Uwe Boll
Uwe Boll (German: [ˈuːvə ˈbɔl]; born June 22, 1965)[2] is a German filmmaker. He came to prominence during the 2000s for his adaptations of video game franchises.[3] Released theatrically, the films were critical and commercial failures; his 2005 Alone in the Dark adaptation is considered one of the worst films ever made. Boll's subsequent projects, released during the 2010s, were mostly released straight to home media. After retiring in 2016 to become a restaurateur, Boll returned to filmmaking in 2022. His films are financed through his production companies Boll KG and Event Film Productions.
Uwe Boll
June 22, 1965
Film director, producer, screenwriter
1990–2016
2020–present
1
Early life[edit]
Boll was born in Wermelskirchen and studied at the University of Cologne. He holds a PhD in literature; in 1994, he published a dissertation at the University of Siegen.[4]
Boll first decided to go into the movie business at ten years old after seeing Marlon Brando's Mutiny on the Bounty.[5]
Restaurants[edit]
Following his retirement from filmmaking, Boll entered the restaurant industry. His desire to become a restaurateur came from his own love of fine dining.[91] He claims to have visited 120 Michelin-starred restaurants within a span of 10 years,[92] and has made a short video series of restaurant reviews.[93][94]
In 2015, Boll opened the Bauhaus Restaurant in Vancouver,[95] after noting a lack of German cuisine in the city.[91][92] He hired Stefan Hartmann as executive chef, who earned a Michelin star for his own Hartmanns Restaurant in Berlin.[96][97] Hartmann resigned from Bauhaus in April 2017,[98] to be replaced by chefs David Mueller and Tim Schulte.[91][99]
Bauhaus has received some positive reviews from local and international food critics.[100][101][102][103][104][105] The restaurant ranked 37th on the 2016 list of Canada's 100 Best Restaurants.[91][106] It is also listed in The World's 50 Best Restaurants Discovery Series in 2017, being one of only three Canadian restaurants to be included.[107][108]
Boll has remarked about his newfound success in owning a restaurant: "It's interesting, right? I had to open up a restaurant to get good reviews."[91]
In early 2018, Boll and his wife Natalie formed the Bauhaus Group to expand business. The group acquired the Blenheim Pub in Vancouver, changing it from a sports bar to a family-oriented restaurant.[109] The restaurant closed[110] of the COVID-19 pandemic.[8] They also announced plans to open a second Bauhaus Restaurant location in Toronto in early 2019.[111] A third location in China is also planned, to be opened in the Ocean Flower Island artificial archipelago and led by two European Michelin-starred chefs.[21][109][112]
In 2020, his restaurant won a gold award for Best European Restaurant at the 2020 Vancouver Magazine Awards.[113]
Personal life[edit]
Boll currently lives in Vancouver. Despite having lived in Canada for many years, he still retains his German citizenship. He married Canadian film producer Natalia Tudge in 2014.[1][5][114] Together, they have a son and a stepson.[109]
Boll has admiration for Taylor Sheridan's TV shows, particularly noting the storytelling approach in series like Yellowstone and its spin-offs. Boll recognizes the distinctive style of Sheridan's work in the landscape of contemporary TV dramas.[115]