the PC role-playing game Dungeon Siege, set to star Burt Reynolds, John Rhys-Davies, Ron Perlman, and Jason Statham.

Beyond Dungeon Siege, Mr. Boll's plate is full of video game-based projects, including films based on the games Far Cry, Fear Effect, and Hunter: The Reckoning.

@play had a chance to chat with Mr. Boll by telephone in early July, the same week production began on Dungeon Siege. He explained where his adaptation of Alone in the Dark may have gone wrong, professed his love for the cult PC game Postal, and revealed — perhaps to the surprise of some — that "hardcore" gamers aren't exactly his target audience.

@Play: You're quickly becoming known as 'that director who makes movies based on video games.' Are you a fan of video games yourself?

UB: Absolutely. 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. It's way more entertaining to play a racing game or golf game or whatever you do on a PlayStation or Xbox.

@Play: What kind of games do you like?

UB: I play PC and Xbox games at home, and I just got a PSP as a birthday present. My favourite game is Postal because it is so politically incorrect [he laughs]. Not for the story though. Hitman and Silent Hill are also favourites.

@Play: Let's talk about your movies. BloodRayne is being released this fall, and you have four other video game-based movies in the works. Do you plan to push ahead with all of these projects?

UB: Absolutely. We're working on Dungeon Siege right now, and we have a great script for Far Cry done already and we're hoping to go into production next year. We're looking for the star right now. I'm sure we'll get a big star … I'm hoping for The Rock.

Fear Effect needs a little more time. We are not quite sure what direction we're going to develop it in. EIDOS just released news of Fear Effect 3 and I've been trying to get them to tell me about the story because I'd like to know the game's story before having a screenplay written.

Then we have Hunter: The Reckoning, where we already have a very, very good script. But I have Mike Tinney from White Wolf (the company that created the Hunter: The Reckoning franchise) rewriting it right now because I told him I want to have a little more in the horror direction. And who else could do it better than the owner and developer of the game?

@Play: Alone in the Dark was another movie based on a horror game …

UB: I think Alone in the Dark was too much an action creature movie than a horror creature movie. The video game was more horror. I don't feel too guilty about it because Atari failed to deliver Alone in the Dark 5. Basically they promised us that Alone in the Dark 5 would be coming out together with the movie. I don't want the same thing to happen again, so I want to take Hunter: The Reckoning in more of a horror direction.

@Play: Games are often criticized for their one-dimensional plots and characters. How do you tackle the challenge of trying to craft deeper characters and more compelling plots?

UB: It's tough. Take the hardcore gamers. The characters are way more real in the world of hardcore gamers who have played the game for hundreds of hours. They have the movie in their heads, they've built it on their own. These guys are always very disappointed in the movies.

But if you actually put the game in front of you, you realize that the characters aren't fleshed out enough, you have to add stuff to them. 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. Otherwise you don't have a movie. The movie should work for people who haven't played the videogame.

@play: So your goal is to capture the spirit of the game as opposed to the actual story and characters?

UB: Absolutely. But it also depends on the game. Far Cry, for example, has a great story, and we're using the actual game plot. But for Alone in the Dark I couldn't use the game's plot. I had to do something new. It was too boring otherwise. And House of the Dead … well, where is the story? [laughs] We had to make a story out of a zombie attack.

@play: Your films are starting to attract bigger names. How do serious actors and Oscar winners feel about working in a movie based on a videogame?

UB: It depends. You have people who have never played videogames, like Stephen Dorff and Tara Reid and Ben Kingsley and Ron Perlman. But there are also actors like Christian Slater, who is a big videogame fan. And Michelle Rodriguez; she played Soul Calibur with Vin Diesel while they were shooting The Fast and The Furious. It's a mixed up situation. With the younger actors I talk about the game, with Burt Reynolds I don't talk about the game. He likes his part in Dungeon Siege and doesn't give a s--- about the video game.

@play: The world seems to still be waiting for its first truly successful, critically acclaimed video game-based film. Has Hollywood given up on the idea that game licences can be converted to profitable film franchises? Do you still make a point of promoting your movies based on the fact that the source material is a video game?

UB: My movie House of the Dead made a lot of money worldwide because it's based on the video game, because everyone wanted to see the zombie movie based on the game.

With Dungeon Siege it will be different. It's an epic story we've developed — we've worked for one-and-a-half years on it. But I think 90 per cent of the people who see it will never have even heard about the video game.

With Dungeon Siege, for the first time I won't advertise the fact that it's a video game-based movie. We're doing a big epic with big emotion. If people liked Dances With Wolves or Braveheart, they'll like this movie. If fans of the game go to the theatre as well, then fine. We're happy to attract that audience. But we won't make a big deal about it … it's not going to be promoted like a new Tomb Raider.