Entertainment

How *Not* To Follow Up Your Kickstarter

by Kadeen Griffiths

Kickstarter might seem like a magical place where the Veronica Mars movie can happen, but it doesn't always work out for everyone. That became clear on Sunday when Uwe Boll shared an expletive-laden video on his YouTube channel, in which he slammed the website, as well as Hollywood, fans, and, for some odd reason, Marvel movies. Why? The director has made three attempts to get crowdfunding for his next film, with his Kickstarter campaign being the third try, and, with only three days left, he has yet to reach even half of his financial goal for Rampage 3: No Mercy. I was never particularly a huge fan of Boll's movies before, but you don't have to be a fan to know that his rant against the world wasn't the best way to react to this latest setback — especially the way he went about it.

The video, which is titled "f*** you all," predictably features such strong language as, "Basically, my message is f*** yourself, because that is so f***ing absurd. What ret***ed amateur idiots collecting money on that absurd website, you know?" The profanity aside, the fact that Boll would throw around the word ret***ed under these kinds of circumstances is hugely offensive as well, considering the sheer amount of thinkpieces that have been written about exactly why using that word as an insult is wrong. The fact that Boll is doing it says a lot about him as a person, even if he had managed to neglect from cursing through the rest of the video. Bustle reached out to Boll and Kickstarter for comment, but have yet to receive a reply.

"You're easier giving $600,000 if you make a movie about some ret***ed wizard in the forest or for another, whatever, Marvel Avengers bullsh** dirt, so goodbye, and goodbye Hollywood," he closed out the video. But, it's OK, guys. At least he now "has enough money to play golf until he's dead." It's not that I don't understand Boll's frustration. After seeing all the success of projects on Kickstarter and other such crowdfunding websites, and after trying on two previous occasions to get enough money together to make a film, it's understandable that he would be frustrated and upset to have failed for a third time. However, taking his frustrations out on the fans, out on Hollywood, and out on Marvel, is taking this way beyond too far.

Posting an entire video devoted to the message of raising a middle finger to the people who didn't have enough faith in his project to donate money to it doesn't really prove them wrong. And, if Boll does change his mind and try launching a fourth Kickstarter campaign, then it's likely that even less people will be willing to donate — especially since he claims in this video that he is going to use the money that people already gave to him in order to go golfing. Naturally, fans and critics alike did not respond very well to the video, and many of them got on Twitter to express their surprise — or lack thereof — that Boll had posted such a message to everyone.

Check out the infamous video below.

Image: YouTube (2)